Does anyone have thoughts on any Northeast Colleges? Son has a list of 20 plus he is starting out with, all over New England and the tri state area. He’s a 2025 with velo close to 90 and good size and projectables. I expect he’ll head into summer season sitting 88-89 and topping 90, good control and 2 good off speed pitches. He’s a kid who will likely end up throwing mid 90’s plus by senior year. Any schools you think he should consider reaching out to? Avoid? Thanks.
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NE Mom:
Have you considered Dartmouth? Bob Whalen, Head Coach [34 years].
We have worked at the Stanford Camps for many years. Check his roster.
Bob
@Northeastmom posted:Does anyone have thoughts on any Northeast Colleges? Son has a list of 20 plus he is starting out with, all over New England and the tri state area. He’s a 2025 with velo close to 90 and good size and projectables. I expect he’ll head into summer season sitting 88-89 and topping 90, good control and 2 good off speed pitches. He’s a kid who will likely end up throwing mid 90’s plus by senior year. Any schools you think he should consider reaching out to? Avoid? Thanks.
How are his academics? Would impact recommendations.
How good of a student is he? Is he organized? My son is attending a HA D3 and he is absolutely grateful that the facilities, dorms, dining hall. class rooms, study halls etc are within walking distance. For him every minute saved counts and his days are often 14-16 hours of school/baseball.
Outside Ivies with his potential the only schools to consider are.BC and UConn. The upside to BC is ACC. The downside is usually a lot of losing in the ACC.
Most pitchers with your son’s potential leave New England. The year Vanderbilt won the CWS their #1, #2, closer and cleanup hitter were all from Massachusetts.
@Wechson posted:How are his academics? Would impact recommendations.
He has an unweighted 3.9 GPA and a mix of honors and AP classes. Not a great test taker and works hard for his grades, so doubtful his SAT scores will be high enough for Ivy’s. PSAT’s we’re around a 1250 equivalent.
@Northeastmom posted:He has an unweighted 3.9 GPA and a mix of honors and AP classes. Not a great test taker and works hard for his grades, so doubtful his SAT scores will be high enough for Ivy’s. PSAT’s we’re around a 1250 equivalent.
My son got his SATs from 1200 to 1320 with a personal SAT tutor. He was a very bright student (graduated top 3% of class) who didn’t do standardized testing well. The tutor trained him for the tests.
@RJM posted:Outside Ivies with his potential the only schools to consider are.BC and UConn. The upside to BC is ACC. The downside is usually a lot of losing in the ACC.
Most pitchers with your son’s potential leave New England. The year.Vanderbilt won the CWS their #1, #2, closer and cleanup hitter were all from Massachusetts.
Thanks- we have tried with him but he is a Northeast baseball kid. He’ll be in the mix of pitchers watched by those schools I’m sure but if that doesn’t work out, he needs a bigger list. Since he is stuck on location he has to be flexible with college program I think. Maybe I’m wrong but it doesn’t feel like 90 as a sophomore is what it once was.
@Consultant posted:NE Mom:
Have you considered Dartmouth? Bob Whalen, Head Coach [34 years].
We have worked at the Stanford Camps for many years. Check his roster.
Bob
I don’t think his SAT scores or academic interest is at that level. He is a good student but not a great test taker. 1250 PSAT’s and not much interest in improving his score on SAT’s.
@Northeastmom posted:Thanks- we have tried with him but he is a Northeast baseball kid. He’ll be in the mix of pitchers watched by those schools I’m sure but if that doesn’t work out, he needs a bigger list. Since he is stuck on location he has to be flexible with college program I think. Maybe I’m wrong but it doesn’t feel like 90 as a sophomore is what it once was.
A physically big kid throwing 90 as a soph can be seen by a college coach as a kid who projects mid 90’s by college.
