We felt it would be a great idea to share a recruiting story. We know there are a lot of players who are trying to find their path towards college baseball, AND everyones reasoning is different based on their needs and wants. One of our interns, Todd, is going to share his story on how he reached college baseball. We know you will find value and a lesson or two in his story. This is not the only way or path to playing a college sport.
-Spiker
How I Got To Be Recruited, A Close Look On The Steps I Took
by: Todd Marshall
“I will be committing to Notre Dame College.”
Those words were the biggest relief for me as a baseball player because I never thought I would have gotten a baseball scholarship after 5 years of trying to be recruited.
My first ever baseball camp was in 8th grade when our team was able to do a Prep Baseball Report (PBR) for free. That was the first time I got my name out nationally, but it was not the last time. I would go to at least two to three camps every year hosted by Ohio University or Indiana State or Murray State because I liked both those schools the most. Obviously most baseball player’s dream is to go Division 1 and that was mine as well, but I knew schools like Vanderbilt or Clemson were not realistic.
After one camp my freshman year; Ohio University told me to get my fastball up to 85 then we can have a discussion. After that camp, I did not hear a word from them until right before I committed to my current school.
Indiana State was interested in other players and told me my fastball velocity needed to be higher for them to be interested.
Murray State told me that if they had more scholarships to give out, they would have worked out something with me.
When those schools told me that they wanted higher velocity on my fastball before they offered, it made me realize that I need to start looking at schools Division 2 and lower.
I always let my dad do the recruiting for me so I could focus on playing and performing, but he always made me ask questions and write letters to the head coaches. The funny thing about writing letters is that I always heard, “Handwritten letters show the head coach that you care about the school. Usually, they will respond immediately.” I did this, but never heard anything back.
So from 8th grade to Junior year spring, I had not heard a word from any college. My dad decided that this camp in Kansas would be my last camp to try to get recruited. So, I signed up for the pitching section of the camp. Little did I know, when I arrived on the showcase mound I was only given seven pitches to impress the college scouts.
Randomly during the early months of summer, I was at Burger King with my dad when I got a phone call from Hannibal, Missouri. I picked up and I said, “Hello.” The man on the other side of the phone call said, “Hi is this Todd? I am the head baseball coach at Hannibal LaGrange University and you impressed me at the camp in Kansas, do you have some time to talk?” Wow, I have never been more excited to talk on the phone for almost an hour. After that phone call, more college offers started coming in from Goshen College (from that camp), Capital University (pitched at their home field), Notre Dame College (pitched against the Grad Assistant’s team), and Ohio University (got a letter but declined).
If you have trouble getting college offers, make sure you continue to put your name out there whether it is on Twitter or go to camps. To get a better understanding of how to become the driver in your college recruiting, listen to The Closing Pitch (Episode 18, The Tactical Guide to Recruiting) on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
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