Latest / Dugout Dish Baseball Recruiting Podcast powered by EMD Baseball / Episode 126: What to do in the fall? Committed, Uncommitted, and the 2027 Class

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Episode 126: What to do in the fall? Committed, Uncommitted, and the 2027 Class · Dugout Dish Baseball Recruiting Podcast powered by EMD Baseball

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Hey, parents and coaches, are your kids using the right glove? The most important skill for youth athletes to learn is how to play proper catch. The problem is most youth gloves are made with bad leather and are too big for small hands. They actually make it harder to play catch. That's why former Major League Baseball shortstop Kevin Smith created Cali Gloves. Cali gloves are crafted from 100% Japanese kip leather and are the perfect size for kids. All Cali gloves come with palm slits, finger loops, and elastic wrist lacing that encourage proper hand placement. The right closing patterns and give kids more confidence to go make plays. Cali Gloves even allow parents to break in the glove without stretching out the fit. It's the glove Kevin wishes he had growing up and the glove all his teammates want for their kids. Visit caligloves.com to learn more and help your kids play better catch. That's Cali Gloves. K a l I gloves.com.
• 1:11
  Speaker B: Welcome to this week's edition of the Dugout did podcast. I'm Andy Kerry Kes, joined by my Wonderful co host, Mr. Keith Glasser. Coach Glass, how we doing?
• 1:21
  Speaker C: Great. How are you?
• 1:22
  Speaker B: Good. Stumbled over that intro a little bit, but how do we do this? We do this off the cuff.
• 1:28
  Speaker C: It's fun.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: We don't. We don't pre record our intros. We let it fly around here, but let's dial back in. All right, so today's topic, right? We're filming this. You know, we're recording this at the end of July. We try to get out ahead of some of these things that are coming down the pipeline for people. And the next piece of the puzzle that I think people need to start thinking about is like, what are you going to do this fall? Right. And I think there's two different conversations to be had here that'll have some subtopics included. But we got to talk about what are you doing if you're 26 and you're committed, 26 uncommitted, and then that 27 group, I think, is. Is an important part of this conversation as well. And having a plan of attack, trying to understand what you're trying to accomplish. And there's a couple different things you need to keep in mind depending on where you are in the process, Right? So I think first off, let's Talk about the 26 right now who's still uncommitted, right? This is obviously, we're getting down to crunch time. We're not fans of panic. Rule number one is don't panic. But if you're uncommitted right now you gotta have a game plan for what that back end August and that September, October window is going to look like. And it needs to be really targeted and it needs to be very purposeful with where you are spending your time and how you are spending your time. If you just think that showing up at a couple travel ball tournaments is going to move the needle, it may not.
• 3:07
  Speaker D: Right.
• 3:07
  Speaker B: And there's an element of being able to read the tea leaves here. Where do you fit in the grand scheme of things? What types of schools have started to show some interest? So there's, there's a little bit to unpack here in terms of. Of. Of what you need to do if you're that uncommitted 26. But for me, it starts with you got to have a lay of the land of where you're at.
• 3:29
  Speaker D: Right.
• 3:29
  Speaker B: If you're the guy who thinks you were a Division 1 guy going into the summer and that just hasn't quite come to fruition for you, maybe you're getting some fringe interest, but you're starting to get some interest from Division 3 schools. You might have to shift focus a little bit.
• 3:44
  Speaker D: Right.
• 3:46
  Speaker B: Identifying some events on campus, camps to go to to get in front of some of these schools to hopefully get to the point where they're ready to make a decision on you being targeted and understanding that, you know, if you're not getting interest from those Division 1 schools, we need to get yourself in front of some Division 2 and Division 3 schools and make sure that those guys have a chance to see you so they can start to make some decisions. And you need to map that over top of your fall ball schedule. Because if you're uncommitted 26, it's going to be tough to get in front of enough people to play well enough if you don't play this fall.
• 4:25
  Speaker D: Right.
• 4:25
  Speaker B: Completely different conversation for 27. But if you're a 26, we got to have a plan.
• 4:30
  Speaker D: Right.
• 4:31
  Speaker B: We got to know where we're going, we got to know why we're going there. And you need to start laying the groundwork for that with social media work, with emails, with connecting with somebody who can open a couple doors for you. You got to act with a little bit of a sense of urgency here. And you need to be really targeted with where you're going and where you're spending your time. Sure.
