Nancy, college coaches who recruit for a living are very good at this process and we as parents are not. I think your question is an excellent one with my own bias already stated. In our experience, you need to find a school that is the best fit academically and for all the other non baseball reasons. On the baseball side, you need to be very pointed in talking with the coaches and in the questions asked. In our experience, if the coach really wants you and believes your son can contribute to his program, he will tell you that, along with the no guarantee language and with the contingencies that he works hard, continues to improve, etc. If the coach is not willing to be that specific, then you have to question how your son is viewed. Having "slots" for athletes at the DIII level is not what the NCAA has in mind for DIII but I am sure it happens. While everyone truly has to earn their job at a DIII, a coach who really wants your son, and who you will want your son to play for, will say say so and will have a pretty solid description of how he projects. But you need to ask those questions if the coach does not volunteer and make sure you listen carefully to the response. Again, coaches do this for a living and some, not all, are great at answering every question but the ones you ask. If you don't get those answers, I would be careful. Good luck and keep asking questions here and with the coaches recruiting your son.