I believe the service academies do have a policy in place for cadets who have the opportunity to play professional sports involving two years of active duty and a partial repayment of the cost of their education (to the tune of six figures). I believe this policy was put into place to deal with the very few cadets who develop professional sports potential. The academies have already offered a compromise.
But I do have faith that each year 4,000 quality candidates without professional sports aspirations could be found to fill the incoming places at the service academies.
Much has been made in discussions here before about commitment, questioning the ethics of hs players who verbally commit to one school but change their minds when the possibility of a better offer comes along or programs who fail to fulfill on promises made or even inferred by a player or their families. IMHO, a commitment to serve your country after having been given the benefit of an academy education is much more serious than the commitment to play for any given baseball program and should be held to the exacting standards of those institutions. Or even the standards discussed here before about the value and lesson of commitment.
The academic and physical standards for entry into the academies are high, as are the levels of training in both aspects. Just as the programs any of our sons improved them as players, the coaching and additional physical training geared to make them better and more fit officers involved in four years at a service academy makes their players better and stronger.
About a third of any entry class into one of the academies washes out before graduation for a variety of reasons. It is my understanding that no active duty commitment is incurred until the start of their third year giving, in the instance of a potential professional player, the opportunity to transfer to a civilian universtiy where that potential could be fully explored.