Recruiting Hitters Begins With Recruiting Character

When we hit the trail to evaluate players there are numerous concerns we must consider. We want to find hitters who are athletic, talented, skilled, projectable, durable, consistent and represent the type of character we want to embody.

All of this must happen within budget, competing against numerous other schools that have interest in the same player.

Of course, there are ideological questions. Should we sign the player who is more talented defensively but has less power? What about the hitter who has yet to show the ability to hit breaking pitches? Does he have a vision problem, an approach problem or has he just never learned how to get aggressive timing to a breaking ball?

And I really like this catcher offensively, and he receives well, but his arm is average. Can he be a number one catcher?

When we recruit, we have to look at the big picture, working to improve upon weak areas and build a well-rounded club. To do this, we need well-rounded players. Of course, it is impossible to have every player with every attribute, and we put a premium on defense and pitching. Still, there is something more important to learn about recruits than if they can play great catch.

We know we must score to win, but it is our confidence in an ability to take talented and gifted hitters and develop their approach and skill set that allows us to have this defensive-minded approach.

To recruit this way, we must bring in coachable athletes with strong work ethics.

We whole-heartedly believe that recruiting talent is imperative, but there is a price that is paid for signing uncoachable talent. We want a team of self-less players.

While this may sound obvious, we work very hard to minimize the number of risky people in our program, and this gives us greater consistency at the plate.