Are all D3 Conferences created equal?

There are D3s who can beat a D1 with their better pitching. There are D3s who couldn't beat a quality high school team. 

That's kind of what I was thinking.  Cal Tech to Linfield, just to name two examples, is quite a spread.  Maybe a better example would be Cal Tech to Pomona-Pitzer: a weak high academic to very strong high academic.  In the NWC the highest academics are in the bottom of the conference standings-wise.

Very few college ball players will play omon after college. Decide what he wants to study and what type of school he wants to attend. If sucess is important, then find the teams that fit his profile and are sucessfull. Don't pick a conference pick a school. Remember everybody wants to play in California. There are more spots than players. Now Washinton state may be another matter. 

Good luck on your search.

Just for some perspective on how hard it is to find a place to play in California.   There are  19 baseball d3 playing schools  (or combination of schools)   in all of California,  Washington State, and Oregon combined.   There are 21 division 3 playing baseball schools in Ohio alone.   California, Oregon, and Washington State have a combined population of 50 million, roughly.   Ohio has a population of about 11.5 million.   The odds of finding a place to play in California, at any level, are pretty low.

Plus some of those schools are the toughest to get into in the country.

Stanford, Pomona, Pizer, and Claremont Mckenna. 

smoke,

The answer to your question is a resounding NO, in my opinion. Some conferences, such as the SUNY, NJAC and WIAC are conferences made up of State Colleges and Universities which are well over 10,000 students. These are all public universities/colleges.

Many D3 conferences are made of student bodies which are anywhere from 800 to 2,500 and are private.

The West Region of D3 is made up of one conference in Washington/Oregon, Southern CA and 2 which capture Texas/LA.  Even though this is all of the D3 schools West of the Mississippi, they total less than 35  in total. That said, these are mostly smaller colleges which do very well in D3 baseball and have won a number of CWS over the past 10-12  years.

For players in the West, there are a number of top academic/terrific baseball D3 programs which I will call fly-over schools. These would include Emory, Trinity, Washington U in St. Louis, Case Western and others which recruit nationally while there are a number of other wonderful schools which are more regionally recognized for baseball and academics..

The Midwest, New England, South and Atlantic areas are concentrated with D3 schools, where terrific baseball is played and wonderful academic opportunities exist. Other than the NECSAC, these are schools which seem to recruit more regionally for baseball

Based on the breadth of air travel now from the Islands, it seems reasonable to look at schools in the following non-stop areas from Honolulu: Dallas(all of TX.), Chicago, LAX, Seattle, Portland. Surprisingly there are no D3's left in Northern CA.

If your son is pretty talented in the classroom and baseball field, look at getting him into the Stanford All-Star Camp and Headfirst West Coast near Sacramento where there will  be many D3 coaches from baseball/academic rich programs nationally.

Finally look at D3 college websites for information on the coaches. While a good player/student needs to be willing to take a risk, the length of time a coach has been with a program, the success they have had, and the quality of the academics can often speak volumes.

There is lots to learn about D3 and it is great you are starting to reach out. I hope this brief overview is helpful as part of your process and learning.

Thanks, everyone... your posts have been very helpful.  I was going to start going through the conferences with my son, just to see which schools were where, and what they have to offer.  His school has a strong college counseling program where the emphasis is on fit, so that will be a big help, too.

 

Is it safe to say that if I'm not sure what level he's at, then he's probably not Div. 1?

 

He is going to the future stars camp at Stanford; we'll see how that goes and move on from there.  We are trying to narrow down which schools he should let know that he's going to be there.  VERY sobering facts about west coast baseball.

 

 

except Stanford, of course, isn't D3.  I was referring only to the number of D3's.    

But the same is true of D1s and D2's, though the picture is a little brighter at that level. 24 D1 baseball programs in California.  Ohio has only  12 of those.   But the population of Ohio (11.5M)  is a lot less than 1/2 of California's 39M). It's   just plain  hard for a California kid to find a place to play at home. 

Historically, the Futures Camp does not have the numbers of D3 coaches who attend the All-Star Camps. However, there usually are some.

This should give you and your son a pretty good idea of his skill set in the talent pool.

Based on past experience, there will be some very talented underclass players at the Futures Camp.

At this point, I would keep an open mind on where your son might fit at the next level and know there can be wonderful opportunities at each level, especially with strong grades and test scores. Even with a strong college counseling program, the background of how baseball and academics might fit together can still be a bit of a mystery. 

Quick seat of the pants calculation I did this morning makes a very sobering point.

 

There are, I think, 58 4 year colleges in California that offer any level of baseball from D! through  NAIA. if they average 35 roster spots each  (the D1 limit)  that means there is room for just 2030 baseball players on  all the 4 year campuses in California combined.   

 

That's an incredibly small number.   And there are a lot of guys out there who would love one of those spots. 

A player can't get caught up in the numbers. He has to ask himself honestly, "Where do I fit?" and focus on getting there.

Number of College Baseball Teams by State

Wow....great info and thoughts....I've stumbled onto a gold mine at this site. Really appreciate what's been shared.

The following website has been a great help to us in just identifying programs, their level and tuition amounts. I believe these numbers are based on 2014 and I don't know how often they are updated, but it is a good starting point.

 

http://www.scholarshipstats.com/baseball.html

This is a great link for people who think athletic scholarships are the best way to pay for college.  There is a lot more financial aid and a lot more merit aid than there is athletic scholarship money.  I think the best piece of advice for anyone looking to play college sports is to work as hard in the classroom as you do in the field.  High grade and test scores give the student options and will open doors.  Baseball alone will not always get a student through admissions but grades with baseball gives the student a great shot.