• 4:52
  Speaker C: You know, I think for the uncommitted, it's also, and I can't piggyback enough on it is the not panic part, because I think that we've talked about a little bit of recently, a lot of places are moving a tad bit slower and I also think that not only from the. Some programs moving slower standpoint, but there's. I think we're probably going to see a lot more people that are going to be committing in the, you know, ed to early action, regular decision time frame at the Division 3 level for a lot of schools. You know, the, the division ones, I think for the most part are going to be, you know, fairly wrapped up by the, you know, I would say probably by September. That's not to say that, you know, there's more out there for some guys, but I would argue that the vast majority of Division 1 rosters are, you know, in the 26 class are, are going to be pretty much done from a recruiting standpoint in the very near future. You know, I don't know how much, you know, fall ball is going to move the needle for some of them, but I do think going to camps and things like that might, if you are being recruited there, could move the needle a little bit. I think it's a really tough thing to be able to go to a camp that you're, you know, at a school that you've never heard from but you're interested in. If you're a 2026 right now at the Division 1 level and think that you're going to be able to go in there and be good enough to be able to be recruited. Not to say that it's impossible, but I would say that the odds are stacked against you, you know, but being, you know, at a Division 2, Division 3 level, I don't think rosters and recruiting classes are close to being done for the vast majority of them, like targeting camps and finding places that you fit into academically that you're interested in that check the boxes for you for a lot of things that give you an opportunity to potentially go to that school and you know, either A, have a roster spot, be have the fall to make the team, C, try out whatever it might be is something that you're going to want to start looking into if this is what you want to do, you know, and I think the other side of it too is that you're arriving at a point in time where you need to make a decision as to whether or not this is what you want to do. Right? The numbers are what the numbers are, you know, 7, 8% are going to go play college baseball. Division 1, 2 and 3, maybe 10 if we throw in juco and an eyeball like, you know, there's, there's a lot of things that you need to do in order to make sure that you're giving yourself the best opportunity to be able to be recruited. It's weight room, it's off season programs, it's keeping up on your skill set, things of that nature over the course of the, the coming months. Again, it's the end of July, you still have August, September, October, November. Really, you know, you can go to some of these camps, especially at the Division 2 or 3 level and still get recruited out of them and, and have a legit shot of being able to, you know, be on a roster and have an opportunity to play. But understand that there's, what have you done to this point? And if it's the bare minimum, then maybe you need to do more. If it's less than the bare minimum, you definitely have to do more. If you've done a lot, then keep doing it and keep trying to grind and get better, you know, But I just think that there's, you know, we're at that kind of crossroads for some people, especially if you haven't gotten any calls or you haven't really talked to anybody, you know, there. You need to have a little bit of, of introspection on what it is that, you know, you have been doing, slash need to change doing so that you give yourself a chance to, to be able to be recruited and get in front of these coaches that, of schools and programs that you're interested in and be realistic.
• 9:01
  Speaker D: Right?
• 9:01
  Speaker C: Like if you're, if you have gotten zero calls from anybody, then, you know, we need to have a real legitimate talk about where you fit in. It's not to say that you, you don't. There's not a place out there. And I'm listen. This is a podcast of pulling back the veil on a lot of stuff. We work with families with kids that are going to go play college baseball. I am not of the thought that there's a place for everybody. It's just, it's, it's not realistic in the grand scheme of things. When 8% can play Division 1, 2 or 3 baseball, that means 92% of high school seniors aren't going to find a place to play college baseball. Now it's just the numbers don't bear themselves out that way, you know, but if you have a skill set in which, that, you know, from an honest evaluation standpoint, if you have a skill set that plays at the college level, it's figuring out what you need to do in order to enhance that skill set. So that when you do show up to some of these camps and talk to these coaches that you can, you know, kind of show that out. Like, maybe you just need to be a little bit more physical. Maybe you need to be in the weight room three or four times a week. I guarantee you, if you go left three to four times a week. I was talking to a coach today, Power 5 school. We had a long conversation about how the lowest hanging fruit for younger players is literally just going to the weight room. You don't even have to really know what you're doing. But just going to the weight room and getting stronger generally leads itself to you becoming a better baseball player. Because some of your deficiencies when you're that young are literally just because you're too weak. And if you can strengthen yourself, you might become, you can, you can gloss over some of those deficiencies or those deficiencies now are not as glow or as telling and don't stand out as much, you know, So I, I think it's, you know, for uncommitted guys that's kind of, you know, those types of things are what it is that you need to kind of hone in on while also having a very targeted approach to the schools. It is that you're going to go to a camp standpoint in the fall. Does that make sense? I'm sorry, I kind of, I went off there.