@Northeastmom posted:Thanks- we have tried with him but he is a Northeast baseball kid. He’ll be in the mix of pitchers watched by those schools I’m sure but if that doesn’t work out, he needs a bigger list. Since he is stuck on location he has to be flexible with college program I think. Maybe I’m wrong but it doesn’t feel like 90 as a sophomore is what it once was.
Given projection and academics I'd say Patriot League, UConn, BC, Bing, Fairfield, Northeastern.
Bucknell, Lehigh, Villanova Delaware St Joes…. Asking about finding a great college in the NE is like trying to find a beach in Florida.
@old_school posted:Bucknell, Lehigh, Villanova Delaware St Joes…. Asking about finding a great college in the NE is like trying to find a beach in Florida.
Haha, by great I probably should have specified great baseball program. Academics aren’t a huge issue provided they have his major. Good academics are fine, elite not necessary if that makes sense.
@Northeastmom posted:Haha, by great I probably should have specified great baseball program. Academics aren’t a huge issue provided they have his major. Good academics are fine, elite not necessary if that makes sense.
If you're willing to expand the terrain a little bit Michigan, Pitt, Rutgers and Maryland all certainly good/great schools and top tier baseball. Given your parameters, the list isn't super expansive after UConn, BC, Northeastern.
I definitely consider NJ and the eastern part of PA the "East Coast" and "North East" - I always thought Delware was the middle ground between the northeast and mid Atlantic.
Semantics aside - BC and UConn are not in the same world as the Patriot League. There is very good baseball in that area, there is competitive baseball in that area, and there is lower level D1 ball in that area.
Sit down with his travel program and decide which they think he can play at. Then reach out and see what the feedback is. The schools showing interest determine where he ends up, not the schools he'd necessarily be interested in.
@Northeastmom posted:Haha, by great I probably should have specified great baseball program. Academics aren’t a huge issue provided they have his major. Good academics are fine, elite not necessary if that makes sense.
Outside of BC and UCONN, I think Northeastern, Fairfield, URI, Bryant University meet that criteria. Good academics in mid-major conferences. Not sure what major he is considering so a match is needed there.
https://www.collegefactual.com...vision1/new-england/
Good luck.
There’s a good chance ivies remain test optional so I wouldn’t write them off on that basis alone - especially given your geographic limitations. Columbia and Penn in particular are probably stronger baseball programs than the Patriot League and a lot of other mid-majors in the Northeast.
BC having a very good start to their season in the ACC I think PC Vance from RI who is now there is very good. Maryland or Rutgers should be on your radar. Though Rutgers is *very* NJ heavy if you look at their roter.(Owens has done a great job turning that program around). The PC at Columbia is very good. He comes from a school that recruited my oldest this past off season.
I don't know where you play summer ball, but if your son is on the level of UCONN and BC, I think they would have reached out already. That was the expereince with my 2022 who had about the same metrics as a RHP. He did not have as good grades.
Bryant is always good, but can never get over the hump in the conference playoffs and have moved to another conference now. Know kids that play there and love it.
Everyone throws hard now, need to get outs. Go out throwing an upper 70s slider and get outs with it, you can probably play in most places in the NE that isn't a P5 or UCONN.
Does he know what he wants to study? Besides the great schools listed, Rhode Island, Fordham, and Holy Cross come to mind.
St. John’s often gets overlooked because of its recent lack of success but it has a strong baseball tradition and has had a number of recent commits with similar profiles to your son’s.
BC and UConn are the obvious ones as noted by many. I second the comment on Vance. Northeastern’s success and their affection for hard throwing pitchers also stands out to me. If Ivies are a fit for your son/family, then I would keep them on the list too. I would be less concerned about test scores with so many having them optional now.
For pitchers such a big piece beyond the school itself is getting to know the pitching coach. A strong connection will move a school up on your sons list, a poor one will cross it off (regardless of the school’s pedigree).
Probably worth poking around baseball program websites for when their prospect camps are in the summer.
@DroppedStrikeThree posted:St. John’s often gets overlooked because of its recent lack of success but it has a strong baseball tradition and has had a number of recent commits with similar profiles to your son’s.
