Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Welcome to this week's edition of in the Clubhouse with EMD Baseball. I'm Andy Kira Kutis, joined by my wonderful co host Keith Glasser. How we doing?
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Great. How are you?
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Good.
We are in the period of time where coaches are allowed to leave campus and evaluate players.
We want to take a couple minutes to talk about in season recruiting and kind of what it looks like from a coach's perspective. Because I think that at times people think that coaches are just out every day at high school games and you know, traveling all over to see guys and wanted to shed some light on kind of what it looks like for coaches where they prioritize things and kind of frame that up from a couple different levels. Because I do think that, you know, Division one, Division two and Division three are going to handle this period of time a little bit differently and we can both speak to it having done it at, at all of those levels, kind of what your, your in season recruiting plan looks like and how you're putting that together in terms of the flexibility you have to get off campus, what you're trying to prioritize and going from there. So you want to, want to kick this one off here. Coach?
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Sure.
The in season recruiting piece is a delicate balance.
The, you know, as high school spins up depending on where you are in the country. But as high school spins up, we'll, we'll take, for argument's sake, New York because that's where I spent the vast majority of my coaching career.
You're talking about April, you know, late March, early April is when, when high school starts spinning up for their high school season can be a little touch and go. Obviously from a weather standpoint, we got some snow out here in Rochester Today on April 8, which was depressing, you know, so pretty much every game was banged. I don't know if we'll be playing tomorrow or Thursday, you know. But the tricky part with the in season recruiting from a baseball standpoint is it depends on A, the level, B, the school and see your schedule. And I mean that from a practice and a game standpoint, you know, so from a, we'll start with the, the schedule standpoint. So from a game and a practice standpoint, you know, you're not going to be leaving campus for the most part. You know, we're going to talk about, generally speaking, the, you know, I spent time in the Mac at the Division 3 level. You know, this is excluding, you know, some Power 4 schools, right? Like Power 4 schools are, can and will be out on the road frequently throughout the course of the year, missing games to go see guys play, not going to be the case at every level.
So, you know, if you're playing on Tuesday or Wednesday, like, you're obviously not going to be able to get out and see high school games then because you're playing, you're going to be with your team. If you're traveling on Thursday or Friday, because you play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're traveling on Thursday, like, you know, at best it could be something like, hey, we're, you know, we're going to be playing, you know, we were at Siena, like we're playing Niagara this weekend, but there's a guy throwing on Thursday that I want to see. I know we're going to practice and the bus is leaving on Thursday. You know, somebody might stay and drive out Thursday night or Friday morning because they're going to stay and we're going to see a guy pitch, you know, but we're not going to miss Friday's game to go see somebody throw because we're playing. The other part from a scheduling standpoint is going to be your practice schedule. You know, so when I coach at Siena, we practiced around 12:30 to, you know, 3:30 every day, or 3:00 we'll call it. Which allowed us time to be able to get into the locker room, shower change and get out to any of the high school games that we wanted to see on days that we were not playing when I coached at rpi, because the class schedules, we practiced from four to six, you know, so there were not a lot of opportunities outside of Mondays because those were or off days for me to get out and go see guys play at the high school level. So the vast majority of the high school games that I saw were just going to be on Mondays throughout the course of the high school season. The only other time that I would be able to actually get out and see these guys play would be during spring break, because some of the high schools during spring break will play at 11am Right? So I could go see a bunch of games at 11am during that week because we were. Even if we were playing, as long as we weren't on the road, we were at home because, you know, we would be playing at four. So I could go see someone play at 11 o'clock, be back to the our field by one and pregame starts at two. So we would be good to go there. And same thing from a practice standpoint, I could go see someone play at 11 and be done by one. We don't start practice till four. I still got time to be able to be with my team. So, you know, from a scheduling standpoint, it's going to depend on what practice and class schedules dictate on top of what your game schedule dictates for a lot of those guys to be able to get out and see people play.
The, what were the other ones I talked about?
This is, my mind is gone today. This is a tough go, everybody.
