College Baseball Web?

www.d3baseball.com is what it sounds like, a web site with message boards for D III's.

IMHO - this site is all about college baseball. In fact, we are often criticized by parents of high school players that the focus seems too much on college.

The whole premise of the site is to help motivated high school players achieve their dream in college. Most of our long-term members were college players themselves or their parents are members here. I would argue that a site devoted exclusively to college baseball would not be as successful as this one. Part of what keeps this site active is about the dream of playing at a higher level and the dream is fed by those who have experienced it. A very powerful combination when you think about it.

I agree CD. The whole purpose here is to get to the college level. Those that have made it that far are here to help others along the same path. The evolution with this site moving forward seems to be from College to Pro.

The ability to access data and opinions regarding the trek from pre-high school through high school, then onto pro or college and potentially college to pro, followed up with what happens after the cleats are hung up.

All that is available here. It is quite amazing really.

Actually this site covers questions and discussion from 8U LL to college--it is not just a HS baseball site---it is more a site regarding process and the road to college ball starting at the LL level

quote:

Originally posted by floridafan:
I agree CD. The whole purpose here is to get to the college level. Those that have made it that far are here to help others along the same path. The evolution with this site moving forward seems to be from College to Pro.

The ability to access data and opinions regarding the trek from pre-high school through hign school, then onto pro or college and potentially college to pro, followed up with what happens after the cleats are hung up.

All that is available here. It is quite amazing really.

floridafan - good points.

Some off the cuff thoughts....

I think college is the level our site will always need to focus on but I could be wrong about that. I have thought about the evolution of the site (e.g., from college to pro) but the more I think about it, I am not sure there is much growth/interest for the pro level.

After college, the opportunities to play pro baseball are almost non-existent. To give an example, my son's D1 conference is a few ticks below the mid-line of conferences but far from the bottom of college baseball. With 10 teams in the conference, and 350 players, we had 9 players drafted last year.

Sure, in a power conference like the SEC, ACC, PAC 10, or Big 12, the numbers are higher than that but they are not extraordinarily higher. Just using all of D1 as an example, there are roughly 300 teams. At 35 players per team, that yields about 10,000. Out of that 10,000, approximately 800 D1 players were drafted. The other half of the draft is mostly high school players. I look at our going pro forum with interest and for obvious reasons since my son is now lucky enough to have that opportunity. Looking at the activity in that forum, I am not sure however there is as much interest there or frankly a large opportunity for growth. All that said, our Draft Forum will always be popular since even though there may not be an opportunity for everyone at the pro level, the dream is still there for many of our members.

I guess my ultimate point is that our site is as popular as it is because it is mainly about dreams and how to achieve them. If a site were to just focus on the pro or college level, I think you lose that dream aspect and it becomes just another message board like the millions of others out there.

J H,
There is such a college baseball site, in addition to the DIII link provided by hokieone.
Not sure how I found the site and, for the most part, I just use it for reading.
One thing I found is there are a few on the site who are not fans of this site.

http://collegebaseball.rivals....sp?sid=1169&fid=2308

.
Would echo most of what has been said...

and say that it might get done but IMO it would be a complex task...

Part of what makes the HSBBW so vibrant as a baseball resource site is the real interaction/communication between levels, between pre HS, HS, college and professional parents and players. You have numbers, you have an amazing balance between innocence/nievete and experience/cynicism, you have an exchange of real, valuable and useable and widely ranging information between those who really want and need it, thsoe who have been there and have that knowledge to share and are thrilled to be asked to share it...as a result you have you have a wide range of topics, and a fascinating exchange of ideas between large #'s of like minded people with similar goals.

Then...Just as, and perhaps more importantly and certainly more magically you have the intangibles...things that are almost impossible to recreate. In part by design...in part through the vision, leadership and caring of the two "owners"...in part by the good fortune of having some amazing people parked here long term...in part because of the high quality of their posts but also the real caring that they bring...In part because the information offered here is more than hyperbole about which team is better, it is about real people and their lives....There has been created here a very real and self perpetuating sense of quality and ownership...there has been created a sense of community/family, history of both site and sons, and dare I say it, love. What has been created here is more than a baseball recource, it is a real community that really cares about what goes on here, about getting it right, about protecting and honoring the history of this site, and in the end about each other and their son's...and at the very least is one of the more amazing cummunities you will find anywhere on line. One that has evolved far beyond pointless cyber chatter into real community and has crossed the cyber borders.

My experience with pure college sites is that without the amamzing and visionary leadership, without the #'s, without the wide depth of posters (Youth to professional), without the without the sharing of real and valable information, case study and experience, without these "kind" of people, without a sense/vision of community with a valuable purpose of education and sharing, such site offer only/degenerate into tweets/arguments/statements/hyperbole about whose team/player/conference is better....interesting, fun at times, but limited in scope and purpose.


44
.

44

I agree totally