First, lets exclude the baseball obsessed player who is committed to being the best player he can be regardless of where he lives (large or small state). Let’s overlook weather. The question is ...
Do kids who grow up in large metro areas naturally become better players because they have to achieve to a certain level just to be able to compete at the high school level? Are kids in small states less likely to push themselves the extra mile because they’re already good enough to compete at the high school level?
The reason I ask is an observation and comment my son once made. He grew up in one of the largest metro areas in one of the largest states. We were visiting my mother in a small state. There isn’t a high school in the small state as big as the smallest high school in his twenty-four team, three division high school conference. The largest high schools in this small state would only be 3A, of 6 where my kids grew up. Observing the high school sports situation my son commented his high school probably puts more kids in college sports than the entire small state.
I thought of this as I’m looking at the all state baseball and softball teams in the small state. In larger states almost everyone who is just all conference heads for college ball at some level. In this small state only five players on the all state baseball team are headed for college ball. One is headed for D1 (ACC). I do know one kid left for a baseball power house private school in another state. He’s committed to an SEC.