Great point about St Johns @DroppedStrikeThree. They went to the Super Regionals in 2012 and lost to eventual CWS champion Arizona. I was at UNC Chapel Hill in 2012 (sons team was among the 4 regional teams) when I saw St Johns hit a walk-off HR against the Tar Heels to clinch a super regional berth. You could have heard a pin drop when that ball hit the net in left field...absolute no doubter. Also, in that CWS field in 2012 was Stony Brook. Another Northeast team.
@DroppedStrikeThree posted:St. John’s often gets overlooked because of its recent lack of success but it has a strong baseball tradition and has had a number of recent commits with similar profiles to your son’s.
Since Blankmeyer has left and UCONN coming back into the Big East they have dropped off a lot.
@Northeastmom posted:I don’t think his SAT scores or academic interest is at that level. He is a good student but not a great test taker. 1250 PSAT’s and not much interest in improving his score on SAT’s.
@DroppedStrikeThree posted:There’s a good chance ivies remain test optional so I wouldn’t write them off on that basis alone - especially given your geographic limitations. Columbia and Penn in particular are probably stronger baseball programs than the Patriot League and a lot of other mid-majors in the Northeast.
based on the mom comments it doesn't seem the Ivies or even the Patriot would be a likely match. I realize this will come as surprise to many but most kids aren't looking for HA, many of the those are really good kids who become really successful in both life and athletics....there is life outside of the HA echo chamber. Actual real human intelligent life.
It may be time to stop lumping all of the Ivies together. Penn and Columbia seem to be putting together consecutive strong years and are probably closer to BC and UConn than they are to the lower rung Ivies.
@K9 posted:It may be time to stop lumping all of the Ivies together. Penn and Columbia seem to be putting together consecutive strong years and are probably closer to BC and UConn than they are to the lower rung Ivies.
That's fair, seems like it's currently now 3 tiers:
1- Penn, Columbia
2- Harvard, Yale
3 - Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton
Thanks all! Son has had very good baseball days recently and is in the process of looking at many of the schools you mentioned. Coaches he has contacted so far have been responsive in ways they are allowed and this has reassured him. Not sure where he will land but I think we’ll know by fall. Thanks again.
A 1250 PSAT is pretty good and he'll likely get a 1300+ on the regular test. I'd recommend having him prepare and take it. Most high academic schools, especially Ivies, are going to require it for a recruited athlete. Schools like Duke, Vandy, UMich, etc. are test optional but from what I've seen, most Patriot League and Ivy League schools will require a score.
Beyond the parameters of academics and athletics... Big city vs. suburbs vs. smaller town? *VISIT* the schools to determine if he would you stay there if baseball stopped. We visited 20+ schools with our oldest son his final choice was big city and it's where he's stayed. A shout out for Northeastern - HC/Mike Glavine is awesome (yes, that family). My kids played for him during travel ball. I don't have "college coach" Mike experience with him, but that's something that when you visit your son can learn from those that "host" him...
@Wechson posted:That's fair, seems like it's currently now 3 tiers:
1- Penn, Columbia
2- Harvard, Yale
3 - Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton
This may be a discussion for another day.....however I'm going to respectfully disagree with this perspective. Since following Ivy baseball in 2009, I've seen way too many surprises over the years. Multiple teams that go from last place to first place in a year...yes a year. Freshmen can have a tremendous impact on these teams, and their results because there is very little roster turnover. I think that is a major reason these results are so up and down, and most teams got a sniff at a championship. Also, the Ivy coaching was incredibly stable when I started following intently in 2009. That coaching stability is not as consistent as in previous years. Dartmouth used to be the 800lb gorilla when I started following it. But if you look back over the last 13 years, you've got 6 out of 8 teams being Ivy League champs and auto advancing to NCAA regionals. Everybody's got a shot, and it comes down to freshmen recruiting. JMO.
