The Following are excerpts from the article “The Athlete’s Edge: College Hopefuls Reach Out to Recruiting Services” that were printed in the New York Times on January 29, 2006

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, with their parents’ blessing, and checkbooks, have employed professional recruiting services to devise sophisticated marketing campaigns to attract the interest of college coaches.  The goal is an athletic scholarship, or the edge that being a recruited athlete brings in the admissions process at elite colleges.  Haverford, one such college, plays in Division III, which prohibits athletic scholarships. 

John Darsee of West Nyack, N.Y., paid the Baseball Factory $5,000 two years ago to help his son, Sean, then a high school freshman.  Sean, a right-handed pitcher, has since attended about 15 Baseball Factory training sessions, clinics and camps around the country.  (Travel expenses are not included in the fee.)  He has a personal Baseball Factory counselor, who is a former Major League Baseball scout, helping him pick colleges and the right recruiting events, or showcases, to display his pitching.

“I’ve learned how to organize the college process,” Sean Darsee said.  “You develop as a player, and at the same time they teach you how to look better on the field, better in video and how to talk to the coaches.  They’re making it a lot easier.”

Steve Sclafani, who founded the Baseball Factory 11 years ago and is its chief executive, said he believed some unscrupulous enterprises were damaging the image of the recruiting service industry.

“The people who say they’re experts in 25 sports and don’t do any developmental training, they’re probably just sending out bios and mass e-mails, and I don’t see the value in that,” Sclafani said.  “So I understand why coaches delete e-mails.  If you don’t know the people behind the organization, then it’s fluff.  It is a waste of time.” 

“But others don’t want to risk it,” he said.  “They’ve spent maybe $20,000 since their child was a high school freshman on travel teams, special tournaments and private tutors.  A $2,500 fee to a recruiting service is a good investment.”