infielddad posted:CaCO3Girl posted:If a kid truly wants to play, is willing to go anywhere, his parents can afford it, and has even a high school level talent there is a school that he can play at.
I've heard of multiple pitchers throwing 75 at a D3. Some D3's can beat low level D1's every day of the week, but some D3's would get beat by a 16u travel team every day of the week. Not all D3's are created equal.
"I don't mean to have a chip on my shoulder. Clearly D1 boys get drafted and get $. Clearly many D3 players could not make it at a D1 team. But there are plenty of guys who could, and there are loads of D1 guys who aren't any better. It is the rare kid who gets the chance to play collegiately at all, despite playing travel ball for years.
OK I hope you get my point."
TwoBoys, I don't think the gap in thinking or perspectives between your post and that of CACO3 will ever be bridged on this site.
On the plus side, when I first joined the site, D3 tended to be largely overlooked. I still remember a thread where I posted about baseball and academic opportunities at schools like Emory, Millsaps, Rhodes and some others. Many responses questioned the quality of baseball. Some questioned the existence of the University.
Personally, I tend to be satisfied with the current coverage of D3 on the HSBBW. My view is that it is more than unfair to "compare and contrast" D3 with either D1 or D2, when those latter 2 levels are scholarship based. Scholarship based teams should be better than those which are not. What 11.7 does (other that the Power 5 and a few others), and unlike football/basketball, is marginalize the difference between the middle to lower levels of D1/D2 and the upper levels of D3. No matter how that pie gets sliced, bias, lack of knowledge, and sometimes both, will tend to be illustrated in the posting. Stating that all D3's are not created equal is an example. It seems to be ( could well be) offered as pejorative of D3 baseball. However, when we put it in the context that the same can be said for D1, D2, NAIA, JUCO, the "bite" does not seem quite so harsh.
If we were to take the West Region of D3, leave out Cal Tech (historically), and compare the baseball, I tend to doubt most would try and suggest "any" HS player can find a "spot" or that teams would be beaten by 16U travel teams every day of the week. And, of course, some might then say there are 16U travel teams who don't have a single player who can compete at the college level, unless it is one which could be beaten by the 16U travel team.
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Ahmen infielddad. It is proven year in and out. Look at the summer ball rosters. Every year you see athletes from all levels competing against each other. There are plenty of D2, D3, and NAIA getting playing time on those rosters. Necbl, great lakes league, and sometimes even in the cape or northwoods.
I think it does a great disservice to any young man who does what it takes to make a college baseball roster. Is every team the top of there division? No. I have seen a lot of D3 baseball. And have seen my share of the lower teams. Yet I am yet to see a team that can be beat regularly by a 16u. Heck, maybebI justbhave not seen enough 16u baseball.