• 11:23
  Speaker B: No, but I, I think that, I think it's spot on.
• 11:26
  Speaker D: Right. Like.
• 11:28
  Speaker B: July 29th, you can get stronger in a month. You can get stronger in six weeks and give yourself a chance to have a better showing in September and October.
• 11:38
  Speaker D: Right.
• 11:39
  Speaker B: And, and you know, the weight room thing is huge. And like, we're going to get into that with the 27s for sure, but it really is the lowest hanging fruit for 99 of kids. The skill acquisition piece is. It's significantly easier, especially when you're stronger and you're able to complete movements and get the barrel going where it needs to go and get in better positions to throw the baseball and so on and so forth. So. But I think you nailed it with a lot of the 26 uncommitted stuff, is that you gotta have a really. You gotta have a stern conversation with yourself about where you fit. And it's not time to project out how you think this should be.
• 12:23
  Speaker D: Right.
• 12:24
  Speaker B: You got to take, you got to take a little bit of understanding of what the baseball world's telling you right now and where it might fit. And to your point earlier, 90% of high school kids don't get a chance to play college baseball. So you're still in a very small group of people who get the opportunity to do it. And we talk about it all the time like the, There's a lot of gray area between some Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 schools.
• 12:53
  Speaker D: Right.
• 12:53
  Speaker B: Everybody thinks of Division 1 is the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12, and like, yeah, that's great. That's. That's kind of the top of the food chain. But you get to the bottom end of Division 1, and there's a lot of crossover between Division 2 and Division 3 in terms of the players that go and play there or the guys who ultimately develop at those levels often become more than capable of playing at a high level, playing at that Division 1 level. So, you know, to scoff at Division 3 or Division 2 or junior college at this point, like, if you really want to play college baseball, you need to be open to opportunities to go and do it. Right now, the academic stuff is a completely different ball of wax if you're a high academic kid and we talk about not sacrificing that piece, but, you know, if you're just kind of a, a good, solid student who isn't going to get into an elite school and baseball really matters to you, you need to go find a place you can play if that's what really matters to you. And now is the time to open up your thought process, sit down and start to map out. All right, this is where I stand right now. This is the feedback I've gotten from the baseball world, good, bad, or ugly. And I need to, I need to make an adjustment. I need to make sure that that September October window is as productive as it can possibly be. And I need to make sure that I'm going to the right places and getting in front of the right schools and doing the legwork ahead of time to give myself the best chance to get recruited.
• 14:21
  Speaker C: Sorry, I don't, I don't want the pause if anyone think that the podcast ended. No, I think you're dead right. And, you know, it's, it's just the nature of, of what this is. And I think the, you know, the other side of it is that it is slower for the vast majority of programs right now. So, you know, there, there is a benefit to this that I think in years past it would, we would kind of be like, I don't want you to panic, but we need to make some drastic changes over the course of the next four weeks, where I think for a Good portion of Division 3 baseball and probably a large subset of Division 2. There's still a substantial amount of time where they're not having camps and stuff until September, October, where you have, you know, 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks where you can legitimately get yourself really good over the course of that time frame. From a weight room standpoint, from a conditioning standpoint, from a skill set standpoint, it's where you go to one of these camps and, you know, show up and show out and have a legit shot of, you know, being told that you're going to have a roster spot at one of these schools, you know, so I, I think that there's. That aspect that I think is unique to the rule changes and some of the things that are coming down the pike over the course of the last, you know, especially this summer and with some of the coaches that I've talked to and specifically at the Division 3 level that are just like, yeah, we're. We're kind of at a snail's pace here. Like, there's a lot of people out there. Like, we're just kind of, you know, gonna take our time and we'll start making kind of decisions in September, October, you know, kind of leading up to early decision in November, where it's going to be a little bit of a slower burn for some of those schools, you know, so there's still a. A plethora of time. You know, don't. Don't get it twisted there. You know, I think this podcast is likely to be released on 31 July, which is probably a good start. Like, that gives you the entire August, good portion of September and into October of, you know, really being able to figure out where you're going to fit in. But that gives you, you know, six, eight, 10, 12 weeks to really hone in. And again, to my original point, if you really want to do this, if this is something you really want to do, you still have a. A good portion of time to be able to do this. And that's not even taking into account, you know, finding a junior college that might be a good fit for you, depending on what you might want to do or what you don't know what you want to do academically, to be able to go play and play for two years and play a ton of baseball and not really have a lot of rules from a development standpoint there. Right? So, you know, there's. You don't have to make that decision until, you know, you show up on campus next year. You know, so there. There's a plethora of time. I don't want, you know, I don't want you to think that you have to panic on some of this stuff. But there needs to be a conversation and of where you currently fit and what it is you need to do in order to get better, to give yourself the best chance that you can to, to become uncommitted or to leave the uncommitted realm and venture into the committed realm.
