What do College Scouts Look for in a Baseball Player?

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I was fortunate enough to play college baseball and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

The friendships, camaraderie, and work ethic. I learned through this experience is irreplaceable.

As I’ve gotten older, I still follow the game. Closely have learned a lot about what friends that are in the coaching business look for in college players they recruit. 

Top 10 things college scouts look for in baseball players

Here are some basic things that college baseball scouts look for when they recruit players:

1. Talent 

Number one is talent. Baseball is a competitive game in which college coaches’ jobs are on the line.  

Despite how good of a person you may be, finding a place to play at the college level will be difficult if you aren’t talented.

On the other hand, if you have some talent, there are over 1500 college baseball programs that you can potentially play at:

Collegiate Level Number of Teams
Division 1 299
Division 2 274
Division 3 389
NAIA 212 
Junior College Over 400

2. Fit

As mentioned above, there are various levels of college baseball. 

If you want college scouts to notice you, it’s critical to be realistic with your talent level and spend time approaching coaches and programs that fit your talent.

If you have division 1 dreams but a division 3 arm, no matter how hard you try it’s not going to happen

So how do you assess where your talents are the best fit?

It’s very important to get feedback from a variety of different resources. If you go to a small high school, coach may not have enough experience at it quickly you’re still level. 

One thing I did was attend baseball showcases, where there were numerous scouts and coaches from different levels of baseball more you put yourself out there, the more feedback you get from coaches on where you can potentially play.

3. Desire 

College coaches are very busy; many get enough recruiting leads from large high schools and travel baseball teams that often leave many players overlooked. 

I’m a big believer in marketing yourself to college programs that aren’t good for yourself.

With her current technology, there is endless amounts of opportunities to promote oneself and send it directly to college coaches.

College coaches are under tons of stress recruiting and have many responsibilities outside of just recruiting. 

If you proactively reach out with your highlight video or player information, you can make things much easier for them to discover you. 

Coaches also want to know that you are interested in their school.Take the initiative and reach out to the programs you’re interested in.

4. Grades

Once you have adequately assessed your talent level and a college coach is interested in your playing ability, the next question they will typically ask is about your grades.

College baseball has limited scholarships,  which means coaches utilize academic leadership, and other types of scholarships to get players additional money.

If you have terrible grades, you better be an exceptional player because that means a college coach will likely have to use one of the few coveted full scholarships for you.

One of the best ways to increase your odds of getting an opportunity to play college baseball is to keep up your grades and try to be well-rounded in school.  

This will make things easy for your coaches once they identify you as a fit for their baseball program.  college baseball coaches typically work with someone in the admissions department to try and find you as much money as possible, so make things easy for them and good grades.

5. Social Media Presence

The last thing a college baseball coach wants to deal with is off-the-field headaches stemming from social media.  

College baseball coaches represent the University, so they have to make sure they are recruiting High character players that aren’t going to damage a school’s reputation.

in today’s social media age,  coaches can quickly get gauge on what type of person you are off the field by visiting one of your social media pages.  be extremely careful About what you put out on the internet.  

If you want to impress a coach with your social media presence, the best thing to do is come off like you are obsessed with baseball.  

Coaches want players that love the game, so make sure your social media presence reflects that and that you represent yourself in a high-quality way.

We wrote another post about the best way to use Twitter to get recruited, so check out that article as well:

6. Positive Referrals

Like any sort of job you’re going for in life, it always helps when you can get referrals from a third party.  I had an awesome high school baseball coach that went out of his way to help reach out to college coaches on my behalf.  

I expressed my desire to play college baseball to him, and he intentionally reached out to coaches for me.

If you play travel baseball or get lessons from a former college baseball player,  they likely have a great network of college coaches that they previously played with.

Dive into your network and see if you could get introduced to a college coach.  

This is a great way to get a coach to dive deeper into your skill set and see if it fits their program.

