Questions to Ask During College Baseball Recruiting

A college baseball commitment is a huge decision. It combines the typical education factors like major availability, geographic location, culture and education rigor with baseball considerations like roster, development and schedule. There are many factors that are easy to overlook what a school is trying to sell a player on the benefits of their program. Beyond the dollars and cents of the baseball scholarship offer, consider these questions to have a thorough understanding of the program before stepping foot on campus and being surprised by something important you didn’t think of.

Recruiting Questions List

• How would you describe your culture? What are stories or symbols that you use to reinforce that culture? What makes your program stand out vs comparable programs?
• What do you see as my weaknesses? Given that list, how would you help me develop? Can I practice at a secondary position to expand my skill set?
• What’s distinctive about your approach to the game (e.g., focus on fast player for a speed game, only want power pitchers over 90 mph)? How do you envision me fitting in for playing time with the existing roster? How do you work in younger players?
• How often do freshman start during the summer after high school graduation? What does that experience look like?
• How do you use the transfer portal? Why are percent of your players transferring out? How many have transferred in over the past few years?
• Where are the freshman dorms relative to the field? Will you need a car to get there? Does the baseball team share weight room time with other teams or have its own facility?
• How does NIL work at the school? Does the offer include critical injury insurance?
• What technology do you use to help with development? (Biometrics lab, Blast, Rapsodo, Proteus, Titan movement tracking, Whoop for sleep monitoring and recovery)
• What does summer and fall development look like (intra-squad scrimmages, scrimmages with other schools)? Will you help me find a team with to play summer ball or am I on my own for that?
• What have you changed about your program in the past couple of years to make it more competitive?
• What physical assessments will you take and monitor over time? Sparta Score, OnBaseU, ArmCare.com, x-Ray of the back for PARS injury
• How custom will training be for the player’s strengths and weaknesses? For example, are all hitters trained the same why, are they grouped by weakness (contact rate) or profile (home run hitter) or grouped in even more detail like Maryland does with motor preferences?
• Do I get to access and keep my Rapsodo, Trackman and other data or does the team restrict that?
• How is volume monitored and adjusted for periods of stress like finals week, which has been known to trigger injuries?
• How do you coordinate schedules with the S&C coach to avoid over use? How is recovery managed?
• How do you manage two-way players? Is practice volume limited in the field because of bullpen throwing volume?
• What do you do to develop speed (sprints), bat speed (over and underweighted bats) and arm speed (weighted balls)?
• What’s your overall injury rate? How many arm injuries, Tommy Johns and rotator cuff surgeries have you had? What’s the soft tissue injury rate? PARS incidence rate?
• Last, but not least, if faith is important to you and your player, ask about if they have a chaplain or access to a on campus ministry group during the summer. Also look at this list of sports discipleship resources

As you go through the process, one camp you don’t want to miss is Vanderbilt’s summer prospect camp and don’t forget to look at the college baseball recruiting tips.