Why Player Development is Necessary for your Son’s Baseball Future

Rob Naddelman: Through a Parent’s Eyes

Did you know that there are over 470,000 kids playing high school baseball throughout the United States?

Did you also know that there are only 7,000 college roster spots per year for incoming freshmen? So how do you make sure your son gets one of those 7,000 college roster spots?

Our 15 years of experience in helping players get over $500 million in college scholarships has told us that college coaches want players who are experienced and polished. The bottom line is that your son needs to get the most out of his ability and really needs to FOCUS ON PLAYER DEVELOPMENT (national tournaments or skill development) as he starts promoting himself to colleges aggressively.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you determine the next steps towards playing college baseball:

Many people think they can skip the player development step and just promote themselves to colleges. Why promote all of your son’s areas of weaknesses for all the coaches and scouts to see? This is not a formula for success. One Baseball Factory parent put it very eloquently when he said “Showcases can give your son exposure or they can expose your son’s weaknesses.” With college tuition being anywhere from $60K to well over a $100K for a four-year degree, making an investment in player development BEFORE a college coach makes a decision on whether he wants to offer your son a scholarship or a roster spot will pay long term dividends.

In these tough economic times, what is truly important and necessary for your son’s future? College baseball coaches still have baseball money available for players who are good students, polished players, and have National Team experience. Building this well rounded player is a big part of “The Baseball Factory Way” of development. College coaches trust our ability to evaluate your son in an unbiased manner and use our program as a resource to build championship programs that end up in the College World Series (1 out of every 4 players in the 2008 College World Series were Baseball Factory Alums).

As a parent of a high school baseball player in these times, no matter what, you will still need to pay for college. How do you fulfill your son’s dream of playing college baseball and at the same time help to defray your son's cost to attend college? The answer is PLAYER DEVELOPMENT!


Rob Naddelman is the President of Baseball Factory. Naddelman is a former two-time All Ivy League Third Baseman at the University of Pennsylvania, where he competed in a College World Series Regional. He has served as the President of Baseball Factory for the past 13 years, and also is the Executive Director of Baseball Factory's charitable arm The B.A.S.E. - H.I.T. Foundation. Naddelman and Steve Sclafani (CEO) have been featured in Business Week and CNN for their work in building Baseball Factory into the nation's leader in player development and college placement.