Collegiate Summer Teams for Summer 2018

You may want to glance over current summer rosters, just to get a feel for placement:  how many freshmen? rising seniors?  what colleges do the players attend?  are the rosters stacked with SEC, ACC, other?  mostly d3?

This may help:   http://www.thebaseballcube.com/college/summer/

And there are also smaller leagues not on this list.

All that being said, you go where you coaches send you.  Coaches have relationships with summer teams, maybe one per league and they can only send 1 or 2 players.   Some players may get several offers, but the coach will ultimately decide.   If you don't have a placement by the middle/end of the spring playing season, I would have your player chat with the coach, and be ready to look on your own at that point.

In son's experience:  Freshman year, son had a placement by the end of September.  He wound up not going due to surgery and rehab during the summer.  Sophomore year he knew his placement by the end of August, right when classes began. Junior year they strung him along but he found out it was the cape, and he didn't go due to the draft.

There is a lot of movement in summer teams, at least in the Northwoods League where there are games almost everyday.  Players get hurt and go home.  Pitchers are on a pitch count and go home.  Some find out late that they need to take summer school classes and go home.  Some are on a  temporary contract and go home or to another league.  Some get drafted after play begins and go.  Some just.... go home.  Some come late because they are still playing the NCAA tournament.  Some come late because they are injured, so they come the last half of the summer.   By the end of the season, some managers are scrambling to fill in holes.  There is a lot of coming and going.

I mention all that because there may be openings during the summer if your son doesn't get placed.

Best advice ever:  Make sure your son is in shape and ready to play in the fall.

Leagues to stay away from:  If you son get's placed on a team/league, do some searching on this site.  Things will pop up.   Our experience with the Northwoods League/Lacrosse Loggers was exceptional.  Son's friend from HS left one of the NWL teams due to "he wasn't playing well", and "he didn't like it".  There may be a correlation there.

Here's another worth a look.

Carolina Virginia Collegiate League.
http://www.cvscl.com/teams/?u=CVCL&s=baseball

In our experience at D1, the coaching staff placed their players in Summer leagues. At D3, it can be hit or miss. On my youngest' team, no players were placed...all found their own teams and some chose not to play for other reasons, e.g., school, internships, work, etc. 

My guys asked their coaches in the Fall if they were being placed. If not, did the coaches have any league recommendations.

Most leagues have web site links for player inquiries. Every league needs pitching and the demand for it rises again as Summer nears and previously committed pitchers drop out. For position players, we found it's best to get committed to a summer team in the preceding fall as demand tends to decrease as teams fill out their rosters. 

Similar to what others are saying... with a rising freshman, I wouldn't worry about it at this stage.  Once he gets settled in with the school and the program, he will be able to get some feedback on how his particular school handles things in regards to summer assignments.  IF the school actively assigns players, the player will want to give serious consideration to those directives.  The coaches want to get a good look at the players and have a better feel where they will fit in and what summer assignments may make sense.  They typically have working relationships with the summer programs and it is important to both parties that the right fits are found.

I suspect that the majority of spots that are claimed early on are guys that performed well for their summer programs and there is mutual interest for a return. 

Son's D2 school assigned players at the end of fall.  Not all players were assigned and many of those assignments ended up elsewhere.  Also be aware that there are costs to play and those costs can vary.  Several of son's teammates ended  up declining assignment due to high costs combined with very far away from home and school, which added to the costs.  Many players end up finding programs closer to home that, perhaps, aren't with leagues quite as established as what they may have been assigned but more practical.

If son is a P and ends up working a heavy load during season, school may want to shut him down or limit summer innings.

cabbagedad posted:

Also be aware that there are costs to play and those costs can vary.  

Can folks chip in with some ballpark numbers?

$0 rarely

$200 to $2000

Depends on a lot of factors. Leagues with host families and not for profit teams are at the very low end of costs. Leagues with condo housing for players at the higher end. 

I think the teams that used to be $0 costs now charge something, due to NCAA rules.  

This is our experience, and I'm posting specifics because I wanted to know when doing research, and couldn't find much:

Hamptons League:  $750 included host family.  Got 80% back when son didn't play (nice).  $750 for a summer in the Hamptons..... Nice! 

Northwoods League:  $250 included host family.  Teams would provide dinner to their team and traveling team after the game, sponsored by restaurants nearby.   I gave son meal/grocery money.  He cooked most breakfasts.

Cape Cod League:  $90 per week included host family and some meals. 

Yes, you have to find your own way there and back.  There are additional food expenses*.  Some will pair you up with someone that has a car, so a car may not be necessary.  I think the Cape did some kind of partial travel reimbursement if you played the whole season?

* One of son's NWL team sponsors was Dairy Queen.  They could get all they wanted to eat anytime for free.  They would go between hitting practices to get smoothies,  late dinners,  and he never tired of the ice cream! 

(I really don't mean to hog this thread.....and I have no affiliation with the league below)

There is a new league in the Richmond, VA and surrounding area that is now 2 years old that caters to local players that need to stay at home for various reasons, including summer school.  They do not provide housing nor meals. Contact information is on the site.    http://www.piedmontleague.org/

I found that the costs for summer collegiate baseball, and for us to go watch for a week, was about  the same as summer travel baseball in high school.  Keep it in the budget, folks.

Thanks, great info.

Branson Baseball posted:

$0 rarely

$200 to $2000

Depends on a lot of factors. Leagues with host families and not for profit teams are at the very low end of costs. Leagues with condo housing for players at the higher end. 

