2020 Round 4 (103): Coby Mayo - 3B - (HS)(Marjory Stoneman Douglas)

[Yossarian]

19 hours ago, ScGO's said:

Parents paid the money.  But I worked with some kids to gain sponsorship money from local businesses, family, friends, etc. 

The better you were the less money you paid.  You would hold an Under Armour Tryout for $99 bucks at some regional location and get anywhere from 30 to 70 kids out to an event.  The scouting evals were accurate, but it was how they were spun to the parents and kids through the business guys that pissed me off.  If you were a stud, you either came to events free or for a few hundred bucks.  If you were anywhere from good to terrible, they would sling you camps and recruiting programs that ranged from $3999 to $6999.  They went after affluent and wealthy demographics.  If you were broke, they would pretty much move on.  If you were terrible, but they knew you had money, they would go after you hard.

If some of these broke kids had ability, I would throw them my cell and work with them on side to provide free guidance and some film.  The MOST important thing I learned from this job was that, if you could had some gumption and you could take initiative you could find a place to play in college (as long as you had some talent).  College prospects fall into 3 categories in my opinion: Good, Great, and Elite.  Elite kids are the drafted and high end D1 (maybe high end JUCO) kids.  The great are the mid major D1s down to the D2s, better NAIAs, D3s, and JUCOs.  The good fell in at the rest of the JUCOs, D3s, NAIAs, and USCAA schools.  Even some high school average kids could find a spot if they had great grades, some baseball IQ, and a go get em attitude. 

The model I pitch to kids is a DIY model.  Instead of paying 7 G's, I film them, grade them out on a 20-70 scale (40 his a HS avg tool), and give them an honest projection for 300 bucks (if they can't afford it, we work it out some how by either cutting their folks a deal or helping them find sponsors; I don't really say no to anyone).  Then I spend some time on the phone with their family giving them the ins and outs to recruiting, I get an idea of what they want to study, etc, and I give them some suggestions and a college recruiting manual I put together, and I tell them good luck, call me if you need me. I'll make a call for them if they need it as I have a decent network, and even if I don't know the coach, I can usually gain their trust after a few minutes of talking and they know I'm not full of shit.  I only work regionally.  I have no desire to be a PG or BF.  I just want to help western NC.  My main gig is running after school programs and mini camps with the little guys trying to grow the game.  As far as HS prospects, my target goal is to work with about 100 kids in the region each year on the recruiting side. 

Parents are really the main thing that get in the way.  They shoot for the stars and they have no freaking concept of reality.  A kid comes out, has a little pop, maybe throws 80 mph across the diamond, and  has an average 40 yard dash.  I tell them to focus on small schools, and they get pissed cus I won't make a call to Clemson for them, but I'd call a D3 like Guilford or NC Wesleyn where they could actually play.  "Well he plays on this Top Prospects Team, blah blah blah."  Ok, go for it.  But it ain't gonna happen, and its a bummer cus he could have played for four more years if he kept his options open.

I like working with the broke kids because they are thankful and they work harder at the process.  They aren't afraid to pick up the phone and call a coach.  Spoiled, rich travel team kids think that someone should come find them.  Yeah, well tell me the last time you saw random college coaches show up to your HS or travel games.  You gotta go get them. Even at a PG event, they invite in 100 teams, and they put the top 10 teams in the main facility, all the coaches see what they need to in the first 2 hours and they send the other 90 teams to fields 45 minutes away on the outskirts of town to play in front of nobody.  And the sad part is that those teams have some decent players on them, they just aren't elite.  Those poor families spend thousands on a "dream" by these companies.