• 17:42
  Speaker B: Well said, 26 committed guys. I think this is a little bit more straightforward, but I think there's a couple things to consider. One, probably want to be in contact with the schools that you're the school that you're committed to specifically if you're a pitcher.
• 18:02
  Speaker D: Right?
• 18:02
  Speaker B: This is the time of year where your workload from high school through the summer needs to be taken into consideration and figuring out what's going to be most valuable for you in the long term. In the long. By the long term, I mean what's going to set you up for success? To have an awesome off season, to go out with a bang in high school and get yourself ready to go play in college, Putting yourself at risk for injury because you've thrown a bunch of innings on short rest. And we all know how summer ball can go and we've talked about the issues we have with, with some of the way that pitchers are deployed during the summer. But taking a look at how much did you throw this offseason? Do you need to take some time off? Is a couple weeks off going to be sufficient? Because once you start to get into like, well, my Last outing was August 1st. I'm going to take a month off and I'm going to throw in September and October. That month might be too long. You might actually need to continue to throw to a certain extent and make sure that you're not really getting out of shape. Because that quick ramp up can actually be detrimental in terms of getting yourself ready and continuing to stay healthy. If you're going to throw in the fall, I think it needs to be calculated. I think it needs to be very much planned out. You shouldn't be throwing on Thursday and then coming back and throwing on Sunday. It should be a once a week thing. You're going out there to work on some stuff. You're going out there to compete. I know a lot of guys try to push for kind of the middle of October for the Jupiter Woodbath, the wwba, the big event for Myers down in, down in Florida. If you have eyes on pitching for that, like you need to work to get there, and then you need to focus on that off season. Some guys may need to just get into the weight room, take a month off, let your body heal up, and then, and then get into off season mode. And you know, we've talked about this before, the lowest hanging fruit. And the thing that most guys have to take care of before they get on campus is you need to be physically prepared to take on a college baseball season. And it's not the spring season, because your season as a baseball player starts when you get to campus in the fall. And you need to be able to withstand all the stresses and you need to be able to get on campus and be ready to rock and roll in that off season. Three extra months of development in the weight room could be the difference between being, being ready or not. So certainly some things to consider, I think case by case basis, but you got to really have an honest look from a pitch and perspective. What's your workload?
• 20:47
  Speaker D: Bend?
• 20:47
  Speaker B: Do you need to have more workload? Communicate with your college coaches because they might have opinions on it. They might say, hey, you know what, you threw through 85 innings this year between high school and summer. I, I think you, I think you need to kind of shut it down. And I also think it's important to get on the same page as those guys so you can understand how they handle guys, how they talk, the verbiage they use and start to get comfortable with, with what they do. From a position player standpoint, I don't worry about it quite as much. If you're healthy, go get some games. But do not forget that the weight room is incredibly important. You can lift while you play. You're going to have to do it when you get to college. So starting that weight training, strength training, mobility training, speed and agility training, getting that started in September I think is really important and something that can't be overlooked. You can do that and play at the same time. You have to. It's really that simple.
