40 man roster?

The team does not have a JV team

Tell your son to look to his left and to his right when he enters college. They will not be around in 4 years. "Never concern yourself about the other players, they are not concerned about you"

The question is "can you perform"? Have you prepared by playing on older teams?

Bob

There's probably not much you can do about it at this stage other than to make sure he's working hard this summer and preparing to compete.  From what I saw of my 2016s D3 this past season, they played who they thought would help them win - they had a freshman starting pitcher, starting at second and at DH.  And those are the ones that stood out to me - I'm sure there were others that I didn't notice.  I think once you get there it's then on you to compete and if you can contribute you'll remain on the team and then play regardless of your graduating class.  

Edit to add - 40 players doesn't seem that uncommon to me for a D3.  I saw lots of schools with rosters between 36-40 and several with more than 40 while 2016 was going through the process and I was looking at the baseball programs online. 

Where is he playing this summer?  

Two things matter. 1a) Was your son a preferred recruit? 1b) Did the coach ask to walk through his application? 2) Is he talented enough to win a position?

I've seen and heard of a lot of D3 players believing they were recruited to play when they were only recruited to try to walk on or fill a large roster where half the team doesn't travel. An indicator is if the coach tells the player he's on the team if he gets accepted. The players the coach really wants he helps get accepted.

A friend's son was recruited to a D3. He was one of eight preferred recruits. When he showed up for fall ball there were 27 pitchers vying for three available roster spots. All 27 thought they were recruited. There were position players trying to walk on for roster spots that didn't exist.

2016 baseball dad posted:

the school that my son is committed to is a strong D3 team. I've recently checked their roster and they have 33 people and are bringing in 8 recruits while only graduating 1 senior. Is this something to be concerned about playing-time wise or getting cut during the fall season?

 

We don't know enough about your son or how he stacks up compared to the other rostered players or the incoming recruits.  But, it is certainly not uncommon for D3's to have heavy rosters of 40+.

if it is a strong D3 program, it is safe to say that, from this point forward, he will always be competing for a spot and it is the coach staff's ongoing job to find someone better than him.   Another thing to realize - schools have sports programs largely to attract more enrollment.  If the staff builds a strong program, this builds even more "marketability" and  it is also part of the staff's job to leverage this into bigger rosters and more tuition $$ for the school.  

All your son can do is continue to embrace the challenge on a daily basis.  Those who thrive in this environment tend to be the ones who survive and thrive in college baseball. 

2016 baseball dad posted:

the school that my son is committed to is a strong D3 team. I've recently checked their roster and they have 33 people and are bringing in 8 recruits while only graduating 1 senior. Is this something to be concerned about playing-time wise or getting cut during the fall season?

 

the team breakdown is as follows: 

1 senior

7 juniors

10 sophomores

15 freshman

Dad, I think you are getting solid input with the prior posts.

This is a comment which is very on point:

"All your son can do is continue to embrace the challenge on a daily basis.  Those who thrive in this environment tend to be the ones who survive and thrive in college baseball. "

The D3 which recently won the CWS did so with 15 seniors.  The entire starting 9 (including DH) were all seniors who finished 3rd in 2015 in Appleton.  I listened to a post game interview with Cortland State, another D3 power. Their 1B talked about how important it was for him to learn for 2 years behind a top player and he emphasized he learned about on and off the field development so that he became one of their top guys as a junior (when they won in Appleton) and this year when they didn't.

The head coaches of Cortland and Trinity were barely done in Appleton when they started mentioning  how much talent they have returning and who will not get their chance to compete and succeed.

While not all coaches are the same, I would hope your son has had discussions with his future college coach which answer your questions far better than anyone on this site can do.  When ours was recruited (to the school which just won the CWS), they returned every starter but one from the team which won their conference,  and had 4 underclass bench guys who had seen considerable time the year before.

The coaches made it clear they felt our son and some recruited with him (there were 14) could play and compete with the improvement they felt could occur before February of the freshman year.  Our son visited and watched practices and games and felt he could compete for playing time.

Again, while coaches do vary, many at the top are often trying to recruit players they see as "potentially" at least as equally, if not more, talented than those they have returning.

To respond quickly, he was definitely recruited to play there, and his application was supported through admissions.  He has been told he is one of the top pitchers they are bringing in and the top LHP

We all do this but I think you are worrying too much and about things you can't control.  Your son will need to be a much better pitcher by next February/March than he is now.  From what you have posted, it sounds like the coaches feel he can get there. 

With that said, he still needs to get outs once he gets there and "earn" innings. Being the top recruit, top LHP usually ends the day college starts and he gets on the mound. Every other recruit and everyone of those 32 returning players want playing time.  Competing, getting better and being productive on a college field will determine who gets time in the field and on the mound.  it sounds like your son is one the coaches view highly.  If that is true, the rest is up to your son.

Look at more than last years roster. Look at several years. many times it is not just the seniors not returning.On some teams many players self cut. A player may not make grades. May decide to concentrate on his studies. Girls also play a large part. Look at the shrink from year to year,.

Has your son watched this team play? If so does he think he can compete.?

Do not worry about the size of the roster. Watch the team with out rose colored glasses. Can your son compete? Freshman, Sophomore or Junior year?

I am not speaking to your son's situation.  However, there are many people that post looking for assurance about recruited vs walk on, making the roster vs the travel roster, getting playing time or being a starter.

The size of the roster doesn't matter. Most schools will carry far more than those that play. 