You know, the other part I, I think is, you know, the, the. As the season wears on, especially from like this, this also speaks to the schedule part. You know, most, most are going to be finishing up their, their game schedule. You know, if you're a Division 3 school, you're finishing up around that into the, the conference tournament regionals, usually high school baseball still being played into late May. So you can catch a lot more games as your season kind of winds down and you're, you're done playing, you know, so there's, there's a lot of games to be had around then. There's not going to be a ton of guys that are out, you know, especially early on in the high school season because the weather is going to dictate a lot, you know, but generally you're going to be staying fairly local, you know. Does that mean that you can't get in a car and drive an hour or two hours to go watch someone play? No, like, you can certainly do that. But the vast majority of the stuff you're going to try to hammer out your local area with, you know, who you need to see. Usually you're going to have more than one person who can recruit, so you're going to have two or three. You know, you might have two people out watching local high school games so you can cover more games. And maybe a third person might drive that, you know, hour downstate to Kingston to watch somebody, you know, at Arlington High School throw or play, whatever it might be. So you're trying to stay, you know, within about an hour of where you are so that you can see all the players it is that you need to see early on so that, you know, and generally speaking, those are going to be high guys that you, you know, either you're going to see some of the better teams that you've gotten and had success with before or guys that you're high on and you want to get a really good look on early on so that when you see them again early in the summer, you have the ammo to be like, hey, I saw this kid play two or three times in the high school season, I liked what I saw. I saw him play again once or twice early on in June. Like, this is a kid we want to get on campus to meet with and we want him to be a part of our program.
So, you know, it's, it's. I would argue that your recruiting is a little bit more targeted in season with guys that you've been interested in from the previous fall and the winter into what you're doing in the spring. And also targeted from the standpoint of you're, you're going to go see games of teams and programs where you've had success in the past and you have relationships with coaches of like, hey, I can go show up at this game. And maybe I'm not recruiting someone right now, but I know in talking to their coaches that there's four or five guys on their team that are academically qualified to get into my school and, and are interested in what it is that we offer academically. So it's worth me taking the chance to go down there and see them to see if there's anything there that I can kick the tires on and maybe could be a part of my program. So, you know, I think, you know, it's, you're targeted from the stand, that, that standpoint. And again, this all kind of fits into what your schedule from a game and practice standpoint looks like. You know, the other part, the level part, right. Like division one, two, three, you know, your division ones are going to try to spread out and get to see a little bit more. The division threes are probably going to be a tad bit more targeted because you're going to be a little bit more, you know, local.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Ish.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: I would say from a recruiting standpoint, depending on the, the academic profile of your school. You know, at rpi, we were, we were a national profile. So, you know, we did really well in Albany. So I wanted to hammer the Albany area early on and then be able to kind of branch out early in the summer and then reign it back in as we go. So everyone kind of has their own path, I would say, or, or, or plan as to how they're going to go about doing it. But those are probably the three biggest areas in which guys are going to go about their in, in season recruiting type stuff. For, from my experience, yeah.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: And I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that mine was terribly different. I will say when I was at William and Mary, Monday was a day that we all, the two of us would usually hit the road, right. We had Three guys who recruited our head coach and then myself and our pitching coach, Brian Casey, who's now the head coach of the Coast Guard Academy.
Monday was a day that we made a point to, in season, have a plan. Who's pitching, who's playing where, to your point. Usually pretty targeted guys that, you know, if it was a position player, it's somebody that we already had a beat on and we're trying to accumulate like a really quality evaluation.
The other thing would be if you've got really good information on that kid who's kind of popped, you know, popped over the winter, got a little bit stronger, runs a little bit better, and you've got a contact that says, hey, I think it's worth you coming up and checking this kid out, get some eyes on them.
But it's pretty targeted, right? Like, you're not going to random high school games. It's not like in the summer where, you know, if you're at Diamond Nation and you go there to see a Kid pitch at 8 o'clock in the morning, that you just stick around and just kind of see if anybody can play. Even if you're not there for a specific kid, you go watch some teams that you kind of like or teams that you've had success with or whatever it might be in the high school season, it's going to be a lot more targeted.
We did not miss practice or games to go see guys. Yeah, William and Mary, right? Our thought was we need to do everything for our guys on campus, period. And that was part of the reason that three of us never went out on the road is because we always wanted somebody back on campus to work with our guys or to be there if they needed us to open up the bad cage, whatever it might be, right?
Not all schools do that. To your point, there are programs that will, they will sacrifice an assistant coach for a midweek game to go watch a kid pitch. That is usually going to be. When you're trying to make a decision on a guy, right? You're not flying, you know, you're. You're not flying somewhere or driving five or six hours and missing a game to go see a guy for the first time. You're, you're usually going there because you know that kid's got a couple offers in his pocket. You need to make your decision one way or another and you need more information to do so. That's usually what that circumstance looks like. Once again, every program does this a little bit differently, but I think there's a little bit of a False understanding that college coaches are just all over the place at high school games all the time, and it's just not the case. Most coaches aren't going to miss games, even if it's local. They're not going to miss games to go watch a kid pitch. You know, the pitching coach isn't going to not call pitches on your Tuesday midweek game to go watch a guy throw.