• 21:51
  Speaker C: Yeah. I think if you're committed, it really comes down to which position are you playing. In college, if you're an arm, then you need to evaluate how many innings you've thrown, what you've done. And I think bringing into the equation is talking to the program in which you're committed to and what they think you should be doing, while also, you know, working with whoever your pitching coach is and things of that nature. You know, if you're, if you have a light load and you want to keep throwing, sure. That's fine. But I, I think that having a plan as to when you're going to shut down, when you're going to ramp back up, what those things look like is, is a huge component to what you need to do this fall as a committed arm, you know, the weight room, obviously you need to continue to be in the weight room. And look, you know, some of this also hinges on if you're a two or three sport athlete too. You know, you might be shutting it down a little bit sooner because you play football or volleyball or hoops, whatever it might be. But, you know, what does that look like? I'm with you on position, guys. If you're committed, you know, it's not the end of the world. You know, it's probably in your benefit to be able to go get as many at bats as you possibly can over the course of the fall just to make sure that you're staying sharp and still playing and doing those things. And same thing, if you're a dual or three sport guy, then, you know, it might be a little bit, a little bit different. But that also means, it doesn't mean you put the baseball bat down for four or five months during football season. You still want to be getting some swings in and getting reps in so that you're, you're keeping some of the things sharp so that when you do come back in the spring, you're not as, as far back as, as you could be because you've taken three or four or five months off, you know, so I, I think that those two things, along with being in the weight room, making sure your conditioning is there, all of those things are paramount for what you want to do. On top of all of that, and I think we discussed this in a recent podcast, you need to be making sure that you're on top of your application stuff as well. So if you are committed, you want to make sure it's a perfect time coming up as we release this at the end of July, beginning of August, because I think, you know, most, most applications at schools start opening up over the course of the next couple weeks. So, you know, if you're not a fall sport guy or you know, you have a little bit of downtime in between some tournament stuff, it's not a bad idea to, you know, start filling out the application for the school in which you're committed so that you can get in everything it is that you need to that school, you know, in a timely early fashion. You know, most schools nowadays really just need you to submit the application and then everything else comes in electronically from your guidance counselors, you know, so if you can get your app in and get your essay done and do those types of things with the application, then, you know, you hit submit. And now all you got to do is wait on your guidance counselor to be able to send stuff into the school. And, you know, my guess, and I don't really know the answer to this off, like as concrete, my guess would be that if you get it done early, they're probably working and they can get a lot of your stuff over before they get inundated with every other kid at that school, at your high school that's trying to apply to colleges too. So they can probably get your stuff in a little bit earlier and you're done. And that's something off your plate that you don't necessarily have to worry about. So I would, I would definitely advise, you know, getting some of that stuff back done and squared away with as early as possible so that you. It's not something where, you know, early decision is November 15th or November 1st, whatever it might be at the school that you're doing it on Halloween when, you know, you're out there trick or treating dressed up as Marshall from Paw Patrol, trying to get some candy and then you're panicking about getting your application in. So my advice would be, you know, get out in front of that and you know, along with everything else I just said, weight room games, keeping your stuff sharp, all that stuff.
• 26:02
  Speaker B: Yeah, great point about the application piece. You don't want that hanging over your head and you got plenty of time to start chipping away at it. Don't let that wait till the last minute. It's way more fun trick or treating if you got your app in 27s. I think the conversation for pitchers is similar.
• 26:23
  Speaker D: Right.
• 26:23
  Speaker B: Health matters. You got to take a look at your workload and figure out what the best, best plan is going to be for the fall. I think for me, where I come with, with a lot of 27s is most 27s aren't going to get recruited heavily this fall. And you have to be able to determine whether you're one of those guys or not. And you'll know because you're probably going to start getting some phone calls in August. You know, playing in the fall is probably going to be really important for you to move the needle. But I think it's that next group of guys that I want to speak to, which is the right handed pitchers who are 80 to 83.
• 27:05
  Speaker D: Right.
• 27:05
  Speaker B: The left handed pitchers who are 79 to 82, you know, guys who are even lower than that. Does pitching this fall move the needle for you in recruiting or are you better served putting the ball down and going and getting yourself physically ready so that you can show up in the springtime when you're more than likely going to get some interest or for next summer for a lot of guys, is that going to be more beneficial? And for me it's a no brainer, right? If you're that right handed pitcher who's 80 to 83 right now, unless you make a significant velo jump in the next couple months, you're not, you're not going to get recruited this fall if you're that lefty who's 78 to 81, unless you make a big velo jump in the next two or three months, you are not going to get recruited this fall. Because Division 1 schools are the only schools who are paying attention to 27s in September, October, November. I think the mistake that a lot of people make is they think going and pitching is going to move the needle when really what you're doing is you're kicking the most important can down the road two months and that you really actually need to get in the weight room and you need to get stronger and you need to develop physically so that you can set yourself up for that eventual velo gain in the off season.
• 28:32
  Speaker D: Right?
• 28:32
  Speaker B: And I think a lot, I think the same can be said for a lot of positional guys now. I think it's easier to play in the fall and get all your physical work in if you're just a position player. But if you're running a 7, 5 and you weigh 155 pounds, that game experience matters, right? And playing matters. Don't, don't get, don't get it twisted like playing those games, being in game situations matter. But going from 155 to 180 this off season and going from seven five to seven one or seven or six, nine, that is way more important than you playing 12 games this fall in traveling around every weekend to go and play and get. If you play 12 games, maybe you get 30 at bats. I don't think that those 30 at bats move the needle for you, but I do think that the weight room does in the weight room sets you up to have a really good spring, which is the spring board to getting recruited in the spring and the summer. So my stance on that is for me is pretty clear cut. Like if you got division one interest right now, yeah, you need to go play.