The pattern is easy though (easy in concept, not in effort).  Pay for a good film and an honest eval.  Email blast 50+ schools that you can get into academically, it has what you are looking for as a student/person, and you can realistically play for them. Wait a week and start calling the coaches directly (you, not the parents) and ask good questions about the campus, what you want to study, and the coach's expectations, then narrow it down and go to a couple of the schools that you like's prospect camps which usually only have about 20-30 players at them as opposed to a Clemson or UNC that has 200.  (Remember, 80% of college baseball is BELOW the D1 level, and most D1s aren't even fully funded at that).  Visit the campus while you are there, meet with the coach, get a vibe, and the rest will start to take care of itself.  Don't depend on scholarship money; it ain't there, so get your FAFSA in, look for academic and other scholarships at the university and in your community, and make a decision. I just had a kid sign with Norwich University in VT today.  He wanted to be a Marine, but loved baseball.  He was all ready to sign his Marine contract, but I told him, there are military schools out there that you can play at for four years, get the Marines to pay for it for you, and then you go into the Marines as a 21 year old instead of an 18 year old.  He never knew that was a thing.  It was awesome to see him sign his National Letter of Intent today because he's getting everything he wanted out of the situation, and 2 months ago he was lost in the process and was ready to just ship off to Paris Island after graduation.  Its stories like this that I am all about making happen.

This was very informative.  Thank you.

[justD]

21 hours ago, ScGO's said:

Needs to come get it at 3rd and play through those routine balls.  If he can get more aggressive and find some rhythm, that arm can play at 3rd no doubt.

PS: Worked for this company (Baseball Factory) for 5 five years; sketchy folks on the business side, but learned so much about scouting during my time there from the baseball folks.  It motivated me to start a charitable LLC down here in western NC to provide the same services without the huge costs.  Not that Mayo would have paid for anything from BF or PG.  BF and Perfect Game fly these elite guys in for free and use their names to scam good players (D3, D2, NAIA, etc) out of thousands.  I work with good and great players; the elite players don't need me or anyone else really.  I apologize for the rant; it just irks me when I see anything Baseball Factory or Perfect Game around.  On the whole, I don't think they are good for growing the game of baseball.

Fumy,  weams and I had a discussion about that this morning. The inability for some players to get visibility because they don't have the same financial resources is definitely an issue I think needs addressing. Good for you for your contribution towards that end. 

[FlipTheBird]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

The bullpen guys hated Bonds so much they threw the game to keep him from getting a ring.

I always suspected that Tim Worrell was a drama queen.

[baltfan]

4 hours ago, justD said:

Fumy,  weams and I had a discussion about that this morning. The inability for some players to get visibility because they don't have the same financial resources is definitely an issue I think needs addressing. Good for you for your contribution towards that end. 

It was interesting to see during the draft how many of the guys came from obviously affluent families. 

[NCRaven]

7 minutes ago, baltfan said:

It was interesting to see during the draft how many of the guys came from obviously affluent families. 

Many of the theater seating rooms were on campus meeting rooms, not necessarily the players’ homes.

[Beef Supreme]

1 hour ago, baltfan said:

It was interesting to see during the draft how many of the guys came from obviously affluent families. 

I noticed this, too. 

And the on flip side are the kids who sign coming from poverty in DR or Venezuela.

[weams]

Coby Mayo signed for 1.75 million dollars with the Baltimore Orioles

[ScGO's]

On 6/11/2020 at 11:26 PM, ScGO's said:

Parents paid the money.  But I worked with some kids to gain sponsorship money from local businesses, family, friends, etc. 

The better you were the less money you paid.  You would hold an Under Armour Tryout for $99 bucks at some regional location and get anywhere from 30 to 70 kids out to an event.  The scouting evals were accurate, but it was how they were spun to the parents and kids through the business guys that pissed me off.  If you were a stud, you either came to events free or for a few hundred bucks.  If you were anywhere from good to terrible, they would sling you camps and recruiting programs that ranged from $3999 to $6999.  They went after affluent and wealthy demographics.  If you were broke, they would pretty much move on.  If you were terrible, but they knew you had money, they would go after you hard.

If some of these broke kids had ability, I would throw them my cell and work with them on side to provide free guidance and some film.  The MOST important thing I learned from this job was that, if you could had some gumption and you could take initiative you could find a place to play in college (as long as you had some talent).  College prospects fall into 3 categories in my opinion: Good, Great, and Elite.  Elite kids are the drafted and high end D1 (maybe high end JUCO) kids.  The great are the mid major D1s down to the D2s, better NAIAs, D3s, and JUCOs.  The good fell in at the rest of the JUCOs, D3s, NAIAs, and USCAA schools.  Even some high school average kids could find a spot if they had great grades, some baseball IQ, and a go get em attitude. 

