My understanding is that if programs lose more to the draft it doesn't harm the APR? As long as transfers are kept to a minimum (which some schools do) they are ok?
What we found interesting is that most of the schools who we spoke to were quite adament about players returning and completeing their degree after the draft. Some schools actually provide funds through endowments for this purpose.
I don't think you can blame scheduling. What is important to find out during the recruiting stages is asking about scheduling and available resources. As someone said once, how many parents spend as much time researching this? I bet not too many.
My sons spring schedule runs heavy on mondays (NCAA day off)and light on thurs am, no class or one class on friday. This is an advantage to a player who attends a D1 school, having athletic advisors who work closely with the basebll program. It is also his responsibility to find out in advance what needs to be done for a missed class and the instructor has to know why he is not in class. There are some players who tend to overlook this.
If wondering why coaches choose certain players over others, they need to make sure their investments will show the maturity needed to be involved in any baseball program. When deciding the pros and cons over larger schools vs smaller, compare what resources your son has available. For a freshman, the most challenging year, I would much rather see mine play less but have available academic advisor, required study hall, tutors, than play more. After all, if it was all about playing, he would have gone pro.
I think that most parents whose son's have struggled through freshman first semester will understand.
Also, there are some coaches who really are not interested in what is done outside of their field. If you don't make the GPA, there will be someone else to replace you. I like the fact that a coach gets reports every 4 weeks on a players academic progress. I can tell you where my son plays, you don't go to class, study hall, after warnings you are gone, no matter what your GPA might be or how good you are. Those are the rules. One other thing to consider, a factor in choosing where he attended was not only based on the program, but the population of the school. He has some classes where they may be 25-30 per class, a bit more individualized. He preferred that to large lecture halls of 300. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but that these should be considerations for the total success of your son, on the field and off.