Okay, I live in New England and seriously I am chuckling at combining the words Northeast and Strong D1 baseball program. These opinions are based entirely on baseball and not the quality of the school.
The Northeast has a very limited number of D1 college programs, and all have been mentioned. Take out Pennsylvania and NY you have many fewer. West of PA is the midwest and south of NY is the Mid-Atlantic (I'd say that's most NE views). hell the NE is losing programs faster than you can say "darn it's cold". UNH, BU, Providence, Vermont) and others are dropping divisions, ie Hartford.
There is nothing I would traditionally call a strong baseball program. BC hasn't been in ACC that long and not all P5 schools are strong programs just like not every D3 is a HA.
IF you consider ranking outside the top 100 still a strong program, then I guess these are considerations.
BC and Northeastern are improving their play by grad transfers - BC has the new Pete Frates facilities and at least you get to play against good teams.
Uconn just built an entirely new facility that rivals many of the top in the country, and hope to have that appeal to recruits. They've produced players such as Springer, Barnes and Oberg. I think they really want to be a destination program for the Northeast. Will it work? Who knows.
Bryant had some good years (ie played competitively against other parts of the country) I think they swept E. Carolina in a weekend and that propelled them to some level of respectability (locally), but really still pretty D1 irrelevant.
URI and Umass Amherst, okay not much to say here, they are polar opposites URI better baseball Umass better school.
Holy Cross - Patriot league, enough said.
You also have programs I call D1NO (in name only). Merrimack, Umass-Lowell, Stonehill, etc. Great hockey, though.
If I had to chose one of the d1 programs in the northeast not named Harvard or Yale. I'd go Uconn, BC, Northeastern, Bryant. And it's uconn only because they are pouring money into it, and hadn't had plenty of time and resources to do so before (talking about you BC). Northeastern is intriguing because of their coach, a local product from Billerica, you might know his brother.
I think RJM mentioned that the talent (pitching) from the NE the last several years have migrated to Vandy, Virginia, Clemson, etc and of all places Michigan (Brrrr).
Oh, I did forget the Maine Black Bears, at one time was a top 20 team I think back in the day, but just now a place to say you played D1 baseball.
@HSDad22 posted:Okay, I live in New England and seriously I am chuckling at combining the words Northeast and Strong D1 baseball program. These opinions are based entirely on baseball and not the quality of the school.
The Northeast has a very limited number of D1 college programs, and all have been mentioned. Take out Pennsylvania and NY you have many fewer. West of PA is the midwest and south of NY is the Mid-Atlantic (I'd say that's most NE views). hell the NE is losing programs faster than you can say "darn it's cold". UNH, BU, Providence, Vermont) and others are dropping divisions, ie Hartford.
There is nothing I would traditionally call a strong baseball program. BC hasn't been in ACC that long and not all P5 schools are strong programs just like not every D3 is a HA.
IF you consider ranking outside the top 100 still a strong program, then I guess these are considerations.
BC and Northeastern are improving their play by grad transfers - BC has the new Pete Frates facilities and at least you get to play against good teams.
Uconn just built an entirely new facility that rivals many of the top in the country, and hope to have that appeal to recruits. They've produced players such as Springer, Barnes and Oberg. I think they really want to be a destination program for the Northeast. Will it work? Who knows.
Bryant had some good years (ie played competitively against other parts of the country) I think they swept E. Carolina in a weekend and that propelled them to some level of respectability (locally), but really still pretty D1 irrelevant.
URI and Umass Amherst, okay not much to say here, they are polar opposites URI better baseball Umass better school.
Holy Cross - Patriot league, enough said.
You also have programs I call D1NO (in name only). Merrimack, Umass-Lowell, Stonehill, etc. Great hockey, though.
If I had to chose one of the d1 programs in the northeast not named Harvard or Yale. I'd go Uconn, BC, Northeastern, Bryant. And it's uconn only because they are pouring money into it, and hadn't had plenty of time and resources to do so before (talking about you BC). Northeastern is intriguing because of their coach, a local product from Billerica, you might know his brother.
