When Should My Son Start College Baseball Recruiting?

I get asked all the time when a family should start the recruiting process.

There’s not a date on the calendar that makes it official. Anyone selling you a single “you’re already late” timeline is selling fear.

The recruiting process cannot start in any useful way until he’s good enough to play at the next level. You can send emails as a freshman. You can go to every camp on the list. Until the tools are there, none of that moves a coach.

For kids who are going to play at a power-five school, that process starts earlier. Those coaches are looking at sophomores, and sometimes freshmen, because they’re competing for the best players in the country.

Most kids are not in that group. Most kids have more time than the industry wants them to believe.

If he’s 12, 13, 14 — your job is development. Love of the game. The first 20 minutes. Getting the 60, the arm, and the bat speed moving. That is the work. Recruiting is not.

When the tools are real — usually as a sophomore or junior — then you start the process. Emails from him. A short video. Camps that actually make sense for the level he can play.

Don’t start recruiting before he’s good enough. That’s just spending money.

Start the academic piece yesterday. Freshman grades count. The baseball calendar can wait until there’s something to recruit.