best college to attend to get drafted

The scouts will be there to see you at both places. Both play excellent schedules. It's up to your level of talent.

Once you get to college, if you can play, you WILL BE SEEN.

Same response but maybe phrased in a slightly different way. It is not the school that will get you drafted. It is the player, his skills and his performance.
bbscout posted a long time ago that if you can play, a scout is paid to find you no matter where you are located. If the scout doesn't do his job, he gets fired. At either school you have mentioned, if you can play, there are going to be plenty of scouts taking notice.

Pick the school where you feel you have the best opportunity to develop your skills. Some things to consider might be play time, coaching instruction, level of competition, etc.

If you are playing college baseball as a regular and performing to your potential and helping your team don't worry about who is watching or not watching--- for some reason that seems to take care of it self at the college level

While the replies to your original question regie are right on point, I do think you do need to worry about who is watching because it always matters. I have always told our son, your mannerisms matter, your attitude matters, as well as your body language every time you take the field cause you never know who's watching. The higher level of play you obtain, the chance to be seen increase exponentionally no matter what school your at in D1. A bad day with poor performance is sometimes not as bad as poor sportsmanship or bad attitude. As they say, good news travels fast but bad news travels faster. Just be aware that it always matters how you carry yourself on the diamond.

The first reason to attend college should be for education. But there is no harm in also choosing a program that also is successful in having players drafted.

Infielddad is right on with his comments, good post.

Ok, let's say Missouri has more players drafted than Elon. But your son has visited both and really found Elon to be the better fit, liked the coaches, team and the academic program much more so than MU. Which school makes more sense as to where your son should attend?

Play in the SEC; be a starter.

You'll be seen by more scouts in a weekend than most kids will be seen in a lifetime.

Those ACC schools are pretty good too

Really doesn't matter though, the good ones rise to the top whereever they go and will be scouted IMHO

Shep

It matters NOT where you play....my son attends a small D1 in the Northeast...last year we had 3 drafted from our team....2 pitchers in the 5th round and a SS in later rounds....currently 2 of our players are being scouted and last weekend, in the bitter cold, there were numerous scouts in attendance...while I agree scouts are probably out in force as some of the bigger programs and especially where the climate is conducive to baseball playing they do come to the other programs just as readily

Players from the big name programs certainly get more exposure with scouts regularly attending practices and games. As for those playing at the smaller programs .... word travels fast. If player is good enough they will find you. Example .... Justin Verlander from Old Dominion is candidate for starting pitcher position this year for Detroit Tigers, only 1 year out of college. Of course he throws in the upper 90's. I think it is the guys who are on the margin that benefit from playing for a high profile program ..... they are more likely to get noticed than similar players at smaller programs. On the other hand it is more competetive at the top programs .... you have to play to get nmoticed at all. My advice is similar to what the others have said .... choose school based on best overall fit, academic & athletic. If for some reason you could not play baseball would you go there?

Snoop

One thing you mentioned that really got my attention was> "you have to play to get noticed at all". quote by Snoop

Question for HS 06 candidates w/ college ambitions with baseball in mind>

Do you think it is better to go to MAJOR college program and wait two years to play or SMALLER college and start as freshman? (That can include JC BTW)

Would be interesting to get some responses to this question

Shep wants to know

Snoop

It is quite possible that the "marginal" player may not see the field at a high profile program while he might start at a lower profile/different division program

The old adage comes to mind: Would you rather be a big fish in small pond or a little fish in big pond?

I think the big fish gets noticed in the small pond as well.

And sometimes it helps to look at the conference the college is in ... a player who is on the field at a less established program in a high ranking conference will be seen every time he takes the field against the top competition in his conference. Granted, our son was only a 9th rounder, but he was seen because he competed in the Big West ... it certainly didn't hurt to go against Fullerton and Long Beach with scouts in the stands, even though his college had just moved up to D1.

quote:

Originally posted by Shepster:
Snoop

One thing you mentioned that really got my attention was> "you have to play to get noticed at all". quote by Snoop

Question for HS 06 candidates w/ college ambitions with baseball in mind>

Do you think it is better to go to MAJOR college program and wait two years to play or SMALLER college and start as freshman? (That can include JC BTW)

Would be interesting to get some responses to this question

Shep wants to know

Major college programs have scouts attending practices as well as games. Some scouts just come to watch bull pens. So it's possible they may notice you even if you do not play on a regular basis.
Smaller programs that compete against the bigger programs get LOTS of attention from scouts. Some smaller programs play freshman, but as a general rule, MOST freshman at any school do not become starters until after their freshman year.

quote:

general rule, MOST freshman at any school do not become starters until after their freshman year.

