When making decisions involving where it is you’ll want to be attending school, Dan Mooney, Baseball Factory’s Senior Director of College Recruiting, says truly evaluating yourself from both an academic and athletic standpoint is crucial to which school you ultimately choose.

“It’s a chance to look at yourself in the mirror and really evaluate which school fits from an athletic standpoint, but also from an academic standpoint so that you are truly comfortable,” says Mooney.

Academically, you shouldn’t put yourself through any real kind of projection, for example if you scored a 1600 on your SAT or a 23 on your ACT, don’t predict you’ll gain another 400 points on the SAT or another 5 on the ACT the following year. Evaluate currently where your grades stand and the other test scores, so that you can pick schools accordingly.

When determining a school and potential major, choose a field that you are interested in and could apply your academic skills to. Selecting a major that you enjoy, at a school that is known for that major, will go a long way in making you feel better about your decision.

Getting back to the athletic side of things, you should also be an honest evaluator of your skill set by focusing on the one position (or possibly two) that you are the best at. An honest assessment of where you are, as shown in the list below, is a good example of where to start when choosing a school you’ll want to play baseball.

Breaking it down into positions of catcher, pitcher, infield and outfield, you will be able to narrow down your absolute strengths and pick a school that will utilize your best talents.

Catcher – Arm strength, defense, hitting

Pitcher – Velocity, size, overall stuff

Middle Infielder – Speed, defense, hitting

Corner Infielder – Hitting, defense, speed

Corner Outfielders – Hitting, defensive arm strength, speed

Centerfielder – Defense, speed, hitting