About Slated
Keeping people who love the game playing the game — at the right place.
Will Johnson
Co-founder. Played college baseball at Northwestern, and remembers exactly how hard the road there was.
Chris Bryan
Co-founder. Builds the methodology that turns recruiting from an abstract idea into a predictable field.
Where Slated started
Slated was founded by Will Johnson and Chris Bryan. The problem was clear: in Will’s pursuit of college baseball, recruiting didn’t come easy. He had the talent and the work ethic; what nobody handed him was a map. He wound up playing at Northwestern, but the process was disorienting enough that he kept thinking about the players who had the same love for the game and never got that far. Not because they couldn’t play. Because nobody taught them how to reach the next level.
What we believe
Most of what goes wrong in recruiting isn’t a talent problem. It’s an information problem, and information problems can be solved.
So Will and Chris built the methodology around two questions: where do you want to play, and where can you play? Where those two agree is your board. One rule governs everything on it: show what is true and let the family decide.
One sport, done deeply
Most recruiting services cover every sport with the same generic profile-and-outreach toolkit, often sold as an expensive multi-year package built on the promise of getting your athlete recruited. Slated goes the other way: baseball only, with the roster and matching depth that focus makes possible, and an honest commitment priced like a tool, not a five-figure package. If your family lives this sport, you deserve software that genuinely understands it.
The game has changed
Recruiting is tighter than it was even a few years ago. Since the House settlement took effect in July 2025, D1 rosters are capped at 34 for opted-in schools, walk-on paths have largely disappeared, and the transfer portal absorbs spots that once went to high-school recruits. Aiming at the wrong programs has never cost more, and aiming well has never mattered more. That’s the environment Slated was built for.
Why it matters
Talent gets you here. Strategy keeps you playing. Great players walk away from the game every year for reasons that have nothing to do with ability. Slated exists to keep people who love the game playing the game, at the right place.
Built for the whole table
Getting recruited is a team effort. The player, the family, and the coach each carry part of it. Slated is built for all three.
The player
The primary user, often doing the outreach themselves and, without a system, unsure any of it is moving them closer to a spot. Slated turns a profile and a few preferences into a ranked, honest target list, then helps them reach those schools from one place.
The family
The co-pilot, working alongside their player through an opaque process for the first time, and rightly wary of services that overpromise. Slated gives the family a shared plan and an honest framing of odds. The player owns the account; a parent gets visibility when the player grants it.
The coach
The advocate: a high-school or select coach judged, informally, on how many players move on to college ball. Slated loops them in behind every campaign (a coach’s email carries more weight than a player’s) and shows them which players are truly engaged in their own recruiting.