"....and not for profit teams are at the very low end of costs."

This may be misleading, but I know where Branson is coming from.  Some for profit teams charge a ton.  The NWL is for profit, the teams are privately owned, but the stands are full every night and the cost for the player is minimal.

Branson Baseball posted:

$0 rarely

$200 to $2000

Depends on a lot of factors. Leagues with host families and not for profit teams are at the very low end of costs. Leagues with condo housing for players at the higher end. 

This matches with the range I have seen/heard/experienced.  Interestingly (and somewhat similar to scout ball vs travel), some of the very best leagues are the most inexpensive.  But, they are also the premier leagues and tough to get into... premier players.

Son and two teammates were assigned one year to a league across the country and the initial numbers were going to be around $1K.  We thought this was on the high side, considering we/son were already faced with typical college costs.  Costs started creeping up to over $2K (including estimated expenses) and became prohibitive.  All three made other arrangements and school HC totally understood, in fact got quite mad at the summer organization and broke off his connection with them...  and this was a name brand league.

The President of the Northwoods League is a good friend. His father played for the Boston Red Sox and played in the famous South Dakota Basin League.

The Northwoods League team franchise sell for $1 Million. Average attendance is 5,000 per game.

A great opportunity the "learn the game".

Bob

Twoboys, what level of college ball is he playing? Higher levels (high and "mid-major" D1) are usually arranged by the coaching staff. Below that, the player could have more input. For example, if you have a relative who could host your son at an appropriate level of summer baseball, son could mention that to his coach. Also, the lower level the summer league, the easier to find a late roster spot (even during the spring season). Some MCBL teams will add players right up until the beginning of the summer season. I wouldn't worry about it until your son gets on campus and talks to his coaches about it. If the coach gives him multiple options, or no options, then this forum can definitely help with finding a home.

When my son played at  a D3 school, coach had only been at the school for a few years. He had a few connections and it was important that he sent good players and high character guys. He would only place freshman in a local league. Sent others to great lakes and prospect league. He wanted to be sure that they would play. No good to spendbthe summer on the bench. 

After sophmore year, son played in the Great lakes league. After Junior league he was working to get him in the Coastal Plains, it did not work out. With from help from this sight he ended up in the Valley league. 

It was important to let the coach know early each fall if you wanted to play. Then most of the times he found appropriate spots for his players. Not all players agreed with their placement. But he was usually pretty accurate in my opinion. 

In the last couple of years The Great Lakes has expanded quite a bit. You can find quite a few players from OWU scattered around it.  Even an ocassional Freshman. They also send players to the NYCBL. 

Coach sent his pitchers to leagues with shorter seasons, like the Great Lakes, The Valley, and New York. He tried to get his position players in the leagues with longer seasons, like the Prospect.

http://www.summerbaseballinsid...e-baseball-leagues-5

The link above it what I ran across a year or so ago.  If you click a team, it should bring up a direct link to the league.  A good place to start is to see if the school has historically announced where it is sending its players.  Many D1 schools have several years of summer announcements where you can go back and start to see where the coaches are pointing the kids to.  Once you get on a league's site, you can start to look at current and prior rosters and get a general feel for  the level of player.  What Bishop mentioned about shorter seasons for pitchers and longer seasons for position players holds true regardless of the league itself - no coach is going to send of a pitcher without some limitations of usage so there can be lots of substitution on the pitching side.

Son is in his second year in the Great Lakes league...he lived at home both years so cost is minimal.  Most of the teams have host families....one used a frat house at a college and provides food, laundry, etc on a really great campus in a really nice college town.  Great Lakes League has a wide mix of players.  Son's team is one of the few that has a lot of bigger D1 guys....Auburn, UAB, MAC schools, etc.   A couple of the teams don't have any D1 guys.  He's enjoyed it the past 2 years and has thrown really well.  He likely won't be there next year...his PC wants him to move to another league and he's getting some interest from an MLB scout the past month or so, so we'll see where things go.

My son has played in the West Coast League and Alaska.  West Coast his college team placed him there during the late fall of his freshman year.  There was no cost for his team.  He had a really good host family which kept his personal food costs low.  Team covered 2 meals on the road.  In Alaska, it costs $300, but that includes air fare and he has a great host family.  He has only spent a few hundred on food and extra "stuff" so far this summer.

He has only spent a few hundred on food and extra "stuff" so far this summer.

It's that now-legal "stuff" in Alaska that has gotten some players in trouble!   

One of my co-worker's biggest regret is not going to Alaska to see her son pitch the summer he was there.  She had two younger daughters at the time and life got in the way.  

Suds posted:

My son has played in the West Coast League and Alaska.  West Coast his college team placed him there during the late fall of his freshman year.  There was no cost for his team.  He had a really good host family which kept his personal food costs low.  Team covered 2 meals on the road.  In Alaska, it costs $300, but that includes air fare and he has a great host family.  He has only spent a few hundred on food and extra "stuff" so far this summer.

NTGson has spent this summer playing in the West Coast League and has enjoyed the experience immensely. Wonderful host family, really good players spread throughout the League, nice crowds-average attendance hovering around 2000. His response when his coaches asked him last fall where he'd like to play was "somewhere I haven't been before" and the Great Northwest met that test. Costs have been negligible to us/him: airfare and pocket money; a part-time job arranged by the team is a great help and the 54 game schedule has offered him lots of opportunity to work on his craft, both in starter's role and bullpen.