The model I pitch to kids is a DIY model.  Instead of paying 7 G's, I film them, grade them out on a 20-70 scale (40 his a HS avg tool), and give them an honest projection for 300 bucks (if they can't afford it, we work it out some how by either cutting their folks a deal or helping them find sponsors; I don't really say no to anyone).  Then I spend some time on the phone with their family giving them the ins and outs to recruiting, I get an idea of what they want to study, etc, and I give them some suggestions and a college recruiting manual I put together, and I tell them good luck, call me if you need me. I'll make a call for them if they need it as I have a decent network, and even if I don't know the coach, I can usually gain their trust after a few minutes of talking and they know I'm not full of shit.  I only work regionally.  I have no desire to be a PG or BF.  I just want to help western NC.  My main gig is running after school programs and mini camps with the little guys trying to grow the game.  As far as HS prospects, my target goal is to work with about 100 kids in the region each year on the recruiting side. 

Parents are really the main thing that get in the way.  They shoot for the stars and they have no freaking concept of reality.  A kid comes out, has a little pop, maybe throws 80 mph across the diamond, and  has an average 40 yard dash.  I tell them to focus on small schools, and they get pissed cus I won't make a call to Clemson for them, but I'd call a D3 like Guilford or NC Wesleyn where they could actually play.  "Well he plays on this Top Prospects Team, blah blah blah."  Ok, go for it.  But it ain't gonna happen, and its a bummer cus he could have played for four more years if he kept his options open.

I like working with the broke kids because they are thankful and they work harder at the process.  They aren't afraid to pick up the phone and call a coach.  Spoiled, rich travel team kids think that someone should come find them.  Yeah, well tell me the last time you saw random college coaches show up to your HS or travel games.  You gotta go get them. Even at a PG event, they invite in 100 teams, and they put the top 10 teams in the main facility, all the coaches see what they need to in the first 2 hours and they send the other 90 teams to fields 45 minutes away on the outskirts of town to play in front of nobody.  And the sad part is that those teams have some decent players on them, they just aren't elite.  Those poor families spend thousands on a "dream" by these companies.

The pattern is easy though (easy in concept, not in effort).  Pay for a good film and an honest eval.  Email blast 50+ schools that you can get into academically, it has what you are looking for as a student/person, and you can realistically play for them. Wait a week and start calling the coaches directly (you, not the parents) and ask good questions about the campus, what you want to study, and the coach's expectations, then narrow it down and go to a couple of the schools that you like's prospect camps which usually only have about 20-30 players at them as opposed to a Clemson or UNC that has 200.  (Remember, 80% of college baseball is BELOW the D1 level, and most D1s aren't even fully funded at that).  Visit the campus while you are there, meet with the coach, get a vibe, and the rest will start to take care of itself.  Don't depend on scholarship money; it ain't there, so get your FAFSA in, look for academic and other scholarships at the university and in your community, and make a decision. I just had a kid sign with Norwich University in VT today.  He wanted to be a Marine, but loved baseball.  He was all ready to sign his Marine contract, but I told him, there are military schools out there that you can play at for four years, get the Marines to pay for it for you, and then you go into the Marines as a 21 year old instead of an 18 year old.  He never knew that was a thing.  It was awesome to see him sign his National Letter of Intent today because he's getting everything he wanted out of the situation, and 2 months ago he was lost in the process and was ready to just ship off to Paris Island after graduation.  Its stories like this that I am all about making happen.

I appreciate the interest in these posts.  If you want to learn a little more about these topics you can follow what I'm doing.  I just officially started this year, but I have solid content at the following spots.

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[Just Regular]

On 6/13/2020 at 8:48 AM, weams said:

Coby Mayo signed for 1.75 million dollars with the Baltimore Orioles

Same number got Blaze Jordan to the Red Sox - there's an apples to apples battle that could be big in the second half of the decade.