cabbagedad posted:MidAtlanticDad posted:baseballhs posted:
2 LHP kids we play with have documented velos 87-89, and aren't getting anything.Just browsing PG's rankings for TX 2020s, it looks like at least 90% are committed to colleges in TX, OK, LA. Lots of uncommitted guys (on PG anyway) who on paper could get scholarship offers in the northeast/midatlantic and maybe midwest. What do you think are the main reasons more TX kids don't pursue those opportunities? Weather, finances, level of baseball, juco options, culture?
Great question. I noticed this when Collegebaseballinsights was posting all the data. You would think Texas would be an outlier like California and Florida, sending more of the surplus of good players beyond in-state and neighboring states. Since so many of the other variables are similar, my guess would be that culture moves up the list.
It looks like TX has 36 Juco's with baseball. California has 88 - not terribly out of line with population differences, but if anything, that would push more kids further away. Plenty of wealth in CA but in TX as well. Both show up consistently at the top for best talent and good travel programs.
What do ya'll from TX have to say? Sorry, this should probably be it's own thread. See what you started, Mid !
The thing Texas has over California is proximity to another hotbed of baseball across the Southeast that is similar culturally to Texas. A Texas kid is going to feel a lot more at home in AR, MS, AL, LA, GA, TN etc than they will in the North East or Midwest. California doesn't really have a cultural equivalent so if the kid is leaving the state he is adjusting to a new culture regardless.