Recruitment News Letter

Canes Southwest family,

The summer season is winding down. As usual, it flew by. I know that some of the days were long, and the grind isn’t always rewarding, but we appreciate y’all making us a part of your summer. There is a lot happening in the world of college baseball right now and specifically recruiting. But before I get to that, I wanted to dedicate this newsletter’s introduction to one of our current 2025 players – Ryan Castilleja.

If you missed it, Ryan recently made his commitment to Wiley University. A product of Georgetown High School who also stars in football and competes in wrestling, Ryan has a passion for baseball and will now continue playing the game he loves while also receiving a scholarship. I’m not highlighting Ryan and his family just because he made a commitment. I want to recognize the process behind the commitment because Ryan and his family did everything – literally, everything – we suggested to help create opportunities to play at the next level.

Ryan and his family reached out to me a long, long, long time ago and remained in consistent contact about his progress, how they were working on the recruiting process and more. Ryan correctly arranged and updated his Twitter/X account to make it easy for coaches to learn more about him and contact him, created his own YouTube page with highlight videos and Ryan shared his progress/achievements/highlights as they happened. He and his family were proactive about his recruitment. They targeted schools that fit his talent level and checked the boxes they were looking for and valued. And they did so with concise, professional emails and made visits/went to camps that fit their resources and target list. Each time Ryan was set to make a visit or attend a camp, he alerted the Canes Southwest staff to see if we could work our connections to give those coaches a message to keep an eye on him or to provide possible background information if the coach needed it. And, most importantly, Ryan performed on the field when given the opportunity and showed his talent. Because at the end of the day, you have to show your talent and play the game at a high level.

Being proactive matters. A lot. Special shoutout to Ryan and his family for staying committed to their plan, remaining proactive, and opening a door to a college scholarship. College baseball isn’t a guarantee even for talented players. There are countless talented players each year whose careers end in high school. Unless you’re in the top 1% of talent level in a state like Texas, you must be proactive.  It’s now harder than ever for a high school baseball player to receive a scholarship, which brings me to the big news surrounding scholarships in college baseball…

Beginning in the fall of 2025, D1 programs will see a dramatic increase in available baseball scholarships to use – from 11.7 to 34. Generally speaking, the massive increase in scholarship limit is an enormous boost to the sport and represents its growing popularity, commitment from colleges and ability to generate money. In theory, a program could have all 34 of its players in the spring on a full scholarship. That number, 34, is especially important because it also represents the roster size for programs in the spring, which is a decrease from 40. More on that in a little.

While the huge increase to 34 scholarships is great because it means somewhere more kids are getting more scholarship money, it might not mean what you think it means. While schools like Texas, A&M, Georgia, UCLA, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, and other power programs from the power-four – I suppose it’s the power-four now after the Pac-12’s demise – will be able to fund all 34 of these full rides and probably will beginning in the fall of 2025, there won’t be many other programs who will be able to. For a vast majority of programs, baseball doesn’t turn a profit and the cost to fund a full scholarship is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I spoke with several recruiting coordinators throughout various levels of D1 baseball this week, and the consensus from the mid-major programs is they hope to receive some more full scholarships, but won’t come close to being able to use the full 34; some thought they could get to something like 16-18 while others were unsure because of how new this was and how their athletic department, and its funding, would view the possibility to add scholarships. So, while it’ll be great for the big-money programs whose affiliation with the top conferences and links to the money college football and basketball bring in assure them all 34 scholarships, it’s unclear how much it’ll impact the mid-major programs. In theory, each possible scholarship a mid-major program adds should be good for the players. But there’s a slight problem with that theory…

The roster limit.

Heading into the fall, I know of several major D1 programs who have over 50 players and some nearly 60 on their rosters for the fall. So, programs must begin planning now for the days of having just 34 players on the roster during the spring of 2024. What does this mean for high school players? The major D1s are going to have to cut kids loose from their scholarships. So, the mid-majors are going to end up holding some spots to see who is released and who they can add to their roster. Meanwhile, the JUCO programs will also sit back and see which players are released and which ones they can grab, and they already recruit one year at a time and don’t truly recruit the rising senior class until its final summer of baseball. We’re already seeing a lot of really good high school players who were 2025 commitments being told they didn’t have a spot anymore and to find somewhere else for college. I’m talking about guys who made major early offers, played in big national events, and were famous names early in their high school careers. Some of that is performance. Some of it is the roster limit – these schools now can’t bring in massive 2025 signing classes because they’ll be working with six fewer spots even though they’ll be able to put all those players on a full scholarship.