• 29:47
  Speaker D: Right.
• 29:47
  Speaker B: Because you want to keep the ball rolling, you want to have some momentum, you need to go play well this fall. But you can't discount what needs to be done in the weight room because if you're not getting offers, you still need to get better. Right? That's pretty clear cut for me. But those, those other guys that I just talked about, you need to have a really honest conversation about playing the long game here and not worrying about getting recruited, but worry more about what do I need to do to become recruitable. Because if you're in that ranges that I talked about from a pitching perspective, you're not getting recruited this fall, right? If you're £155 and run a 7 5, you're not getting recruited this fall.
• 30:29
  Speaker C: No. I think that that's probably the biggest question that a lot of people are going to have to ask themselves over the course of the next couple of weeks. You know, we've talked about it a bunch on here that the lowest hanging fruit is just being able to get more physical. And you know, it's not to say that you have to completely put the baseball down or the bat and the glove down, but you know, maybe playing 12 games and pitching four times, you know, it's what you're driving at is those four outings of three innings and we'll call it 12 innings isn't moving the needle for anybody from a recruiting standpoint. So you might be better served just getting in the weight room and getting with your pitching coach and coming up with a plan as to what your fall, winter and spring look like to build up into the spring as you get more physical and, and better at throwing said baseball and same thing from a position player standpoint. You know, I would argue a little bit that if you're not, if you're not a football or soccer or you know, if you're not a full sport kid, and you, you want to play football as a position player, you know, getting an extra, you know, 30, 40 at bats isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's paramount that you're in the weight room and you're getting more physical over the course of the week because at least during fall ball, you're generally playing, you know, a little bit more local slash Friday night, Saturday and maybe a little bit on Sunday.
• 32:07
  Speaker D: Right.
• 32:08
  Speaker C: So, you know, you have the entire week to be able to get in the weight room and do the things it is that you need to do to get more physical. And I bet you that you probably see some, some substantial gains over the course of the four or five week fall ball schedule, you know, but from a pitching standpoint, I think that's where, you know, with a lot of kids, if you're in that 78, 81 mile an hour, 82, 83 mile an hour, right hander, you know, left hander formula.
• 32:36
  Speaker B: Formally.
• 32:39
  Speaker C: And right hander, you know, I think that you're. Those 12 innings, 13 innings aren't moving the needle for anybody with what you're doing, you know, you're, you know, and especially if you are a two sport athlete, like if you're playing football and not doing anything during the week and then trying to throw on Saturday after you got, you know, beat up Friday night playing football, you're probably doing yourself a disservice with what you're rolling out there. And you know, people might show up and be like, yeah, this is not even close to what it was in the spring, he's probably banged up or in the summer, you know, a lot of innings, whatever it might be like, and they're just going to kick the can down the road till next year. So, you know, I, the reality is I, I think, you know, the, the power conferences are going to be recruiting the 20, 27 class at some point over the course of the next couple months. And again, I was on the phone with the power four, you know, conference coach today and they're even kicking around how many 27s that they're going to commit because they don't know what the roster is going to look like next year. So what does that look like? You know, I'm not saying that they're not going to go out and commit guys because they will. But I don't think that there's going to be as many early commitments as we've seen in years past because with the transfer portal, the 34, the, the designated student athletes, all these things that are new, I, I think it's so new that people are going to, you know, a lot of programs are going to kind of take their time with the future class and kind of see, you know, hey, if it's a can't miss guy that we wouldn't get otherwise. Yeah, man, let's pull the trigger and see what we can do here. But if it's, you know, a bunch of 87, 89 arms, like we're going to see another, you know, 100 of them next year in the spring and in the summer. So, you know, we don't necessarily have to pull the trigger here unless they do some outlier stuff, you know, but you can move yourself into that 87, 89 arm range if you decide to take the kind of the fall off and go get more physical and be able to throw the baseball a little bit harder is what we're driving out here. You know, you can move the needle on that stuff depending on where you are at now. And you know, I, I do think that part of this, like you need to understand that there needs to be a plan behind it as well. You know, you have a pitching coach, you have a plan, you have a throwing program, you're going to shut down for X amount of months. This is my weight training program that I'm doing. I'm getting more physical here. I'm also being able to throw and then I'm going to have a build up period into the spring and into the summer so that I'm the best version of myself when college coaches show up to see me throw. You know, late next spring, early next summer, you know, as, again, as we record this on the 29th of July, you know, you probably don't have to make it. You probably are making a decision on this and sometime in the very near future, you know, but even if, you know, you're talking September, October, November, December, January, February