Field Level Inc; Helping Expose Top Baseball Talent Through Their Innovative Software

When it comes to finding new baseball talent there are tons of scouts and recruiters roaming the country, and even the world in constant search. What the average person does not know is how difficult of a task that can be. There are rules to abide by, and there are distances to overcome. Field Level Inc. is company that was established to help coaches, college recruiters, families, and players in the process of exposing and contacting the right people. I recently had the chance to talk to Field Level Inc. about their business approach, their ability unique features, and their actual reach on the national stage. This is how it went down;

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) When was FieldLevel Inc. created? Who founded it? And, what specific incident, situation, or observation inspired it?

A. FieldLevel was founded in 2008 by Kai Sato and Brenton Sullivan, two former college recruits and DI athletes at the University of Southern California. As promising athletes who went to small boarding schools and had no outlet to be recruited, Brenton and Kai both had to settle for walk-on offers for the USC Baseball and Lacrosse teams. Despite eventually making their respective teams, Brenton and Kai felt that the recruiting process was incredibly inefficient, cryptic, and provided no guidance for athletes looking to compete at the next level. FieldLevel was the recipient Lloyd Greif Award for “Best Business Plan” at Marshall School of Business at USC.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) We all know that sabermetrics has changed the way professional scouts pursue and evaluate players today. Tell us what type of problems you’ve heard from College scouts as they’ve tried to cover the entire country.

A. College coaches have had an extremely difficult time connecting with one another to recruit, scout, and discuss high school and club athletes. FieldLevel unifies the decision makers in a single, trusted community where they can share detailed, accurate information with one another. Furthermore, as athletic budgets continue to be cut at schools everywhere, coaches have flocked to FieldLevel as it allows users to evaluate players from all across the country without spending beyond their means.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) In designing a software system like FieldLevel, what were some of the most important details you felt coaches needed to know about a player?

A. Player assessments from current coaches is the feature that sets FieldLevel apart. FieldLevel is the first software system that provides a coach at the next level with all basic information about a player (such as stats, scouting reports, contact information, transcripts, video footage, etc.) as well as a personal assessment of the player by the coach promoting him. Coaches can turn to other online sources to receive this basic information about recruits. But no coach will ever recruit a player without a personal recommendation from that player’s existing coach. FieldLevel provides it all in one place instantly, saving coaches weeks, if not months, of time trying to collect assessments themselves.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) Tell us a little about being named “Best In Show” at the American Baseball Coaches Convention in 2012. Was that a big time recognition within the industry? Tell us how wide spread your company is at this point.

A. This was an enormous recognition for our company to receive. Immediately after we received the award, we had record sign-ups and coach log-ins. Since the convention, our growth has been exponential. FieldLevel was used by about 25% of the college baseball market before the convention and now, over 50% of college baseball teams are signed up and using our system daily.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) Field Level is an example of how technology is influencing and helping baseball grow across the country. You’ve added an application for smart phones. Tell us how this simple addition has helped eliminate NCAA violations.

A. Our mobile applications have a number of features that help coaches recruit more efficiently and more aggressively. First, coaches now have access to their prospects wherever they travel. Coaches no longer need to bring Excel sheets, Word documents, or paper files with them on the road. Secondly, our mobile app logs all phone communication with prospects. Because the mobile application is synced with their FieldLevel system and coaching staff, there’s no need for coaches to create paper phone logs or correspondence reports like in years past. Lastly, we have layered in compliance bylaws into the mobile application, helping prevent impressible calls and recruiting violations. This provides coaches the ability to recruit more efficiently and aggressively, as they don’t have to worry about making mistakes or looking up rules.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) What presence do you guys have on the field? Do you sponsor tournaments or are you planning on doing something like that?

A. We have been approached with a number of partnership and sponsorship opportunities. We will be making decisions on these opportunities in the next few months and will certainly announce them.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) How many people does FieldLevel currently employ simply to get the network moving day to day? What are the biggest problems that your company faces on a daily basis?

A. Over half of our company played collegiate athletics, with a number of us having also worked within college athletic departments. Our biggest problem is that we receive constant requests from coaches in other sports. Coaches see the tremendous benefit and opportunity we provide in baseball and are clamoring for us to move into other sports. We also have been receiving a number of requests to expand internationally. Therefore, our biggest problem is determining how quickly we want to expand, into which sports, and to what parts of the world.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) It says you’re a free coach-to-coach recruiting platform. But, there is a premium upgrade that goes from $20 to $50 a month. What are some of the unique aspects your program offers to the industry as a whole? Do you feel you’re a leader in the industry?

A. Coaches spend way too much time on administrative, menial tasks that take away from their primary goals. In our opinion, college baseball is about 20 years behind most industries when it comes to technology. We allow coaches to catch up with the rest of the 21st century so then can spend more time on the things that matter most – coaching, recruiting, and developing their student athletes.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES)  Currently, how are you promoting your company to baseball programs across the country? How many programs are you involved with right now? Or, do you deal with players one at a time to fill of your database?

A. One thing that is unique about FieldLevel is that we aren’t a recruiting service. We don’t advocate or represent any players. Instead, we have digitized the recruiting process by creating an online network for coaches to connect with one another and share information just as they have before. However, by building this trusted, online community, we have made the recruiting process dramatically more efficient and easier, saving coaches time and money while increasing the quality of the recruiting process and providing coaches more opportunities to find the best players.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) Does your platform work well on the international market as well? Are you helping international kids get some U.S.A collegiate exposure?

A. We have been approached with a great number of opportunities from international teams and markets. This is certainly an area we will be expanding into later this year and we couldn’t be more excited to do so.

Q. (BASEBALL TRENCHES) What are some of the things in the works that we can expect to see in the near future?

A. This is just the tip of the iceberg for FieldLevel. We are blazing a brand new trail in an industry that needs our product. In just a few months, we have been able to completely change the way recruiting is conducted for baseball. We are maximizing the opportunities for coaches to find the best recruits and for athletes to find the best coaches. Because of FieldLevel, fewer athletes are slipping through the cracks and going unnoticed by coaches and teams. We feel we are making recruiting, coaches, and athletes more competitive on a daily basis and the sky is the limit for what we can help create in sports.