And to your point, most schools are going to be limited by their geographic region and the distance in which they're going to travel.
We typically stayed in Virginia during the season in terms of making. And that was part of our strategies. Like, you know, we needed to know the guys in the state of Virginia, being a Virginia state school, you know, but we weren't driving six hours up to New York City to go watch a kid play in northern New Jersey.
It just wasn't really in the cards unless it was an absolute priority guy that we were ready to offer big money to. And we needed to see six more innings of him in game where he's going to get the ball on pitch one and he's not coming out until pitch 95. We didn't feel like we saw that sample size at the Division 3 level.
There's not nearly as much. It's to your point, and you talked about it from your perspective at rpi, that, yeah, you're going to go see some high school games, right? But it's probably going to be very regionalized, and you're going to make sure that you're good in your own backyard and you see guys that qualify for what you're looking for, and you have kind of either have some experience with them in the past from the previous fall, or maybe a camp. Um, so I think that just understanding that coaches, they're not going to be at high school games, they're not missing conference weekends to watch you pitch on a Saturday.
But at the same time coaches are out, it's usually more targeted during the season, and you're going to see specific guys trying to get that little bit of extra homework.
You know, you got the 27 class right now.
Maybe you're trying to turn over a couple rocks. If it lines up that you got an off day and a 27 that you like is throwing, you might try to go get a, you know, get an initial eval on that kid and figure out, you know, do I need to make a point to go see this kid again in the summer, Maybe start making some phone calls if you like a kid, you know, starting to lay the Groundwork there, but a lot more targeted and you're 100% restricted by your responsibility to your team on campus and making sure that you're doing well by them.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Yes.
Sorry, I didn't want to go. Long delay there.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah, don't need any more comments about long delays.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: No, I, I think that's one of the, the biggest pieces. Right. Like the, the, the in season stuff is a little bit harder. Like, you know, you're generally not going to know that when guys are going to be there, you know, and I, I guess, let me retract that statement. It's if you're, if you're being actively recruited by someone, you're likely going to know when they're going to be there, right? Like, especially if you're an arm or, or somebody that they're really high on. Like, you know, they're probably going to tell you like, hey, I'm, you know, I'm planning on coming on Wednesday to watch a thrower or play, you know, but if you're not being actively recruited, you know, that's when like you don't know who's going to show up. Like, you might have five, six, seven coaches at a game or you might have 0 for 2 or, you know, but as the season, the college season winds down, obviously there's going to be likely to have, you know, more guys there, you know, and then obviously in the summer it's, it's a hell of a lot easier for guys because there's no, there's no requirements for them on campus and coaching their guys. They're going to be out recruiting. So the, the in season stuff just gets a little bit more targeted where you know you're going to have, it's going to be more local slash, you know, there's not a lot of programs aside from the power fours that are out there, you know, missing games and midweeks and stuff for, to go see guys throw, you know. Do I think that it happens at some of the mid majors? Yeah, I do. Like, it's not a blanket statement, but I would say the overwhelming majority, like you don't have guys missing games specifically to go recruit during the season. You know, I could see people missing a practice here and there. But from that standpoint, you know, kind of to your point, like if someone's out recruiting, like my, I venture a guess that it's one of the four coaches that are out actually recruiting because it's, it's either the pitching guy or the hitting guy because they're going to make a decision on a guy, not, you know, not just ho hum, this guy's throwing. I want to go see him like, hey, we have to go see this kid and really make a decision on what it is that we want to do. So I'm going to go see him throw today or I'm going to see him play. And then, you know, generally speaking, everyone's, whoever's there can obviously handle what's going on at practice for one day, you know, but there's, there's varying schools of thought from that standpoint. But I would say the overwhelming majority of guys you're going to see, you know, aren't going to be leaving campus a whole lot to miss practicing games to go see guys play.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: You mean to tell me that Tony Bottello is not missing a Sunday game against Arkansas to go see a guy throw?
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think Tony's. I don't think Coach Vitello is leaving the dugout when the Voles are strapping on the ball suits and rolling it out there in an SEC matchup with the mighty Razorbacks of Arkansas. I think that he's going to be dialed in for all nine innings for that contest. That's probably going to take a lot out of you mentally and probably physically, but a lot more mentally. Yeah.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Anything else you want to add on that, Coach? Nope. All right, well, thank you for listening, everybody. Hopefully that sheds a little bit of light from the coach's perspective on how in season recruiting works. Tune in next week for another topic. We'll talk to you then. Thanks, 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, 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.