TigerPawMom,

With all due respect ma'm:

Do you mean as in four-year schools?

Shep

quote:

Originally posted by Shepster:
[QUOTE]general rule, MOST freshman at any school do not become starters until after their freshman year.

See bold type above.

If we polled parents here on the HSBBW, wondering if their college freshman spent more time on or off the bench, regardless of division, 2 year, NAIA.

Thanks TigerPawMom for helping me understand a little better about the reality of a college freshman. Not being a parent, it's hard to understand these type of issues and considerations. Good to see parents like yourself giving us this valuable input.

Guess me and a few others better take that into consideration on our Junior College DAFs. Would hate to waste draft-picks on players that are going to sit when we would have exclusive rights to sign player up until midnight before next draft. Wow ! Better re-evaluate draftlist...May have too many Junior College signees who are currently HS seniors turned in.
Really got me thinking here TPM.
<Drafts and Follows.> Would hate to know these DAFs are going to sit bench in their freshman year in college, even Junior Colleges!

Sometimes we just use these DAFs to hope for improvement. May need to reconsider fo sho.

Thanks about 5 DAFs TPM. Good stuff ! Keep it coming.

Shep

TPM

I think you are absolutley right.

We have a pretty good sample size right here to support your statement. With some exceptions, of course, but all the parents here who have gone on to follow their son's in college can attest to the time they may have expected, and the actual impact time their son's have received as freshman.

Good input.

I think there are several factors to consider when talking about starting freshman. Most top players out of high school are not ready to face top 10 D1 talent in a highly competitive program. Playing in mid week games allows them time to build the confidence, experience, and skills needed to compete successfully. Many D1 programs take this approach with their freshman and it works well for both their program and the player.

On the other hand, when a D1 is rebuilding a program, they may try to recruit and develop strong freshman by starting them in conference games in hopes of becoming a top tier program down the road. This was the case with our oldest son and several other D1 programs in our area have taken this approach lately, most notably TCU and Texas Tech.

When it comes to JUCOs, however, our experience is that DTF freshman play. That's usually why they picked the JUCO route and the pro scouts often steer strong candidates to the programs that best develop and play freshman. In fact, some of the top JUCOs in our area recruit players knowing they will either be drafted or go D1 after one year.

Anyway, the bottom line is that your son should ask alot of questions about play time on recruiting visits so that he can judge what route might be best for him. There is nothing wrong with sitting on the bench in conference games as a freshman at a highly competitive 4 year program if that is part of his development plan. The pros make every effort to protect young players from being overmatched and many good college programs do the same. However, if your son wants to get on the field as much as possible ASAP, he might consider a program that is either in a rebuilding phase or a JUCO.

quote:

When it comes to JUCO's, however, our experience is that DTF freshman play. That's usually why they picked the JUCO route and the pro scouts often steer strong candidates to the programs that best develop and play freshman. In fact, some of the top JUCOs in our area recruit players knowing they will either be drafted or go D1 after one year.

Exactly TxMom ! DAF=Draft and Follow

Txmom,
Thanks for the post.

I think Chill stating,with exceptions, could mean DAF.

Question, at what point does the particular DAF
get to be a STARTER? A first rounder,a 10th rounder, a 45th rounder? How many are we talking about here, lots of players or a few?

Down here, many of the JUCOS, with large rosters, have many not playing on a regular basis. Please note I did say MOST.

I don't think the round matters. Spring starting spots still have to be earned, but since JUCOS play a full non-conference season in the fall, there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to show their stuff and DTFs in any round usually have some tools.

As far as the number of starting freshman at JUCOS goes, that depends on the program and the year. Since a JUCO freshman only competes against other freshman and Sophomores for a position ...no juniors or seniors...his chances are pretty good, especially if he is being followed by a pro club.

I checked the top two JUCO programs in Florida because I wondered how they compared to what we experience here in TX and found that...

St. Petersburg College currently has 13 freshman and 13 sophomores listed on their spring roster and

Chipola College currently has 12 freshman and 13 Sophomores on their spring roster.

Neither site lists individual stats, so I couldn't tell how many of those freshman start.