How does the college baseball recruiting process work?

I'm a high school junior interested in playing baseball in college. Can someone explain how the recruiting process for college baseball works? I'd love to know any important steps and timelines to keep in mind.

The process for college baseball recruiting can be quite detailed, so let's break it down into steps and discuss the general timeline you should consider.

1. Self-Assessment: This typically happens during your freshman and sophomore years of high school. You'll want to evaluate your skill level and realistically consider what tier of college baseball you could play, whether it's DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, or Junior College.

2. Academics: Maintain strong grades throughout high school. Each division level and individual school have academic requirements for their student-athletes. Athletes must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center (for DI and DII) and keep track of their core GPA and SAT/ACT scores to ensure they meet the qualification standards of the NCAA.

3. Highlight Video: Coaches don't have the time to attend every high school game, so highlight videos are a crucial part of the process. Typically beginning in your junior year, you should work on creating a solid skills video which shows off your abilities in game situations.

4. College List: Start compiling a list of colleges that you're interested in. Consider factors like location, size, academic reputation, and of course, the baseball program. This list may change over time and that's okay.

5. Contact Coaches: Beginning June 15 after your sophomore year (for DI schools), you can start reaching out to college coaches. Introduce yourself, express your interest in their program, share your highlight video, and include your athletic and academic accomplishments.

6. Camps & Showcases: During your sophomore, junior, and senior years, attend baseball camps and showcases to get noticed by scouts and coaches. Research camps that are likely to have coaches from the schools you're interested in attending.

7. Official & Unofficial Visits: You can make unofficial visits to college campuses at any time, but official visits (where the college covers travel expenses) can only occur starting August 1 before your junior year for DI schools.

8. Verbal Commitment: A player can make a verbal commitment at any time, but a college coach cannot make a verbal offer to a player before June 15 after the player's sophomore year.

9. Signing: The early signing period begins in November of your senior year and the regular signing period begins in April of your senior year. This is when you formally commit to a school by signing the National Letter of Intent (NLI).

Remember, each player's journey through the process might look a bit different, but these steps provide a good general roadmap for navigating college baseball recruitment. Athletes can also consider using recruiting platforms like FieldLevel or CaptainU to promote themselves and get their information in front of multiple college coaches at once.