I think RJM mentioned that the talent (pitching) from the NE the last several years have migrated to Vandy, Virginia, Clemson, etc and of all places Michigan (Brrrr).
Oh, I did forget the Maine Black Bears, at one time was a top 20 team I think back in the day, but just now a place to say you played D1 baseball.
BC is off to the best start in program history. They just beat Tennessee. I agree that the big names you mentioned are the true big names for the Northeast. If baseball gave more money this would be an easier process. Add in affordability and there are limited options.
The Maine Black Bears, at one time was a top 20 team I think back in the day, but just now a place to say you played D1 baseball.
Maine had a legitimate program back in the 70’s and early 80’s. In that era a trip to the CWS was regionalized. After a couple of competitive runs in the CWS Maine kept qualifying and got skewered each time. Finally, the format was changed to what it is today where the top sixteen teams host a regional. Maine baseball has been irrelevant ever since other than Mike Bordick and last year’s MLB World Series MVP Jeremy Peña.
The ‘76 team had future Hall of Fame college coaches Jack Leggett (Vermont, Clemson) and Ed Flaherty (Southern Maine). Flaherty was on Team USA. His son played for Vanderbilt and the Orioles. Bert Roberge pitched for the Astros and Expos. There were other drafted players on the team.
@HSDad22 posted:Okay, I live in New England and seriously I am chuckling at combining the words Northeast and Strong D1 baseball program. These opinions are based entirely on baseball and not the quality of the school...
Very nasty post. She was asking about schools in the northeast her son may want to consider and expressed that he had good grades - which is where a lot of these schools factor in. The tirade against lower level D1 programs was unnecessary. Not every school is a winner - so what? If they are offering to make college cheaper for you why does it matter that they haven't won the conference in 6 years? Lower level D1 programs exist everywhere - they exist in the south, the midwest, the west, etc.
You talk about programs folding in the same breath you blow off the validity of a dozen other schools. Almost as if you're rooting against.
Anyway your standards are very high, but maybe you're right. After all I'm sure Maine was just a place for Jeremy Pena to say he played D1 baseball.
@HSDad22 posted:Okay, I live in New England and seriously I am chuckling at combining the words Northeast and Strong D1 baseball program. These opinions are based entirely on baseball and not the quality of the school.
The Northeast has a very limited number of D1 college programs, and all have been mentioned. Take out Pennsylvania and NY you have many fewer. West of PA is the midwest and south of NY is the Mid-Atlantic (I'd say that's most NE views). hell the NE is losing programs faster than you can say "darn it's cold". UNH, BU, Providence, Vermont) and others are dropping divisions, ie Hartford.
There is nothing I would traditionally call a strong baseball program. BC hasn't been in ACC that long and not all P5 schools are strong programs just like not every D3 is a HA.
IF you consider ranking outside the top 100 still a strong program, then I guess these are considerations.
BC and Northeastern are improving their play by grad transfers - BC has the new Pete Frates facilities and at least you get to play against good teams.
Uconn just built an entirely new facility that rivals many of the top in the country, and hope to have that appeal to recruits. They've produced players such as Springer, Barnes and Oberg. I think they really want to be a destination program for the Northeast. Will it work? Who knows.
Bryant had some good years (ie played competitively against other parts of the country) I think they swept E. Carolina in a weekend and that propelled them to some level of respectability (locally), but really still pretty D1 irrelevant.
URI and Umass Amherst, okay not much to say here, they are polar opposites URI better baseball Umass better school.
Holy Cross - Patriot league, enough said.
You also have programs I call D1NO (in name only). Merrimack, Umass-Lowell, Stonehill, etc. Great hockey, though.
If I had to chose one of the d1 programs in the northeast not named Harvard or Yale. I'd go Uconn, BC, Northeastern, Bryant. And it's uconn only because they are pouring money into it, and hadn't had plenty of time and resources to do so before (talking about you BC). Northeastern is intriguing because of their coach, a local product from Billerica, you might know his brother.
