I've been mostly a lurker here for years. My son is a 2023 and he wants to play ball in college. He's 5-10 160. He plays OF and Pitches. His measurables are as follows- Top FB 81, usually sits 77 ish. Exit velo off tee is about 85. His 60 time is 7.4. He's a good player but he's not a stud.
He's one of the best players on his HS team (small school). On his summer team (a really talented group) he does not stand out. To say he's middle of the pack on that team is being generous. That's not a knock on my son its more of a compliment for the level of talent on the team in general.
His summer team plays at the highest level possible. While it's not a nationally recognized program (it's run by a local guy) I do feel like this team couldn't be any better for him from a "big stage" standpoint. Several kids on the team are getting D1 looks and two are committed. They play in all the big PG and PBR tournaments.
Our situation is a bit different from others because if it weren't for baseball my son would likely not go to college. He'd likely learn a trade or something of the sort. He's not a great student. He tries hard but school doesn't come as easy to him as it does to some.
If that weren't the case I'm sure he would be a really good candidate for D3. I tend to hear D3 and HA mixed in together a lot. Unfortunately I don't think HA is in the cards for him. He has ADHD and has a 504 in school which gives him certain accommodations. His GPA 3.0. Without accommodations it wouldn't be that high. He hasn't taken the ACT or SAT yet. He doesn't test well so I don't expect high scores.
He loves the game and wants to keep playing baseball. I promised him that if he'd continue to put in the work that I would continue to do everything I could to help him.
He's not gonna be a D1 or a D2 guy unless something drastic happens like a big growth spurt etc.
Academically I feel like juco is his best route. I see some of the rosters of the juco's around us and they look a lot like D1 rosters (lots of talent). I look at the D3 rosters and they don't appear to have near the talent of the jucos. Obviously juco is just two years so the likely hood of being able to play could be higher?
How do we decide whether to focus on D3, juco or even NAIA?
Do we actually have to pick one of those routes at some point? If we do when is that point?
Right now his focus is on trying to get bigger, stronger and faster. He's gonna play a lot in the summer, but I'm not sure if going to showcases is a good idea or not.
I feel like I've spent so much time reading on this site I should already know what to do, but I know every situation is a bit unique. This place has so many helpful folks I thought I'd put my info up to see who would chime in with comments.
RJM was kind enough to speak with me a bit via PM which was very helpful but I figure the more the merrier.