College Prospect Camps and Personal Injury issue.

Sorry to read about your kid and godspeed on the recovery. What D3 schools is your son targeting?  Did he reach out to those coaches and look for school specific camps?

D1 talent is being pushed to D3 events because of the COVID induced surplus of players.  He needs to have his coaches work their contacts on his behalf. 

Man getting hit in the nose sounds awful. Hope the surgery goes well. 

To bandera's point about D1 talent getting pushed down - - - My son's report card on his new freshman D3 teammates is that they are very good.  They are mashing this fall and a few very good pitchers.  It is clear that talent has dropped to the D3 level.  My son is excited about the talent and what it will do to the team.  My son has a legit shot at mound innings this year and after dealing with arm issues is back to his peak velocity and will push towards 90 in spring.   

The D3 window is not closed and you have many months ahead but at this point, you should be having conversations I would think....

@champdog.  2023 signed on with a recruiter recently.  First words out of his mouth were "wheew, I was afraid you were gonna tell me you're a 2022".   Says they even have 3 2022 T90 mph RHP that havent signed yet.

I'd say about 1/4 of the D3s my son has contacted have said along the lines of "you will be a top 2023 prospect after we get through 2022s.  We'll talk to you soon."

OR its been complete crickets.

I feel for the college upperclassmen who were going to lose out because of COVID but the law of unintended consequences is certainly at play with the NCAA decisions.

Your son sounds like my son, @champdog. Mine has double-digit AP classes, 1300 SAT, exit velo in the mid-90s, throwing velo in the mid-80s, and versatility at a bunch of positions. He was all-state honorable mention junior year. He has exactly 1 offer, and lucky to have it. He's had at least 9 or 10 D3 coaches flat-out tell him "no," which is at least helpful because we can cross them off the list, but he's had many more just stop returning emails. At the PG Upperclass WWBA in NC this weekend, there were exactly zero coaches anywhere in sight, at least at our fields. '22s were just caught in the eye of the storm as a result of NCAA decision-making, and my sense is that college coaches have already moved on to the '23s. My son at this point is preparing his applications to "big state U's" and planning on a life off the diamond. It sucks, but facts are facts. I think that my son basically has thrown in the towel as far as getting recruited. I for one am absolutely not wasting any more money on showcases and such!

Sorry to hear about the injury. Get well soon. If a ‘22 is still looking to be discovered he’s probably out of luck. It’s October.

At this point without sacrificing a thing academically I would look programs with senior catchers and bench catchers with bad stats. Get accepted, go to the walk on tryout and hope for the best.

Walk into the coach’s office the day you arrive on campus and state your attention to walk on. It could start a conversation where you take the field at walk on tryouts with the coaching staff knowing something about you. If impressed enough with the conversation they might even ask how to contact the high school or travel coach.

If the campus is near enough walk into the coach’s office as soon as you commit to attending. Otherwise call. Being a catcher is a plus.

While there still is time for 22s, I think we're closer to being able to say that their class holds the crown for having it worst due to Covid et al.  First it was the 2020s, but that quickly gave way to the 21s.  But everything I saw indicated the 21s mostly came out alright.

A close buddy has an uncommitted 2022 that just played in his last fall ball tourney over the weekend.  His travel org had their big end of season tourney.  27 teams from 5 states came to play in it.  My buddy said that one NAIA and one D2 showed up to watch on Saturday but only the one NAIA team for Sunday.  Now that's just one tourney, but the org is the biggest/most respected within a 2+ hour radius of here and 27 teams of 2022s all in one place from 5 states?  I would have expected plenty of Jucos, NAIAs and a couple D3s to be in attendance given it's one of the last chances to see kids live.  If the turnout is any indicator, I don't think there is any question that the 22s have it worst.  For any uncommitted 22s that have offers but haven't committed, it's go time.  It's time to alter the dream.

NotMadeOf$$;  that's not necessarily a bad thing.... my 2021 RHP had arm issues his Sr year and chose against surgery. He went the big state u route where he is a Freshman and is putting himself in a much better place for employment opportunities than the D3 he was committed to would have provided. The advice "Think 40 years out not 4" comes to mind. He has already started his coaching career (earlier than expected) as an assistant in a good travel program at the 13/14u level and has turned the page. Turns out that he had some really good teachers through the years and can communicate what he learned to the younger players very well.

@2022NYC posted:

Sorry to read about your kid and godspeed on the recovery. What D3 schools is your son targeting?  Did he reach out to those coaches and look for school specific camps?

