Are you interested in playing baseball at the next level? The following information is meant to help you understand the recruiting process.

THE ELIGIBILITY CENTERS — NCAA & NAIA

If you plan on playing any sport at the next level you have to be signed up with the Eligibility Center affiliated with the level you are going to play. It's a good idea to get an early jump on registering online with both centers. The NCAA Center says complete your registration at the beginning of your sophomore year. That may be too early unless you absolutely know you will playing a sport in college.

NCAA Eligibility Center

NCAA 2016-17 Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete — You can download the PDF for free.

NAIA Eligibility Center

NAIA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete

In creating your Eligibilty Center account you will need your school code.

HOW CAN I BE SEEN BY COLLEGE SCOUTS?

Simply start by utilizing your player page on this Terriers' Baseball Web site. We are able to offer basic player information to scouts by just clicking on your player link. Click here for an example. 

You will see an area for a player bio, a link to video and a link to an athletic resume. Any or all of this information can be sent to eric@tripleplaydesign.com to be posted to your player page. If you have any questions or need help creating or setting up these items, don't hesitate to ask. And once you have your resume completed, its something you can attach to your correspondence e-mails to college coaches. It's a good idea to proof read everything you send to a college coach. It's quite possible they will not give you a second thought if you have misspellings in your letters.

You've probably heard people talk about Prospect Camps and Showcases. They have become very prevalent —mainly because most of them are simply money makers for the promoters and schools. They come in a variety of sizes and costs and navigating through all of them to find which ones work can be time and resource consuming.

Talk to you coaches to discuss the right showcase for your player.

Every college has  prospect camps. If you are interested in a particular school, go to their baseball Web site. Look for a link to camps/clinics in order to register.

WHEN CAN COLLEGES CONTACT ME?

Throughout any given year, there are periods when college coaches can contact you and times they cannot.

Below is a set of NCAA recruiting Rules and Guidlines:

High school Freshman and Sophomore year. these rules also apply until September 1 of your Junior year.

Coaches are allowed to:

• Send you athletic or sports camp brochures, NCAA Educational Information and Questionnaires.
• A coach can also accept phone calls from you as long as they are at your expense but remember that if you leave a message on an answering service the coach is NOT ALLOWED TO CALL YOU BACK.

Coaches are not allowed to:

• Call you on the phone.
• Send you any written recruiting information.

NCAA Recruiting Guidelines, Unofficial Visits:

• You can make unofficial visits to a college campus.
• It is also permissible for you to receive a maximum of three complimentary tickets to a college sporting event.
• You can talk with college coaches but this must be on campus.

Junior year from September 1

• College coaches are allowed to send you information about their athletic program and about their school.
• This can include: media guides, schedule cards, personalized letters, photocopies of newspaper clippings and official university admissions and academic publications.
• The college coach is now allowed to answer your emails and send emails to you as well.

Junior year from July 1

• A college coach is only permitted to contact you in person off the college campus only on or after July 1st when you have completed your junior year of high school. If the coach meets with you or your parents and says anything to you or them then this is considered a contact. Anything more than a very basic hello is a contact.
• College coaches are permitted to make one telephone call each week to you or your parents. You can call the coach as often as you wish.

Senior Year

• You can make up to five Official – expense paid visits to college campuses. The visit to the campus cannot be longer than forty eight hours in duration. You are not allowed to have an official visit until after your first day of classes of your senior year.
• College coaches need to have an official ACT or SAT score and a copy of your official high school transcript before you can make a visit.
• Coaches can make telephone calls and send written correspondence as per the rules for your junior year. 

NCAA Recruiting Contact Periods

The NCAA publishes recruiting calendars with specific restrictions and rules on when, where and how coaches can communicate with high school athletes they are trying to recruit. These NCAA Contact Periods are critical in the athletic scholarship recruiting process, and any athlete needs to understand them. Below are the four types of contact periods on the NCAA Calendar, with explanations:

Contact Period

The Contact Period has minimal restrictions, and just about every type of contact is allowed between the college coach and the high school athlete. You can meet off or on campus, and the coach is allowed to watch an athletic event. Below are the types of contact that are allowed during this NCAA Contact Period:

• Unofficial Visits
• Official Visits
• Off campus / home visits
• Letters
• Emails
• Calls
• Event viewing / evaluations during your club or high school competition

Evaluation Period

The Evaluation Period on the NCAA Recruiting Calendar is a bit more restrictive than the open Contact Period, and is primarily for the coach to "evaluate" you. The big difference is that the coach cannot have ANY off campus contact with the athlete or parent. Here is what is allowed:

• Unofficial Visits
• Official Visits
• Letters
• Emails
• Calls
• Event viewing / evaluations during your club or high school competition

Quiet Period

The Quiet Period is a restricted time, typically before the National Letter of Intent (NLI) day that prevents a coach from having any off campus viewing or interaction with the athlete and parents. Here is what is allowed during this NCAA Quiet Period:

• Unofficial Visits
• Official Visits
• Letters
• Emails
• Calls

Dead Period

The NCAA Dead Period  is the most restrictive time for communication between the coach and the high school recruit, and only allows the following:

• Letters
• Emails
• Calls
• College visits are allowed, but you cannot meet the coaches.

NCAA Division 1 Baseball Recruiting Calendar

NCAA Recruiting Calendars

ARE MY ACADEMICS REALLY THAT IMPORTANT?

The answer to this question is a resounding — ABSOLUTELY! 

Most people see the sticker price on a college and wonder how they will afford it. What goes untold is that colleges will take money right off the top if you have a good GPA and/or ACT score. So a school that appears to cost $35,000 can drop down to $24,000 with a 3.5 GPA or above and/or a 24 ACT score. Each school is different in what they deduct and they all have different tiers that allow for more deductions. For example, if you boost your ACT from a 24 to a 28, that may get you an additional $2000 off!

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR BASEBALL 

On top of the academic money, you can receive money to play baseball (only D1 and D2 have scholarship money for baseball). 

D1 schools have 11.7 full scholarships to spread out between 35 varsity players. So if someone tells you they got a full ride to play baseball, they are not telling the truth. Any full ride would be a combination of academic money and baseball money.

Pitchers usually get more of the baseball money — a top-tier, draftable type pitcher MAY get 70% for baseball where a top-tier position player may only get 50%. Most players get considerably less. By D1 rule, if you are getting any money for baseball it has to be at least 25%. 

D2 schools have 9 full scholarships. Again, starting pitchers may get the better baseball money offers. And there is no 25% rule.

D3 & NAIA schools do not give baseball scholarships. You will only get academic money from these schools..

Scholarship, Preferred Walk-ons & Walk-ons. There are 3 avenues to playing college baseball. You can be a scholarship player (discussed above). You can be a preferred walk-on, which means that you have a spot on the team but are getting NO athletic money. Or you can be a walk-on. That means you go to the school's walk-on tryout without having a guaranteed spot on the team and you perform well enough to make the roster.