{"id":11961,"date":"2016-09-21T04:30:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=11961"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T15:24:17","slug":"how-important-is-travel-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-important-is-travel-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"How Important Is Travel Ball?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Today, there are lots of softball prospects who decide not to play high school softball. It\u2019s an ongoing discussion that will continue to evolve as the college softball recruiting world continues to evolve. When you ask the question of \u201chow important is travel ball\u201d in college softball recruiting, it\u2019s huge. That\u2019s not to say you should totally forget high school softball. But it is to say that travel ball has become a staple in softball recruiting for various reasons. The bottom line comes down to NUMBERS.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\" style=\"padding-bottom: 30px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GuKyXMJQuyg\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Let&#8217;s say a college coach has a \u201chot list\u201d of recruits for several classes that he\/sghe needs to evaluate. In high school softball, that would mean going to several 1-on-1 games of this high school vs. that high school in order to see one prospect play. And there\u2019s no guarantee of the level of competition she\u2019s playing against and, therefore, no guarantee she can perform the same against higher-level competition. However, if she\u2019s playing on the right travel team and going to \u201cShowcase XYZ\u201d in let\u2019s say Dallas, Texas, we know there are going to be:<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">20 teams per age group.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">18, 16, 14 age groups equals 60 teams.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Of those 60, there are seven prospects on the coach\u2019s &#8220;hot list.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So, in one day in Dallas, the coach not only can scout the seven prospects on his\/her hot list, but he\/she also can check in on five verbal commits and possibly catch a kid or two whom he\/she learned about the week prior.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The bottom line? Travel ball presents a number of advantages for the college softball coach, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">More legitimate players at one venue in one day means less recruiting days (D-I only).<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s3\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Before a mid-major D-I school (for example) will offer a big-time hitter, the coach needs to see her hit against a legitimate D-I committed pitcher to prove she can hit like that in the coaach&#8217;s college conference.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s3\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Multiple opportunities during a weekend to see the prospect against more legitimate competition and make a quick determination if needed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">High school ball has a strong purpose in helping the development of future prospects, including more at-bats, playing alternate positions, etc. However, when it comes to showcasing your ability to a college coach, travel\/showcase softball will be the king of opportunity for evaluation IF the college coach ALREADY knows who you are from a reliable source.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/how-to-get-recruited?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=button&amp;utm_campaign=blog-get-scouted-button\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12126 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/get-scouted-300x47.png\" alt=\"get-scouted\" width=\"300\" height=\"47\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/get-scouted-300x47.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/get-scouted.png 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/career-application-location?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=button&amp;utm_campaign=blog-careers-button\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12125 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/apply-now-300x47.png\" alt=\"apply-now\" width=\"300\" height=\"47\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/apply-now-300x47.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/apply-now.png 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, there are lots of softball prospects who decide not to play high school softball. It\u2019s an ongoing discussion that will continue to evolve as the college softball recruiting world continues to evolve. When you ask the question of \u201chow important is travel ball\u201d in college softball recruiting, it\u2019s huge. That\u2019s not to say you &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-important-is-travel-ball\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":12142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[865,3,1],"tags":[31,229,857,233,222,858],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11961"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12143,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions\/12143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}