Recruiting Trends in College Sports Pt. 1

Kelly Kulina: Your Link to the Colleges

As we’re coming up on the highly-anticipated November signing period, I thought I’d use this entry to discuss an issue I’ve been following the past few years. While all sports, baseball included, have designated “signing periods” during the prospect’s senior year, there is nothing to stop players from committing to coaches or schools much earlier than that. As reported by ESPN, college basketball has seen a disturbing trend in recruiting, leading to rumors that players as young as fourteen are committing to schools even before they’ve played a minute on a high school court! Is there a possibility that baseball could follow in the footsteps of basketball? And, if so, what are the consequences?

The “traditional” signing period has always been in April, with the “early” signing period taking place in mid-November. However, the November signing period has become so popular that it has become the norm for most D-I programs to finish their recruiting at this point. After all, if a coach can get his recruiting out of the way by mid-November, he’s able to focus on his team and season at hand. For many other teams that don’t carry enough clout to secure early commitments, they must continue their recruiting all the way to the beginning of classes in August, if necessary.

Personally, I was not a big advocate of the November signing when I was coaching at the University of Maryland. I have always felt that coaches, players and parents make more mistakes signing early than they do at the April signing period. Granted I signed a few players during this period because I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to lock up a few guys early. However, the players I signed early were the ones that I’ve seen the most and knew the best. Coaches don’t have as much time to assess and evaluate players early and players/parents don’t have as much time to learn everything they need to about all the schools that are recruiting them before they make their decision.

One of the most important aspects of the recruiting process for a college coach is to really get to know the player they’re recruiting, both on and off the field. I tried to learn everything about every player and family I recruited and still felt like I needed to know more! That being said, I truly believe that for the most part, you really don’t know what you got or are getting, until the player is in the program. I think most college coaches would agree with that statement. By putting total emphasis on getting players signed by November, I feel that several critical pieces of recruiting process are being overlooked and disregarded.

Check back next week when I go further into the trends in college baseball recruiting, focusing on the issue that I mentioned at the beginning of the entry.

Kelly Kulina is the Senior Vice President of College Recruiting at Baseball Factory. Kulina is a former Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator with the University of Maryland. As a former recruiting coordinator for ten years in the ACC, Kulina has vast contacts and is widely respected throughout the nation. From 1989 to 2000, Kulina coached 46 players who were selected in the MLB draft.

Jimmy Key, What’s He Like 45?

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

Remember that ESPN commercial? The one where ESPN drafted a sports anchor out of high school. The scouting reports were off the charts, but the kid just wasn’t emotionally ready. One of my favorites, and they’ve had some good ones, including the spelling bee, Ozzie Guillen call to the bullpen, and cannon fodder.

Anyway, back on topic…I started thinking about this commercial because I was noticing how many players drafted straight out of high school are off to a great start in 2008.

David Wright, 3B, New York Mets
.343, 12 runs, 4 homeruns, 19 RBI, 3 stolen bases, 1.165 OPS

Justin Upton, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
.384, 11 runs, 5 homeruns, 13 RBI, 1.091 OPS

B.J. Upton, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
.338, 14 runs, 2 homeruns, 16 RBI, 4 stolen bases

Nate McLouth, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
.375, 16 runs, 3 homeruns, 16 RBI, 2 stolen bases, 1.082 OPS

Josh Hamilton, OF, Texas Rangers
.305, 11 runs, 4 homeruns, 19 RBI, .923 OPS

All Baseball Factory/Team One alumni, by the way. There are many more young players lighting up the box scores and making a serious impact on their teams.

These players are all under 27 years old, but are quickly becoming the future of their respective ball clubs. At the same time, players like Mike Mussina (39 years old, 5.75 ERA and potentially out of the Yankees starting rotation), Frank Thomas (39 years old, released on Sunday by the Blue Jays) and Pedro Martinez (36 years old, on the DL with a 10.80 ERA) are taking a back seat as their careers wind down.

Keep an eye on the next batch of young stars drafted straight out of high school including Jay Bruce (21 years old), Cameron Maybin (21), Colby Rasmus (21) and Homer Bailey (21). You may see them this year in a starting lineup near you. In addition, check out the Sports Illustrated/TAKKLE Top 100 players, powered by Baseball Factory. Many of these top high school players will be first round selections in this year’s amateur draft.