There is a lot of speculation out there but most people do not understand the rules of recruiting or what is actually going on.  This post will answer some of those questions and if you have any more please let me know.

First of all a coach can not contact you for recruiting purposes before July the summer leading up to your senior year.  If you email a coach, they are able to send you camp information or answer a question you asked but please do not mistake this for being recruited.  For example: I email the Coach Maloney at UofM while in 10th grade and ask him what he looks for in a player.  In his response he can tell me he looks for hard working players with this GPA.  He can not however say I heard about you and am looking forward to seeing you play, we are very interested in you as a player, can you send me a schedule.  That would be illegal, at this stage any communication will go through your H.S. coach or your summer coach.

Also, a camp invitation is not always a recruiting ploy, sometimes it is to simply raise money for the program.  Again if you are a Junior or younger the coach may talk to your coaches and suggest you come to the camp so they can take a look at you, but chances are if you are a freshman or younger this is simply fund raising and community outreach.  I am not saying you should not go to these camps, they are usually pretty cool and give you the chance to get on a college field, I am letting you know what to expect from them.

Do not expect a full ride.  Most colleges only have 11.5 full scholarships to give out to 25-28 players.  In baseball the most you can reasonably expect to receive is fifty percent.  If you get this, it is the equivalent of a full ride in football.  Coach Decker at Western Michigan  told me the only 100% scholarship he ever offered was to Derek Jeter, so I think that will give you an idea of what it takes.  Most kids who get scholarship money will get in between 20-40 percent.  You should feel honored to get any money, but please do not expect to get it all.  Also, if you do get a baseball scholarship and you have good grades the baseball coach will usually help you find academic money, so in all you may get 70% so remember work hard on your game, but keep those grades up because that could make your education a lot less expensive.

Any questions please email me at samflamont@tumblr.com