It is the same everywhere; the best players play. Then there are those that are being groomed for the future and will always have to compete as new players come every year.

Players, and their parents, need to be honest with themselves before they step on to the campus. They need to have the confidence and the belief that they can and will compete for playing time. Coaches have no idea if you will stack up when you are being recruited. They may see things that they like enough to "provide assurance" that you are a recruited player. But until you compete, that "assurance" is out of context and virtually meaningless.

The same thing holds true every season. Either you have earned your "stripes" and play or you still have to prove yourself. It is always the same and does not change.

ILVBB posted:

I am not speaking to your son's situation.  However, there are many people that post looking for assurance about recruited vs walk on, making the roster vs the travel roster, getting playing time or being a starter.

The size of the roster doesn't matter. Most schools will carry far more than those that play. 

It is the same everywhere; the best players play. Then there are those that are being groomed for the future and will always have to compete as new players come every year.

Players, and their parents, need to be honest with themselves before they step on to the campus. They need to have the confidence and the belief that they can and will compete for playing time. Coaches have no idea if you will stack up when you are being recruited. They may see things that they like enough to "provide assurance" that you are a recruited player. But until you compete, that "assurance" is out of context and virtually meaningless.

The same thing holds true every season. Either you have earned your "stripes" and play or you still have to prove yourself. It is always the same and does not change.

This is so true. I have seen this at many schools. One player at my sons old school, came in and got a lot of playing time as a freshman, all the parents and the player complained about, is it was not at catcher. All we heard is that the coach promised this or that. Well, he must have been the only one who was made promises. My son was one of the starting pitchers on Saturdays from his freshman year through his senior year. During recruiting coach never promised him he would start. He was told he would get an opportunity to compete. Coach said he could see him relieving during week end and maybe some weekday starter, for non con games. He would use him in the out field if he had the opportunity. Talking to most of the other freshman that started that was the same spiel they heard. So either the coach treated my son and the others I talked to differently or the parents and player heard what they hoped to hear.

Player transferred out and played at a D2 the next year. As per his Dad he was going to catch there. Guess what, He got a few innings at catcher, but went back out to the OF as a part time starter. Never played as many innings in a season as his senior year. 

I know I have told this story before, so I apologize to all who have already heard it. 

2016 baseball dad posted:

To respond quickly, he was definitely recruited to play there, and his application was supported through admissions.  He has been told he is one of the top pitchers they are bringing in and the top LHP

He's at an advantage going in. Now he has to nail it down and keep it. Take nothing for granted.

To me worrying about a 40 man roster is a waste of time. Or how many sr/jr/soph/fr are on the team. A kid plays a position, say 3rd base. Unless the team has recruited 40 3rd basemen he has what, 3 or 4 players to beat out. So one needs to try to be the best 3rd baseman (or whatever) on the team and hold his own at the plate. The other 35 players are irrelevant.

Thank you all for your insights!

RJM posted:

2016 baseball dad posted:

To respond quickly, he was definitely recruited to play there, and his application was supported through admissions.  He has been told he is one of the top pitchers they are bringing in and the top LHP

He's at an advantage going in. Now he has to nail it down and keep it. Take nothing for granted.

+1

SomeBaseballDad posted:

To me worrying about a 40 man roster is a waste of time. Or how many sr/jr/soph/fr are on the team. A kid plays a position, say 3rd base. Unless the team has recruited 40 3rd basemen he has what, 3 or 4 players to beat out. So one needs to try to be the best 3rd baseman (or whatever) on the team and hold his own at the plate. The other 35 players are irrelevant.

Well, yeah, sorta... except that the #2 and #3 SS and maybe the #2 2B might also get a look over there, particularly if they can do better than just hold their own at the plate.  And same might even apply to the #2 1B and #2 C if he has an IF background... 

I think son's D2 had exactly that happen this year... only one player actually listed as 3B on roster but I think seven or eight ended up playing the position, from those other positions I listed.

Expect and embrace the competition.

Warn your son that he is stepping into the most intensely competitive situation he has ever been in. He should take nothing whatsoever for granted.  Everything has to be earned.  And even if earned once, has to be continually re-earned each year.  There are upperclassmen on my son's highly competitive D3 team who have been on varsity for two or  three years but have gotten only a handful of AB's in total.   Exactly one frosh pitcher got innings this year, I believe.  Most of the others suited up for home games but didn't travel.  Only one Frosh position player was even rostered on varsity.  He got significant AB's in first half of season but eventually lost out to a junior transfer.  (By the way of 31 players on the  varsity, 8 were transfers). One distinctive feature of my son's team is that besides a regular stream of transfers, there is a JV squad of mostly freshman not even on the varsity roster.  But the total roster for JV - Varsity  is still just over 40.  So not a lot of extra guys sitting on the varsity bench.  Every year, the coaches  scour the country for new talent -- not just frosh, but JC transfers, and also D2 and D1 drop downs.  At the D3 level, there is no downside to bringing in tons of guys and simply stockpiling talent.  So there can be a lot of talented guys competing for not many spots at a competitive D3 school.  At least your school doesn't have a JV squad, it seems,  so there is a certain natural limit to the stockpiling.  But still with 15 Frosh from last year, if (and it is a big if) they all return  (and can play) it might be hard for the new crop of 8 frosh to break in.

Looking at historical roster churn can be helpful in assessing likelihoods.  But that's tricky since some guys have the patience to wait and the discipline to get better while waiting.  Other guys decide they have better things to do.  Which sort is your guy?