I think RJM mentioned that the talent (pitching) from the NE the last several years have migrated to Vandy, Virginia, Clemson, etc and of all places Michigan (Brrrr).
Oh, I did forget the Maine Black Bears, at one time was a top 20 team I think back in the day, but just now a place to say you played D1 baseball.
You don't consider UCONN a traditionally strong D1 program?
@HSDad22 posted:Okay, I live in New England and seriously I am chuckling at combining the words Northeast and Strong D1 baseball program. These opinions are based entirely on baseball and not the quality of the school.
The Northeast has a very limited number of D1 college programs, and all have been mentioned. Take out Pennsylvania and NY you have many fewer. West of PA is the midwest and south of NY is the Mid-Atlantic (I'd say that's most NE views). hell the NE is losing programs faster than you can say "darn it's cold". UNH, BU, Providence, Vermont) and others are dropping divisions, ie Hartford.
There is nothing I would traditionally call a strong baseball program. BC hasn't been in ACC that long and not all P5 schools are strong programs just like not every D3 is a HA.
IF you consider ranking outside the top 100 still a strong program, then I guess these are considerations.
BC and Northeastern are improving their play by grad transfers - BC has the new Pete Frates facilities and at least you get to play against good teams.
Uconn just built an entirely new facility that rivals many of the top in the country, and hope to have that appeal to recruits. They've produced players such as Springer, Barnes and Oberg. I think they really want to be a destination program for the Northeast. Will it work? Who knows.
Bryant had some good years (ie played competitively against other parts of the country) I think they swept E. Carolina in a weekend and that propelled them to some level of respectability (locally), but really still pretty D1 irrelevant.
URI and Umass Amherst, okay not much to say here, they are polar opposites URI better baseball Umass better school.
Holy Cross - Patriot league, enough said.
You also have programs I call D1NO (in name only). Merrimack, Umass-Lowell, Stonehill, etc. Great hockey, though.
If I had to chose one of the d1 programs in the northeast not named Harvard or Yale. I'd go Uconn, BC, Northeastern, Bryant. And it's uconn only because they are pouring money into it, and hadn't had plenty of time and resources to do so before (talking about you BC). Northeastern is intriguing because of their coach, a local product from Billerica, you might know his brother.
I think RJM mentioned that the talent (pitching) from the NE the last several years have migrated to Vandy, Virginia, Clemson, etc and of all places Michigan (Brrrr).
Oh, I did forget the Maine Black Bears, at one time was a top 20 team I think back in the day, but just now a place to say you played D1 baseball.
Very good summary.
Here are the 2022 financials for UCONN
@PABaseball posted:Very nasty post. She was asking about schools in the northeast her son may want to consider and expressed that he had good grades - which is where a lot of these schools factor in. The tirade against lower level D1 programs was unnecessary. Not every school is a winner - so what? If they are offering to make college cheaper for you why does it matter that they haven't won the conference in 6 years? Lower level D1 programs exist everywhere - they exist in the south, the midwest, the west, etc.
You talk about programs folding in the same breath you blow off the validity of a dozen other schools. Almost as if you're rooting against.
Anyway your standards are very high, but maybe you're right. After all I'm sure Maine was just a place for Jeremy Pena to say he played D1 baseball.
Wow, where did you read nasty into any of that. Just not blowing smoke, nor is anything mean. The OP said baseball was the driving factor, the fact her son has great grades was not relevant to the discussion. Everybody else went there with the quality of the school ignoring her request.
OP Quote: "Haha, by great I probably should have specified GREAT BASEBALL PROGRAM. Academics aren’t a huge issue provided they have his major. Good academics are fine, elite not necessary if that makes sense."
Everyone jumped on the HA thing because reality check, Northeast D1 schools don't have "strong" baseball programs, they have strong Academic programs. This is not a case of trying to get into a good school and using baseball to do so.
