“Rudy” is one of my favorite movies.

In case you don’t know the story, here’s a synopsis:

Rudy is a below-average high school football player who LOVES the game and LOVES the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program.

He’s not good enough to play at Notre Dame (nor are his grades good enough to get admitted).

He attends a junior college to improve his grades while continuing to train, hoping to get admitted to Notre Dame and walk-on to the football team.

After many peaks and valleys, he achieves his dream!

He gets admitted to Notre Dame, attends a grueling walk-on tryout, makes the football team as a scout team player, and then…

I won’t spoil the rest in case you haven’t seen it (but SEE IT if you haven’t).

What does this have to do with the college baseball recruiting process?

Rudy’s story reveals an important truth about the process:

Desire is more important than talent.

Do you need to have SOME baseline level of talent and knowledge of the game?

Absolutely…

But with 1700 college baseball programs in the country (even more if you include club and post-grad programs), if you want it bad enough, there’s a place for you.

Here’s my favorite coaching story:

As a college head coach, our coaching staff was required to meet with ANY player who set up a visit through the admissions office and asked to meet with a baseball coach, even if we weren’t interested in recruiting the player.

If these players then decided to attend the school and wanted to play baseball, we HAD to give them a roster spot (the school didn’t allow cuts).

Through all my years, only ONE of these players stuck with baseball for his entire career (and boy am I glad he did).

He showed a tremendous attitude and work ethic from day one. Although he didn’t play at all his freshman year, he was an outstanding teammate and bought into our system.

He showed improvement during his sophomore year, but still didn’t earn any varsity innings…but he kept working.

Same story during his junior year…big improvement, but no varsity innings.

He earned a varsity backup role to start his senior season. We gave him some pinch hit opportunities and a few defensive innings early on. He took advantage of every opportunity.

Halfway through his senior season, he fought his way into the lineup and never let go.

He WILLED himself to be a starter on a college baseball team. It was all about desire. He wanted it more than anyone or anything else (just like Rudy).

To further illustrate my point, here’s the high school metrics of a few current college baseball players (per a quick internet search):

• Height/Weight = 6’0”/150; Throwing Velo = 72; Exit Velo = 78; 60 = 7.58

• Height/Weight = 6’0”/195; Fastball Velo = 76

• Height/Weight = 5’10”/205; Throwing Velo = 75; Exit Velo = 76; 60 = 8.36

Are these players playing at powerhouse programs?

No, but they ARE playing college baseball.

Desire is more important than talent.

Beyond the recruiting process, desire is also a key determining factor for SUCCESS at the college level.

Making a college roster is one thing, but succeeding on the field at the college level is more difficult.

The player I wrote about above is a prime example. He would not be denied:

• A roster spot on a college baseball team

• A starting role on a college baseball team

• A productive stat line as a college starter

Desire is more important than talent.

Desire is a mindset that manifests through ACTION. So here are three ACTIONS you can take to make sure your desire pays off in the college baseball recruiting process:

Development

As I’ve wrote before, the following statement is misleading:

If you’re a good player, college coaches will find you.

Simply being a good player doesn’t guarantee YOUR BEST FIT will find you…

However…

Being a good player DOES make you more marketable when you promote yourself to college coaches.

Investing in development is CRITICAL for the recruiting process.

If you’re a sophomore in high school or younger and you’re not (yet) a D1 prospect, development is the MOST IMPORTANT investment you can make. Any money spent on showcases/tournaments/camps would be better allocated to getting bigger, faster, stronger, and more skilled.

What does desire look like?

If you’re not dedicating AT LEAST 15 hours to your development (includes skill development AND strength/speed work) each week, you’re probably not doing enough to maximize your potential. This means 2-4 hours per day on most days of the week.

Here’s what a typical week for a pitcher should look like (per a previous article):

• Strength Training (3-4 times per week)

• Mobility (6-7 times per week)

• Arm Care (6-7 times per week)

• Throwing Program (5-6 times per week)

• Plyometrics (2-3 times per week)

• Mechanics Work (3-4 times per week)

• Pitch Development (3-4 times per week)

• Film Study (1-2 time per week)

• Sleep (7-8 hours per night)

• Nutrition (consult an expert to determine daily calorie and macronutrient goals)

Every day, ask yourself:

How hard am I willing to work to play and succeed at the college level?

Then get to work!

Outreach

Your desire also shows up in your outreach to college coaches.

If you email or DM ten coaches and don’t hear back, will you get discouraged and quit, or will you keep plugging away?

The recruiting process is a job search.

You need to send out a lot of "resumes" to find your best fit.

Casting a wide net is the best strategy.

There are approximately 1700 college baseball programs in the United States (includes all levels: D1/D2/D3/NAIA/JC).

How many could you name off the top of your head? 100? 200? 300?

Even if you could name 500 college baseball programs, that leaves 1200 you can't name.

Some of these 1200 would be a good fit.

You won't know which ones unless you cast a wide net.

Too many players create a "Top 10 List" when they're a freshman, sophomore, or junior in high school.

Ten is not enough.

Start with AT LEAST 20 schools from each division at which you have the ability to play (more than 20 is better). The more the merrier!

This means if you have the ability to play D1 baseball (per your CAA evaluation), you should reach out to AT LEAST 100 colleges (20 at EACH of these levels: D1/D2/D3/NAIA/JC).

Just because you CAN play D1 baseball doesn’t mean D1 is YOUR BEST FIT.

Communication

Introducing yourself to college coaches through outreach is important, AND…

How well you communicate with the college coaches that respond (and follow up with those who don’t) is equally important.

I’ve wrote about the communication cycle of the recruiting process before:

To move through the cycle, you MUST:

• Reply to coaches who respond to you in a timely manner (within 24-48 hours)

• Reply effectively (ask questions aimed at moving to the next step in the cycle)

• Follow up with coaches who DON’T respond

Click here for a tutorial on responding to college coaches effectively.

All of this requires…

You guessed it…

DESIRE!

You MUST have an intense desire to communicate with college coaches effectively to find your best fit for playing college baseball.

I hope this helps!

Feel free to reply/comment with any questions and/or insights.

All the best!

- Matt

P.S. If you'd like to schedule a free consultation with me to discuss your specific recruiting process, reply to this email or send me a text at 319-883-0242.