I would bet my son would agree with everything here as well.

Rule 1 - NOTHING will replace work in the weight room. There is literally nothing that can replace that skill alone. This was true 20,10 and 5 years ago. And even more important in todays game.

My son has done visits w some of the best schools in CBB and every coach prioritized S&C as the single biggest factor in recruiting.

Why? Because it calls out a couple specific things.
1- Kid is ready to play at a high level. School doesn't have to waste a year building the kid out for a year getting D-1 ready.
2- Kid shows they understand the commitment required to play at the highest level. It shows they are disciplined.
3- Kid understands sacrifice. The reality is, for a kid to get to the level they need to they need to sacrifice "fun" time for gym time.
4- Reality is...bigger is better. Just reality of the game today. Go look at the best players and look at them physically.

Rule 2 - The game is changing and everything I am hearing is there is a good chance the D-1 CBB becomes a level of minor league baseball at some point. Less and less kids are being recruited out of H.S. and teams are pushing them to go to D1 and play a couple years there first to develop the skill set first. With NIL it becomes even easier for kids to do this.

We have a kid out of our HS that was drafted out of JUCO (he was the JUCO POY) to MLB (rd 23 or something like that). Oklahoma offered him $1.2M to come play with them for a year and he went there instead. He was drafted this last year in Rd 8 and is blowing up in minor league ball now. Had all the NIL money, a better draft = better signing bonus and salary. He is already set going forward and now can just focus on working his butt off to get to the majors.

As Uno mentioned the roster sizes are changing in 2026 which is causing all kinds of issues with 25 class. We are seeing kids decommit regularly from D1 schools and commit to a JUCO. JUCO is going to be LOADED with talent the next couple years. My son was told by a high level D1 program that 5 years ago he would be a high priority for them. But with the changes in transfers and roster sizes they could go get another kid from JUCO that is two year in and ready on day 1. With him they need to develop him up for a year, add more weight and prep him for D1. They said he is a day 1 starter at almost every JUCO in the country. Recommended he go that route and then come back in a year or two and they would offer him a full ride. At his visit with Northwestern they told him then needed him minimum 205lb. He is currently (today) 186lbs. That is up from 169 at the visit which was early Aug. Northwestern is a great academic program but horrible baseball. So this is the expectation of the lowest of D1 programs.

Rule 3 - Reality is at 13u I would bet the large majority of those kids don't even play on a HS Varsity team. I can count on one hand all the kids that are still playing baseball, that played on my sons 13u travel team. Kids just burn out, realize they are not that great or move to another sport and focus there. We even had 3 kids walk away from our Varsity team last year alone. This is a from a team that is predicted to make a deep run to the state championship here in Bama.

Rule 4 - Travel ball is great but I would recommend hitting the right PBR and PG events. Here is why I say this. My sons recruiting really gained momentum after he showed well for a PBR showcase. They posted his profile and info on a social media post and schools started reaching out.

Couple things to be aware of. Both showcases and travel ball kind of go hand in hand. The showcases got him the exposure and travel ball helped sell it. College coaches trust the right PBR and PG contacts. I personally think PBR is a little better because they are smaller locally run groups (PG is just a big money factory at this point) and have good contacts within the colleges in that area. Once he got on their radar they started following him specifically. This is where travel ball comes into play. They wanted to see my son play in the right tournaments with the right talent. WWBA is a good example. They don't care that your son is playing in another PBR or PG tournament. They want him in the right ones. For PG it is WWBA, World Series and National Elite. These are the tournaments where the best of the best play. For PBR its the World Series at Lakepoint. All 4 of these events will have plenty of college programs represented. I will add if the kid is good the best travel teams will invite him (and honestly he won't pay). These programs want to say so and so played on our team and they sell it to the other kids so those kids pay (way too much) to play on their teams. We call these team the fundraiser programs. My son just played in the PG Fall World Series in GA. Played for a National Scout team. Showed up day of event, put on the jersey, played 2 innings and left. Talked with Vandy and TN after the game. We didn't pay anything other than to travel from Bama to ATL for the event.

Last IMPO the single biggest event your son can play in is the PBR Future Games. This year alone there were over 270 colleges represented at this event. It is the single best event in the country for recruiting. If the kid is good PBR wants then there because they want to sell their brand as well.

Last, last...If the kid is good they will be ranked. Don't pay to be ranked. My son has never played in a single PG showcase and is ranked in their system. Why, because he has played in multiple tournaments. The same goes with PBR..they will rank the best kids if they are good. I will say going to a showcase for PBR made them aware but I know multiple kids that haven't been to a single event that are ranked in our class.

Last, last, last...You kid needs to be proactive. Don't wait for coaches to come to him. Have him create a list of 15 or so schools and start reaching out to them now. A kid can't be recruited until Aug 1 of the start of their Jr year but it doesn't mean he can't show the coaches he is interested in the program. I would have him start showing up to specific school camps in the 9th grade and going forward. Have the coaches know who he is so they can be aware of him. If a school is interested they will ask him to come to a specific camp where they know they will be. This is the case with even BYU. My son stopped going to the BYU camps a year ago. He goes to a specific camp the last two years. But going to the summer camp is what got him on their radar. All the coaches know him by name and talk with him via txt now.

Feel free to BM me directly if you have any other questions.