Dave Beccaria, the baseball coach at Haverford College outside Philadelphia, is looking for a catcher.  He has been to dozens of high school recruiting events, mailed hundreds of letters to prospects and scouted countless player videos.

But seated at his office computer, Beccaria can redouble his catcher search in minutes.  On the Web site for the Baseball Factory, a recruiting service in Columbia, Md., Beccaria uses a private password given to college coaches to request files on all high school catchers registered with the service.  He receives a list of 284 names, and with each name are the prospect’s grade point average, SAT scores and a series of ratings, based on reports by Baseball Factory scouts, for the player’s skills in throwing, hitting, fielding and running.

Beccaria can then click on a player’s name and be taken to a Web page that includes detailed information:  the player’s phone number, e-mail address, height, weight and, in some cases, shoe size.  Supplementing that are a more comprehensive written evaluation by a Baseball Factory coach and a video of the player in action.  Beccaria can narrow his search to find catchers who have certain minimum academic qualifications or times in the 60-yard dash, or who bat left-handed or live in a certain region.  Or he can search for players within all four variables.

The information is free to college coaches.  For a high school player to register for Baseball Factory services, it can cost $500 to $5,000.  Last year, about 1,200 players signed contracts to have the Baseball Factory promote them to colleges.

These players are just some of the thousands of high school athletes who…

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