Travel programs up here pump up these schools baseball and talk about "if you don't believe how good the baseball is just go to a game" rhetoric, because they sell getting people's kids in college baseball, but know for 99% their only chance at placing them are D3 NE schools despite every kid listing Vandy on their Target school list. The big thing now are D2's as the end all be all of most placement.
Nobody said it wasn't a great thing to get money to help go to school or even reaching to get into a better school because of baseball, nor would I ever want a program to fail. That's an absurd comment. Also a great player here or there that makes it doesn't necessarily mean the program is great, especially if the coaching staff is not the same. Nor does my opinion of the program itself imply certain individual players there are not diamonds in the rough.
To the OP @Northeastmom: if your son is pumping 90 as a sophomore and can spin the ball, every single one of these schools will have real interest. Especially with the grades, it means more merit money and less scholly money required by the coach, and he can get you through admissions. Do not agree to Early Decision because he will have options and you don't find out about FA support or merit academic money till after he is accepted by admissions (unless maybe coach spills the beans?). If that's not an issue, then find the best fit and go ED.
I do think BC and Northeastern will come back down to the planet once they don't have 6 year seniors and hopeful grad transfers, both found their late bloomers from D3 programs pumping mid 90's to fill out their pitching rotations.
And based on all this harsh criticism, I still think Uconn is the best option. And no I don't consider them a traditionally strong baseball program, they're more like a new really good program.
@HSDad22 posted:Wow, where did you read nasty into any of that. Just not blowing smoke, nor is anything mean. The OP said baseball was the driving factor, the fact her son has great grades was not relevant to the discussion. Everybody else went there with the quality of the school ignoring her request.
OP Quote: "Haha, by great I probably should have specified GREAT BASEBALL PROGRAM. Academics aren’t a huge issue provided they have his major. Good academics are fine, elite not necessary if that makes sense."
Everyone jumped on the HA thing because reality check, Northeast D1 schools don't have "strong" baseball programs, they have strong Academic programs. This is not a case of trying to get into a good school and using baseball to do so.
Travel programs up here pump up these schools baseball and talk about "if you don't believe how good the baseball is just go to a game" rhetoric, because they sell getting people's kids in college baseball, but know for 99% their only chance at placing them are D3 NE schools despite every kid listing Vandy on their Target school list. The big thing now are D2's as the end all be all of most placement.
Nobody said it wasn't a great thing to get money to help go to school or even reaching to get into a better school because of baseball, nor would I ever want a program to fail. That's an absurd comment. Also a great player here or there that makes it doesn't necessarily mean the program is great, especially if the coaching staff is not the same. Nor does my opinion of the program itself imply certain individual players there are not diamonds in the rough.
To the OP @Northeastmom: if your son is pumping 90 as a sophomore and can spin the ball, every single one of these schools will have real interest. Especially with the grades, it means more merit money and less scholly money required by the coach, and he can get you through admissions. Do not agree to Early Decision because he will have options and you don't find out about FA support or merit academic money till after he is accepted by admissions (unless maybe coach spills the beans?). If that's not an issue, then find the best fit and go ED.
I do think BC and Northeastern will come back down to the planet once they don't have 6 year seniors and hopeful grad transfers, both found their late bloomers from D3 programs pumping mid 90's to fill out their pitching rotations.
And based on all this harsh criticism, I still think Uconn is the best option. And no I don't consider them a traditionally strong baseball program, they're more like a new really good program.
IMHO, you were providing your assessment, which is what the community is about.
Thanks for sharing.
As you are aware, here was the incoming recruiting class for 2023.
Here is their players by primary position
@Northeastmom as alluded to by @HSDad22 part of your research will be to review their roster(s) over a couple of year to see what occurs on a yearly basis.
Thanks everyone for the help with this. I also realized that looking at PG and PBR rankings for the class or two above helps. I can see where kids ranked around my kid landed. It is eye opening how few options there are in the Northeast at certain levels.