for March really is when, you know, Northeast Mid Atlantic baseball really kicks off high school wise and probably into the Midwest too. You know, you're talking seven months. That is a lot of time to develop and get stronger, get bigger, get faster, all of those types of things. And you know, I'm not saying that fallball isn't important in the grand scheme of things, but I think under current rules and how things work that you can make a really, really strong argument to. I don't know if it's worth it if you are a guy who's, you know, close to being recruitable, but you're like, you need that extra push of being able to do some stuff and maybe, you know, taking those 12 innings, four outings off are going to be more beneficial for you come seven, you know, seven months into the spring, you know, we're 10 to 11 months into the summer of next year, you know, so what can you do in the course of six months, what can you do the course of eight, 10, 12 months to put yourself in a position so that when we're recording this again in, you know, July of next year, August of next year, and it's going out again like, you know, the 2028 class, this is what you should probably do, like we have a plethora of 20, 20 sevens who have kind of done this and proven like, hey, you know, I was not a Division 1 guy at the end of my sophomore or you know, going into my junior year, but coming out of my junior year, I've committed to a Division 1 school or a high end Division 3 academic school that's really good, whatever it might be. And you, you check the boxes you're looking for and end up at the school you want to be at. You know, but I think the, the biggest thing is that it's got to start sometime in the very near future. You know, I would say you're probably cut off date is going to be August 15 to 20 ish to make a decision on what you're going to do over the course of the fall. Because. And I think the other thing too that we kind of gloss over a little bit too Andy, is that, you know, the, the, the fall season is relatively short from a recruitment standpoint. You might play more games, but the Division 1 calendar is only open for.
• 37:49
  Speaker B: What, four weeks, one month, September 12th to October 12th.
• 37:52
  Speaker C: Right. So like you're, they're, they're quiet and, or dead, you know, starting in the very near future. So you either have to go to their camp or you need to, you know, that recruitment period of them being able to go out, like you might play six, seven weeks of fall ball, but like there's only four weeks where they can go and actually see you play. And that's if they're even going to the tournaments in which, in which you're going to play in, you know, so, you know, you have to weigh that side of things too. And I, I do think that you can probably make an argument that like, hey, if you don't want to play football, you know, you could be the weight room and doing some things and if you still want to throw, you're probably better off targeting three or four camps of schools that you're really interested in and going to their camps and just getting feedback from what they have to say. Like, you know, there's 12 innings right there, you know, between eight and 12 innings that you can throw right there in front of probably, you know, at least four schools. And if there's some division ones out there, they're probably going to have more schools at that camp as well. So you can get in front of a handful of coaches and you can probably get some legit feedback of like, hey, what do you guys think? Hey, you need to get more physical. Want to see you throw the baseball a little bit harder, those types of things. And then it just kind of validates what, like the decision you've already made of like, I'm not playing football just because, you know, I want. I'm in the weight room five days a week. I'm throwing my pitching coach. I'm really just, you know, building up over the course of the, you know, for these four camps. And then I'm shutting it down and then I have a longer. Whatever it might. Your plan might be. But, you know, I think that that also shows a little bit more insight to college coaches of like, okay, there's actually a plan here that this kid is trying to execute in order to get himself recruited. It's not just, I'm throwing stuff at a wall and hoping it sticks. It's, I have a plan. I'm just trying to execute it. Instead of throwing 12 innings for my fall ball team, I'm going to go to these camps and get in front of some coaches that I want to see. You don't have to do the camps either. I'm just saying that, that, that could be an option on time instead of doing fall baseball because a lot of these camps are going to be on the weekends in, you know, October. So maybe you shut it down for a month and then build back up in the month of September and throw, you know, two or three weekends in October at some of these camps, get some legit feedback, shut it down again, and then have a longer build up into the, into the spring. Yeah, I guess my point is that there's, there's multiple different ways to go about doing this, to essentially get to the same outcome. It doesn't have to just be that you have to shut it down and not play football. Like, you can do a bunch of things. Like yours can just be, hey, I'm not playing football, but I'm going to throw at these camps and get the same amount of innings and get more feedback and guarantee myself being in front of some coaches of schools that I am interested in. And like we talk about all the time, it satisfies a lot of different things. Like, you can go to, maybe you go to one of these camps. You're like, I don't even like the school. Like, I went, I visited, the kids were on campus. Like, I, I just don't see myself fitting in there. Like, not, you know, in September of your junior year, that, that's not a school that you want to go to. And at least, you know, so if they come calling, it's like, yeah, No, I visited. I don't think it's a good fit for me. Okay. It's fine. Onto the next.
