RJM: This is for you bucko!
And everyone here knows you have an attitude. I wasn’t going to bother since the errors should be obvious to anyone but a rookie. But I guess I’m being challenged to slice and dice the article.
The first section is about kiddie ball. No one becomes a college prospect in kiddie ball on a small field. Most college players were preteen stars. But many preteen stars don’t even make their high school team. Many parents can’t recognize the difference between the physical early bloomer of a 5”8” father and genuine potential. I wouldn’t given any credence to compliments from parents unless they played to a high level of ball. Any bit of connecting kiddie ball to college ball is delusional.
I never said that if your son was a good "kiddie ball" player, that he was destined for great things. I started the article by saying everyone dreams about their kids being a great ball player, but many are not built for the sport. But some kids will stand out. They will have success on the field, more so than the other kids. Parents will notice. Some part of their game will stand out when they are 10, 11, or 12. Parents, who are not experts (never said they were) will want to tap in to what your son has. Dont put words in my mouth. I never said little Jimmy who hit a homerun in Tball will be a first round pick.
The next part gets into high schools. Don’t pick your kid’s high school based on athletics. Pick it based on its academics. Even if you’re selecting a high school heading into high school there’s a very slim chance the high school will impact a kid playing college ball, being drafted and/or becoming a MLBer. There are plenty of college baseball players who attended high schools with mediocre baseball programs. Or the team was only successful because a kid was a dominating pitcher. The exposure comes their travel team. High school has a much better chance of affecting college academics and career start.
Obviously you didn't read my article, much of it is dedicated to the importance of academics. However things being equal, I would choose the school with great facilities, a coach that will help your son reach the next level, good coaching, etc. It's in my article. I never said put the program over the school. Again, read my article.
What are unofficial levels of D1 baseball? There’s no such thing. D3’s are not for the most part high academics. There are far more D3’s that are part of a state university system than high academics. There are plenty of “write the check and you’re accepted” private D3’s. Not a lot of D3 players can play D1. Some mid major D1 prospects play D3. Typically they’ve selected a high academic D3 over an academic middle of the road mid major. They know they’re not pro prospects. They’re thinking grad school. Why are the handful of D3 draftees typically pitchers? Because 90+ is 90+ no matter where you throw it. Hitting success against the wide range of D3 pitchers is very subjective to judge.
Dude, you have never heard of midmajor D1s? Elite D1s? What planet are you living in? Vanderbilt is not considered on par with Sacred Heart. Everyone knows that. Most D3s are private institutions brother. Do your research. Yes, many D3 players can play D1. Ask the coaches at D1 schools. many choose academics over baseball as a priority. What are you telling me that I don't know. Yes, 90+ is 90+, but hitting 400 against D3 talent is not the same as hitting 400 against D1 talent. What did I say that was wrong?
A scholarship is a scholarship. Not true. At the D1 level with some exceptions, if the baseball coach doesn’t have any skin in the game with his scholarship count chances are the player is a low priority recruit.
Again, a scholarship is a scholarship. I stand by that. A scholarship means they are paying for you to go to school. Whether is an athletic or academic scholarship, money is money. Who cares what level its given at?
D3 schools require less practice. Ask some of the posters here if D3’s practice and train a lot less than D1 players. During the regular season there may be a time when when a player misses a game due to a non athletic friendly professor unwilling to provide an alternate test date. There may be a can’t miss lab. But I know D1 players who missed practice for labs. A player may be more likely to ask for a day off from practice to study. But to state D3’s practice less is very misleading.
Het expert, per NCAA rules, D1, D2, and D3 have restrictions on the number of games they can play. Also the amount of hours they can practice. Do your research, and get back to me. You have a lot to learn. You have been on here since 2007? Geez.
Most elite D3’s aren’t in the northeast. There are more in the northeast. There are plenty of elite D3’s all over the county. By the way Ohio and Illinois are not the east. West of Pennsyltucky (Central PA) is the Midwest.
Hey expert, look at this map of D3 baseball schools. Where are most schools located? https://www.google.com/maps/d/...881849999998&z=4
I’ll pass on JuCo’s and NAIA’s for lack of knowledge and experience.
So you are an expert at everything else, except two major areas of college baseball?
6.8 is good speed. It’s not top prospect elite speed. 6.8 foot speed is not in the same park as a 94 mph fastball.
Dude, what are you talking about? Ok, 6.7...what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
Almost no baseball players are on the college radar at age twelve. 12yos are typically playing on a small field. Even Jerry Ford once said he only saw two 12yos with big time potential.
You don't live in Miami, Florida obviously.
Most players on D1 teams don’t have scholarships. Not true. Up to 27 of 35 may be on scholarship. Yes, there are underfunded D1 programs. But still a majority of the players are getting at least 25%.
Only 11.7 scholarships per team, do the math.
Don’t expect to have time for anything but baseball and school. While the two are very time consuming most baseball players have some semblance of a social life and girlfriends.
Academics, Baseball, Social life. Each player gets to choose two of the three. If baseball isnt one of them, they wont be playing for long. If Academics is not one of them, they wont be students for long.
Did any poster’s kid choose his school based on how many fans would be at the games and games are on tv? Crowds/environment are a plus. But not a reason to choose a program. Games on tv are a plus for parents. But once again, not a reason to choose a program. There are more D1 programs playing in front of 500 fans than playing before 3,000+.
Yes brother, kids care about playing D!, against the known schools, on TV.
Choose a recruiting service. 75-90% of this board would disagree. Most coaches don’t read recruiting service spam. There’s nothing a recruiting service can do that can’t be learned on this board. Besides, what a player really needs is his travel coaching selling him to his college contacts.
Read my article. Obviously you haven't.
Recruiting services provide honest evaluations of player’s talent. How. I’ll take the honest evaluation of up close and personal baseball people. If a kid has talent and lives in a metropolitan area in high school a travel team relevant to his abilities (D1 to D3) is pursuing him.
Your "friends" dont want to be mean; rude. The coaches at NCSA dont really care. They dont know you. They want to give you info that will point you in the right direction.
Tell the coach about yourself as a person (in email). They’re not looking for Dr Schweitzer. They’re looking for baseball players. Provide metrics, possibly a two minute fundamentals video, why you want to play there and why you want to attend the college.
Not true at all. They want to know about the person. What they want to study, what they are interested in outside of baseball, why they want to go to school there. Dude, obviously you have never had a son go through the process.
Provide your grades and test scores. Coaches aren’t looking at grades and test scores until they know you can play the game. It’s not the reverse.
They ask all the time. What are you talking about? Its not the 1950s bro. Coaches DO CARE about grades and test scores. You have no clue.
If you throw 77 focus on D2 and D3. If you throw 77 you’re not playing D2. You’re marginal for D3. Unless you have great command you might want to focus on intramural softball.
If you are throwing 77 as a junior and have good stuff, you can reasonably expect to throw 83 as a senior with some work. Coaches recruit what a player is capable of, not what they are doing right now.
Its clearly obvious you know very little about the recruiting process. And you are giving people advice? Scary!