Top 10 "Don'ts" of Letter Writing Pt. 2

Kelly Kulina: Your Link to the Colleges

Last week, I started a list of the Top 10 “Don’ts” of writing to college coaches. I’d like to continue this list with #’s 4 through 6:

4. Don’t discuss specific baseball skills or attributes.

Each and every player has a different skill set, using their strengths to help their team in different ways. The key to having those skills translate to the recruiting process is to let them do the talking on the field. Too many times players will try to market themselves to coaches by promoting their attributes in print, such as having superior plate discipline (“I didn’t strike out this year”). Unfortunately, it’s very easy for a coach to say that he expects anyone he recruits to have those skills, and then move on. You’re much better off letting a coach decide what your strengths are. Let your bat, glove and arm convince the coach you’re the real deal, not your e-mails.

5. Don’t include newspaper clippings or attachments.

Most players don’t hurt themselves by what they don’t include. It’s the extra “fluff” they send to a coach that usually gives a bad impression. It’s important to remember that there are only a few things that a coach will look for in a recruit initially, and none of them will be found in a newspaper clip. During my coaching career, there were always a few recruits that sent packages of newspaper clippings and sometimes scrap books to get my attention! For me, something this extravagant meant that the recruit might be trying to hide something. In a lot of cases, I never got to the important information, such as grades, SATs or schedules because I didn’t have the time or patience to read through all the information. Scrap books and photo albums are great stuff to have and share with your family and kids, but college coaches don’t have the time to look through all this information, nor enough office space to file all this stuff!
6. Don’t compare yourself to other players.

Just as in #4, you need showcase your skills on the field, rather than tell a coach that you have an Albert Pujols-esque swing or a breaking ball similar to Mike Mussina’s. Who gave the player this assessment- his dad, his HS coach or a college recruiter?

Even worse, I remember one recruit telling a local newspaper that he was, in essence, going to completely change the pitching staff of a school he was committed to playing for. To his unpleasant surprise, that article was forwarded to the coaches and the players of his future school. You can never be too sure of who’s listening, so don’t put any more pressure on yourself than you’re already going to have. Let your performance on the field speak for itself!

I’ll be rounding out the list next week with the final installment of my Top 10 “Don’ts” of writing to college coaches. Check back soon!

Kelly Kulina is the Senior Vice President of College Recruiting at Baseball Factory. Kulina is a former Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator with the University of Maryland. As a former recruiting coordinator for ten years in the ACC, Kulina has vast contacts and is widely respected throughout the nation. From 1989 to 2000, Kulina coached 46 players who were selected in the MLB draft.