Unfortunately, each coach I spoke with agreed the class who is going to be impacted the most by these changes is the 2025 high school class. The bar to be a D1 college baseball player out of high school with the portal and now these new full scholarships and roster limits has never been higher. And the trickle-down effect means JUCO programs are moving a little slower with their recruiting to see who is cut loose from the D1 programs. Some coaches I spoke with estimated their commitment lists in the future might only include 6-8 high school players per year because they’ll need spots for transfer portal players and to account for guys who might come back and not turn professional. The reality is, if you want to keep playing this game, you have to target schools your talent fits at, get in the game at the college level and then let it all play out. A positive – and maybe the only one besides kids being able to truly have the power of choice and capitalize on their value – to the NCAA Transfer Portal is if you go to a JUCO or D2 program and become a heck of a player, there will be opportunities to move up to the next level. It happens all the time.

For the 2025 players who are not hearing from as many schools as they’d like, August is a crucial month, and if you haven’t been putting yourself out there with emails and messages to college coaches trying to land on their radar, it’s time to play a lot of catch-up. Make sure you’re taking the time to email/DM coaches of programs you have interest in to put yourself out there and try to build a connection. I would strongly recommend getting to at least one good showcase and college camp that fits your talent level (if you have a question about this, your coaches can help) because you need to go play in front of coaches who are truly looking for players to add to their recruiting classes. Some possible camps:

Texas State – 8/4
ETBU – 8/7
ACU – 8/17
UTSA – 8/17
DBU – 8/17
Temple College – 8/17
Galveston College – 8/17
LeTourneau – 8/24, 8/31
Nelson – 8/24, 11/9, 12/7, 1/4
TCU – 8/24
Sam Houston State – 8/24
Tarleton – 8/25
Concordia – 10/6
Incarnate Word – 11/16

As for showcases, I strongly recommend the upcoming Five Tool ones because they guarantee college coach attendance (listed with each camp on the website).

Houston – 8/10
San Marcos/Texas State – 8/11
DFW/Melissa – 8/18

SHOWCASE PAGE

For 2026 players, August 1st was the first day D1 programs could contact of you. Some of you were probably contacted, and many were not. That’s okay. You still have two high school seasons ahead of you. Colleges were all over the map with their contacts. Some major D1s contacted 100+ kids. Some only contacted 20. Some made verbal offers. Some won’t until they get a kid on campus for a visit. Some mid-majors contacted 40 kids. Some didn’t contact a single one. Like I said/implied above, the mid-majors are going to slow their roll recruiting the 2026 class until they figure out how to finish the 2025 class and the JUCO/D2/D3 programs are still the same – they’re not even really thinking about the 2026 class until maybe the 2025 spring before the summer.

Remember – there are going to be very few 2026 players who end up at the high-major D1 programs and almost every 2026 player is either going to end up at a mid-major D1, JUCO, D2, D3 or NAIA. And very few of those programs are actively recruiting the 2026 class right now besides the very top players on their lists. Players who weren’t contacted shouldn’t lose sleep over it. I understand how you’d be noticeably anxious and excited about the opportunity, but the reality is you’re in a similar spot as 99% of the players who are going to have multiple years to prove their talent and earn a spot somewhere. And there’s nothing wrong with that. While I think college camps right now are more important for uncommitted 2025 players than 2026, it wouldn’t hurt for 2026 players, especially since they can be contacted now, to attend a camp or showcase that fits their respective talent.

I hope I didn’t lose you with all those words. There was a lot to talk about. As always, feel free to email me at Dustin@canessouthwest.com and I’d be happy to help in any way I can.

Thanks,
Dustin McComas