Hi thanks for your response. His schools of interest is still Illinois . of Tech.,Rennsselnear Polytechnic Inst. , Denison, Case, Utica College, Stevens Inst. of Tech. and Case Western ( This one is out. way to expensive). I know I am spelling a few wrong.

D3s do not have roster limits.  The short answer is, if it's a school where the student would need coach support to gain admission, then that door may be closing.  If it is a school where the student would be admitted anyway, then the coach can recruit as many players he wants (and have a very large roster).  Before the pandemic, we knew players who commited to D3 schools after a January camp, for example.  But, they were pitchers. I would think that things might be different for catchers, where a coach might not want too many (however he defined that).

Be aware that because some D3 schools have very large rosters, lack of excitement from a coach during recruiting might mean that he gets there and doesn't get playing time for 4 years.  But, maybe he would be happy just to be part of a team.

I dont know what others have experienced but recruiting questionnaires appear to have been worthless other than University of Richmond that have taken full advantage of this and emailed my kid and me no less than 25x for each camp that they have run.

anotherparent mentioned roster limits (or no limit). There is a pretty reputable/desireable D3 school in our area that had 80+ kids at the fall baseball meeting last year. That turned into a Varsity of ~38 and a JV with the balance. The JV team has a "coach" which is basically a responsible individual who lets the boys coach themselves.

I might consider the club route at a Division 1 school unless smaller private/public D3's is the goal from an education perspective. Rosters, coaching, and experience matter a lot to my 2022. Have read/heard quite a bit of good things on the club route in baseball (and other club sports) that current friends kids are playing at schools with D1 baseball teams that are unattainable for all but the most elite baseball players. These teams practice 2-3 times a week and play a couple of times/weekends a month.

If my kid just wanted to play baseball rather than develop it would certainly be an option I would encourage him to seek out. Development and structure matters too much to him right now.

@champdog posted:

Hi thanks for your response. His schools of interest is still Illinois . of Tech.,Rennsselnear Polytechnic Inst. , Denison, Case, Utica College, Stevens Inst. of Tech. and Case Western ( This one is out. way to expensive). I know I am spelling a few wrong.

Did your kid reach out to those coaches? I hope you live somewhere in between Illi and Utica, that is a lot of miles.

BTW the D3 team mentioned with 80 kids at meeting in my thread (no background on injuries or other playing time issues):

1. Played 41 Varsity games (unknown on JV).

2. Total of 26 Hitters had 1510 plate appearances: 8 kids had 100+ AB's, 2 had 50+, 7 had 10-41, and 9 kids had 10 or less.

3. Total of 15 Pitchers had 322 innings pitched: 5 kids threw 37+ innings, 3 kids threw 11-18 innings, 6 kids threw 1-2 innings.

My kid says that he would be ok with not playing much for a year if he feels like he is growing and getting better as a player...we will most likely see if that is the case wherever he ends up next season(s). I would imagine that a lot of kids in college at every level have been playing a lot the last couple of years with very little time on the bench. I am sure that this is a challenge for a lot of kids.

@used2lurk posted:

BTW the D3 team mentioned with 80 kids at meeting in my thread (no background on injuries or other playing time issues):

1. Played 41 Varsity games (unknown on JV).

2. Total of 26 Hitters had 1510 plate appearances: 8 kids had 100+ AB's, 2 had 50+, 7 had 10-41, and 9 kids had 10 or less.

3. Total of 15 Pitchers had 322 innings pitched: 5 kids threw 37+ innings, 3 kids threw 11-18 innings, 6 kids threw 1-2 innings.

My kid says that he would be ok with not playing much for a year if he feels like he is growing and getting better as a player...we will most likely see if that is the case wherever he ends up next season(s). I would imagine that a lot of kids in college at every level have been playing a lot the last couple of years with very little time on the bench. I am sure that this is a challenge for a lot of kids.

Your numbers play right into the general view 18-20 players receive reasonable playing time. It’s why roster size isn’t the issue. The issue is does the player believe he has the ability to become one of the 18-20.

Not playing much the first year often leads to not playing much soph year and leaving the program. Be very aware of what a coach is saying about future plans. My son returned soph year to find a JuCo All American at his position after starting and hitting well second half of freshman year. No matter how well a kid plays the coaching staff is always looking for better players. Fortunately he won another position.

I’ve seen complaints here and my son heard them from friends about club ball coaching. An important question to ask is who coaches the team. It could be a player. If this is the case players in his circle/clique receive preferential treatment.