7. Upside

College Scouts want to win now but also understand that they need to develop players for the future.  they will recruit some players that may not be a finished product but have certain tools that project well for the future.

For instance, if there is a kid in high school that is a 64 190 lb pitcher throwing 85 mph a college coach may look at someone with this Frame and envision them getting into the weight room and a year-round throwing program and easily visualize them gaining five additional miles per hour on their fastball.

smaller schools are more willing to take flyers based on upside compared to power 5 baseball programs.  

Power five baseball is so competitive in today’s era that coaches typically want a finished product that they can plug in and play right away. 

I’ve seen many people go and play division one baseball and hardly get to play and then transfer down to a Division 2 or Naia program and get the chance to develop as a player.

It’s important to be realistic about where you can get the most playing time.  while it may stroke your ego to play Division 1 baseball, if you’re sitting on the bench, you’re wasting your time.

8. Versatility

College coaches often recruit baseball players that play one position in high school and plug them in at another position in college.  

I remember telling my college coach that I wanted to hit at the college level despite being recruited as a pitcher.  

He gave me one at-bat in an inter-squad game and after the at-bat,  he told me my time as a hitter was done, lol!

On the other hand, as a position player, it’s a great idea to get experience playing multiple positions all over the field.

You can be one of the best High School shortstops, but a college senior with a year left of eligibility may be an All-American. 

In these situations, a  college coach may put you at another infield position or even an outfield if you are a good hitter.  

So even in the current era of specialization, I highly recommend getting reps in at a variety of different positions.

9. Character

Baseball is a team sport and coaches want to make sure they bring in players that will fit well with the team.  

Selfish baseball players are often called “I guys” who make things about themselves and aren’t great teammates.

Coaches will pass on players like this even if they are talented because they realize how important it is to gel as a team.

This is why having a great reputation with your coaches is critical.  

If a coach is interested in your talent, the next call is going to be to your coach.  

If your coach doesn’t have great things to say about you, it can kill your chances at a scholarship.

10. Work Ethic

Last but not least is work ethic. College baseball is extremely time-consuming and requires a lot of hard work. 

You typically have to lift weights early in the mornings, go to class all day and then out to practice for 3 or 4 hours and then study before you go to bed.  

You repeat this routine day after day for basically the entire year.

It’s important for college Scouts and coaches to have confidence that you have the work ethic and the passion to get better each and every day. 

Showing up on time, having a good attitude, and giving it your all are essential and non-negotiables for college coaches. 

Remember, college coaches, put their entire careers on the line based on who they recruit.  

Little things like showing up to the park early, getting extra reps in the batting cages,  or staying late to help clean up the dugout are noticed by college coaches. 

They want to see what type of player you are outside of games in person. 

If a college coach shows up to watch you play and you have a bad day at the plate or on the mound,  having a good reputation as being a hard worker can give a coach confidence in giving you a shot at a scholarship.

What do college scouts look for in a pitcher?

One of the first things coaches will need to see is either above-average velocity or exceptional pitching ability at the high school level.

From a velocity standpoint, if you can throw over 85MPH you can likely find a place to play in college. If you only throw 85, you may have to look at smaller colleges or at the junior college level. If you can throw between 86-90 you can start to get looks from bigger colleges and possibly even division 1 schools. Throwing over 90MPH consistently will get you consideration from Power 5 programs if you can throw strikes.

If you aren’t the best pitcher but have above-average velocity and physical traits, some colleges may give you an opportunity with the bet that they will be able to help you develop into a more well-rounded pitcher.

Some of the best college pitchers I played with weren’t high-velocity throwers. They could hit spots and locate multiple pitches for strikes.

Summary

While not every College Scout from different schools is going to want the same exact things in a player, the list above are basic non-negotiables that you need to think about. 

 A big part of baseball is controlling what you can do, and I firmly believe that the list above is all that most people can do. 

If you want to play badly enough in college, put yourself out there, and I’m confident you should be able to find a home somewhere.