Baseball, unlike other sports, almost separates itself into two seasons. The recruiting season and the school season. These new seasons are changing the way the game is played and the way players interact with each other.
Stokes Tate, an uncommitted SCH junior plays his club baseball with UnCommon. When asked if he thinks he gets recruited more from high school baseball or club baseball, he quickly responded, “Club baseball, for sure.” When asked why he believes this, Tate said, “It’s more focused on recruiting, and going to play in front of schools, whereas being recruited for high school, you need the coaches to come to your games.”
The changes in the landscape of baseball recruiting are shifting largely towards summer club and showcase-style baseball and focusing less on the High School Season. Rosemont College coach Glen Goldberg spoke on why this is happening: “Since most college coaches are busy coaching their own during the spring high-school season, recruiting, particularly at D-III schools with limited resources such as designated scouting staffs, necessarily look to showcases and summer ball to look at potential recruits.”
Ben Lippincott a coach at SCH and a director/summer baseball coach at UnCommon one of the areas many club teams echoed a similar message when asked if he thinks College coaches value the school or the summer season more. “I think that they value summer season more than high school because they have a job during the same time as the high school season and it is hard to get out to high school games. They do value the high school coaches’ opinions though because they want to know how they interact with their teammates on a day-to-day basis.”
One thing of note in Lippincott’s response is his mentioning of college coaches communicating with high school coaches. Misericordia commit and SCH baseball captain Paul Cifra commented on this when talking about if college coaches look at his high school season stats among other things. “They look at it, but it also depends on what league you play in, because some leagues are a lot better than others, so it values differently.” With the inter-ac being one of the top leagues in the country this gives athletes like Paul an incentive during the school season knowing that the colleges will reach out to people like Coach Lippincott for information on how the season is going.
Baseball players at SCH are now trying to balance the new ways of recruiting. SCH Senior Jake Warren who committed to Washington College over the summer talked about the difference of school baseball and club baseball for him during the recruiting process: “I think it’s a bit different. I think for, you know, when I’m playing baseball, I think I’m playing for the team, but when I’m playing, you know, with SCH, I think it’s more I’m playing not for myself, but I’m playing for my for my teammates, for my brothers. And you know, when you’re playing club ball, you know, you enjoy your teammates. You’re having fun with them, but you know, part of it is, there’s college coaches in the stands. You know you want to get recruited, you want to play at the next level.”
Warren sees it a lot like other baseball players at SCH. Uncommitted junior Dax Caplan talked about how he approaches the two seasons. “You know, I approach them in different ways. For my high school season, obviously, it’s about winning games. It’s about helping your school win and performing. But for club baseball, it’s more about being seen and showcasing what you’re good at.”
Caplan mentioned the need to showcase what you’re good at, but coaches aren’t solely looking at your performance on the field. When asked if a player struggles in a game that you attend are there other things they can do on the field to gain good attention, Coach Goldberg responded, “Of course—we recognize that the nature of baseball is such that any given player can have a bad day or a bad stretch, irrespective of his overall athleticism and baseball talents. In fact, very often we look closely at how a player comports himself after he strikes out, for example. Is he a “team guy”, noting what pitch or pitches were most effective against him and relaying this information to the on-deck hitter as well as to the guys in the dugout? Does his body language stay upbeat? Does he hustle back out onto the field and stay enthusiastic and focused? Does he back up someone on every play? In short, does he exude positivity?”
With all this change in a process so vital to a baseball player’s career, it’s impossible for the sport itself to change. Sometimes change is good, but for baseball, this change isn’t. Cifra who has made it to the other side of the recruiting process responded to if he believes that the recruiting process is ruining the competitive spirit of baseball. “Yes, I do. These days, people are de-committing from schools, reclassing, just to commit to the school again because of either roster sizes or transfer portals. It’s a complete mess.”
Frankie Decembrino an uncommitted junior responded to this with a slightly different outlook. “I think recruiting isn’t ruining the competitive spirit however I think it is ruining the meaning of a team. I myself have fallen into the mindset of how does this benefit me or did I just hurt my chances of being recruited because of that bad game rather than how do I complete my job to help the team win, how can my at bat help the team score a run, how does my play in the field benefit the team, etc. I think the competitiveness of the recruiting process, especially with the roster size going back down to the way it was before Covid, enhances the competitiveness personally because your fighting for a spot at the next level, but drains the competitiveness of winning a championship as one collective group.”
Decembrino makes a great point here. The recruiting process isn’t eliminating competition just individualizing it.
When these players arrive at the colleges the goal will be to win a championship, but did these colleges drain that championship mindset from the players?
