@adbono posted:The JuCo grind will do more good for HS grads than being buried at the end of the bench for 2 years at a 4 year school. In so many ways. The harsh reality is that hardly any freshmen are emotionally ready for the demands of D1, D2, and NAIA programs. D3 is the exception as it’s way more player friendly. In warm weather states, where JuCo baseball is really good, it boggles my mind that it’s still looked at as a last resort by the uneducated masses. On many occasions at HS games I have had HS coaches (of not great teams) try to promote their senior backup players as JuCo prospects. When this occurs it’s inevitable after watching a few innings that I recognize that the starters ahead of these guys aren’t even good enough to play for us. I know it varies by location but if you live in Texas, Florida, California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arizona and aren’t looking at JuCo options you are making a mistake.
Where do you draw lines on this? My 2025 is probably going to be a bubble D1 pitcher... but that's where he wants to be. But he's an exceptional student and will graduate 3.9+/4.0 and SAT1500+/ACT34+. I've started talking about the benefits of HA D3s and few better academic D2s but he wants zero part of the discussion. It's simply just not part of his or his travel teammates thought processes. Is JUCO the best route for him to meet this goal? How many students like that have you seen in JUCO?