• 41:09
  Speaker B: Yeah, you bring up a really good point that there is multiple ways to to tackle this and I'm glad you did because there's definitely some significant value in going to places that either have interest or you think are of interest to you, then guaranteeing that you're going to get in front of those guys. Because you bring up a good point about the window just for everybody's understanding here. So on August 18th, the quiet period starts and that means that Division 1 coaches cannot leave campus to evaluate. That period runs until September 11th. And then there's a one month period, the contact period, where coaches are actually allowed to leave campus and go evaluate. That's September 12 to October 12. On October 13, Division 1 schools cannot leave campus to evaluate a player until March 1 of the next year. So thinking about how valuable is playing four weekends versus not playing and getting in the weight room versus maybe going to a couple targeted camps where you can really focus in and prime yourself to go throw well in front of those guys and maybe set yourself up for maybe it's a potential offer, maybe it's throwing well enough where those guys care to track you throughout the off season and they want to come see you see in the spring, see you throw in the spring or play in the spring, whatever it might be. But I think that this your plan for the fall for these 27s. I think it's very important.
• 42:37
  Speaker D: Right.
• 42:37
  Speaker B: And I think this conversation goes to the 28s too, right? Most 28 texting with an ACC coach the other day and said, hey, when are you Gonna care about 28? He said, Call me in seven months if you got a guy. So if you're a 28, you really need to think about how valuable it is for you to go and play this fall. Because the weight room might be the difference between you getting phone calls next August and not getting phone calls. Right. So I think you got to play the long game even more if you're on that younger side. If you're a 28 who's trending to be a Division 1 guy, I would think long and hard about whether you play this fall where you shift your focus, Right. And some of those camps come into play for 28 because it is a way to get on somebody's radar. So maybe it is a little bit more targeted in that respect. But I think people get caught up in the idea that you need to be out, you need to Play, you need to travel and that that's going to get you recruited. Like, fundamentally, you need to be recruitable first. It doesn't matter where you go if you're not good enough. So these are hard conversations to have and they're hard realizations to come to potentially, because some of the answers that you're going to get when you really try to break this down, they might not be what you want to hear.
• 43:57
  Speaker D: Right.
• 43:57
  Speaker B: You might not want to hear that you're not going to get recruited this fall, throwing 80 miles an hour. But it's the truth. And that understanding the situation likely is going to set the table for you to have a better chance of getting recruited when your time frame comes. Which is most for, for 98% of kids, maybe even 99. And I'm not being hyperbolic, their recruiting window is going to be next spring and next summer. There are very few 27s who are going to get locked up. You're going to see it on Twitter and it's going to seem like a bunch of SEC and ACC guys are getting committed, but it's still an incredibly small percentage of the Division one population that is going to be making commitments in August, September and October. It's really that simple.
• 44:45
  Speaker C: Yeah, no, I, I don't think that there's many, if at all, that are really going to be recruited. This, you know, we're talking super, super high end guys. The, the vast majority of them are going to be recruited next spring and summer. So I, you know, I just don't think that there's, you know, there's a lot of different ways to go about doing this. You know, I think it's just more the figuring out what model and what path is best for you because everyone's path is different. So what works best for you with what you've done this summer, where you're at? And I think having those conversations with your coaches, people like us, who help people through this process, what that looks like to give you a legit idea of what you should and need to be doing over the course of the next 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 months in order to get yourself to the spot that you want to be at.
• 45:56
  Speaker B: Well said, coach. Anything else you would like to add for today's podcast? Nope.
• 46:02
  Speaker D: All right.
• 46:04
  Speaker B: All right, everybody. Thank you for listening. I hope that was informative. Lot to think about, make some decisions. If you need help, got questions, hit us up. Interwebs website, emdbaseball.com you know the drill. This is what we do. This is why we do it. Hope you enjoy listening. Thank you everybody. Thank you for listening this week. If you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and smash that like button for us. Check us out on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts as well as Spotify. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram MD Baseball. If you want to find out what me and Keith do to help families and players navigate the recruiting process, go ahead and check us out on emdbaseball.com take a few minutes to check out our new online academy. I promise you'll get some good information out of that. Thanks again for listening. Check in with you next week.