Tech's Hall takes measured recruiting approach

“He’s one of those guys who is easy to talk to. He would answer the phone every time you called,” said junior pitcher Mark Pope, a semifinalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes award. “He was also somebody who didn’t pressure you into a decision.”

Hall and his staff had no choice but to do a lot of recruiting the past couple years. Ten Yellow Jackets were drafted by major league teams last year, and this year’s team — the 16th in Hall’s 18 seasons that has made it to the NCAA tournament — has 17 freshmen. That’s half the roster of 34.

Most of the time, six of eight position players are freshmen, and if you count the designated hitter that number often reaches seven.

Yet here are the Jackets, about to play host to an NCAA regional Friday-Sunday, with Austin Peay, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss in town.

One of those freshmen, center fielder Kyle Wren, was named first team All-ACC along with Pope. His recruiting tale is not uncommon on The Flats.

“The first thing I remember was the first day in the summer that they were allowed to call us ... I hadn’t heard anything up to that point from Tech [via mail or otherwise],” said Wren, who is from Peachtree City. “That first morning they can call you, the first call I get is from Bryan Prince ... I think it’s kind of ironic that the team that had not recruited me gives me the first call.

“When Auburn offered me, they would call me almost every night, and say, ‘Are you ready to commit? What are you thinking?’ When I got my offer from Tech, they said, ‘We know the recruiting situation. You’ve got a bunch of teams looking at you. We’re going to give you all the time you want.’”

Most of college baseball’s recruiting is done during the summer, when prospects are playing in tournaments. Many of Hall’s recruiting conversations take place on campus. Most early contact, in players’ freshmen and sophomore years, is done by email or mail — and in Tech’s case, by assistants.

Hall has had 92 of his Tech players drafted on 103 occasions (some returned for their senior seasons). That comes up in recruiting conversations.

“I’ll see some of the guys we recruit. I won’t see all of them,” Hall said. “Bryan Prince and Tom Kinkelaar have done an excellent job of evaluating talent.

“We see very few high school games because we’re busy concentrating on our team at that time, but Kink and Prince from late June to mid-July their days last from 8 a.m.-11 p.m. evaluating players in tournaments. We’re fortunate a lot of those tournaments are near here.”

Tech recruits heavily in Georgia, and the Jackets have long drawn heavily from tradition-rich Cobb County. Twenty-four of 34 Tech players are from Georgia, and 18 are from metro Atlanta.

Pope, who is from Walton High, said Hall did not make an in-home visit during his recruitment. He got to know the Tech coach on campus.

“The time I spent most with him was on my official with my parents,” Pope said. “It was me, coach Kinkelaar, my parents, [former players] Deck McGuire and Cole Leonida. I had a blast. He was showing me around everywhere.

“We always see him try to be an intimidating coach on the field, so we don’t know whether to laugh when he tells a joke.”

Hall said there are some things he does not joke about: “I never go into a home or have somebody on campus and just talk about baseball. I’m going to sell the educational part of it as hard as baseball because at the end of the day probably less than two percent of the guys who get drafted ever play in the major leagues.

“I say your education is your insurance policy against you failing in baseball. Most people are going to fail.”