Posted on Tue, Jul. 15, 2008

Williams Mizrahi had a lot going for him.

Heading into his senior year at Miami Springs High School, Mizrahi was a star on the school's baseball team and one of the better players in the county. After moving from shortstop to the mound, he found out he was a pretty good pitcher.

Then came a change that almost derailed his career: Mizrahi's longtime coach and mentor, Phil Wisser, left Miami Springs for Coral Gables High School.

''Coach would still help me. He always answered my calls, talked to me, gave me advice,'' Mizrahi said. ``But the change . . . It wasn't good.''

Despite batting .350 and maintaining a sub-2.00 ERA his senior year, Mizrahi had not been actively recruited by any colleges.

That is, until he was introduced to Team USA College Recruiting and its president, Elsa Cabrera.

While trying to find a college where her son could play in 2005, Cabrera decided she would become a more active participant in the hunt.

What she found was an entire cottage industry built around the complicated world of college recruiting, a world she needed help deciphering. SATs, GPAs and ACTs mixed with RBI and ERAs to make it more difficult.

A Little League coach put Cabrera in contact with Team USA, a Miami-based business that specializes in finding colleges for players not quite ready for major college ball, but definitely good enough to play somewhere. The group's motto: There is a college for every athlete.

ROLL CALL

In 1985, Team USA Recruiting held its first showcase event. Since then, it has helped hundreds of athletes find college programs that need them. Players who have benefited from the service include Coral Park's Alex Castellanos, who was drafted in June by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th round and Kelly Saco, a former All-County Miami Palmetto pitcher who now plays for Syracuse.

For kids such as Mizrahi -- who don't quite have Saco's arm -- there are more than 850 Division I, Division II and junior college baseball teams around the country, each with roster spaces to fill. South Florida is rich in baseball talent, but meager travel budgets of small colleges prevent them from recruiting extensively in the area.

Team USA uses its location and relationships with these schools to place players in the right situations. The program also offers tutoring, mentoring, SAT prep classes and assistance with admissions deadlines and paperwork.

''Those schools need players, and we have them here [in Miami],'' said Team USA director Ralph Nicolas, a Florida Christian grad and former minor-league player. 'Most times the kids don't know how to get in touch with them, or how to work the recruiting process. Sometimes, the kids' parents don't even know they're good enough to play.''

The recruiting process can be overwhelming for parents, especially those who waited too long to get a jump on it.

''What you find is that they're [colleges] running a big business, and it can make you feel like a mouse in a maze,'' said Bill Thiele, whose son, Steven, played baseball at Coral Reef High. But the hard-throwing right hander, who also plays the infield, was one of those athletes who got a late start.

''We saw him play, and we knew there was a spot for him somewhere right away,'' Team USA scout Caesar Rondo said. Last month, Thiele signed to play at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.

Rondo explained that with budget cuts at local public schools and private schools recruiting top-tier players, many kids are left without the one-on-one instruction and mentoring they need.

DREAMS EXTENDED

'We've got hitting coaches, guys that will work on the kids' swings, and if they show up, and the parents can't pay, then guess what? Don't worry about it. We don't care, because we love what we do,'' Nicolas, the program's director, said.

Meanwhile, it looks like Williams Mizrahi's dream to play college baseball will take him to Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga. Crusaders coach Gus Hernandez, a Miami Westwood Christian graduate, said Mizrahi will be one of a dozen South Floridians on his roster.

''I've got [Mizrahi] and four other kids from [Miami],'' Hernandez said. ``This is my best recruiting class yet.''