Hypothetical... Virginia Tech's current defending national champion club team faces off against a top 25 NCAA D3 squad, say Denison or Birmingham-Southern. 3-game series... who wins and why?
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I don't know the answer, but a former poster's son went to Va Tech and didn't make the club team:
Interesting scenario. My money would be on the top 25 D3 team. Especially in a 3 game series. Why? The D3 team would have much better coaching and a much deeper pitching staff. That’s why.
D3 team would win, in a blowout. Those club kids aren’t going to be able to hit top flight D3 offspeed pitches, and the club kid pitching will absolutely be batting practice to the Top 125 D3 teams, let alone the Top 25.
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Hypothetical... Virginia Tech's current defending national champion club team faces off against a top 25 NCAA D3 squad, say Denison or Birmingham-Southern. 3-game series... who wins and why?
the fact that you asked this question show how little you know about D3 baseball, you got your answers so I guess there is that.
@adbono posted:Interesting scenario. My money would be on the top 25 D3 team. Especially in a 3 game series. Why? The D3 team would have much better coaching and a much deeper pitching staff. That’s why.
You are correct on both coaching, pitching...I will add they will be better on defense, offense and depth as well.
It isn't close, it is actually an insulting question. Anyone who thinks it is in doubt knows very little about good D3 baseball.
Anyone else click on this to see if Franny was asking the question (love you @Francis7!)?
These comparison's are unavoidable. For my son's perennial top 20 D3 team it was always the struggling D1 across town. Would have been fun to play them in a series, but that would have been a no-win situation for the D1 program.
I've watched some of my son's former high school teammates play club at a D1 mid-major. Some were cut from the D1 team, some just straight to club ball. In my experience you'll see a few guys who could easily play D3 ball pretty much anywhere. for those guys, baseball just wasn't the priority during college. others on the team were just average high school players.
I found the video below of VA Tech's 2021 championship game. Baseball is hard to judge based on one game, but they look pretty solid to me. But, not at the level of Birmingham-Southern.
I played club ice hockey in college many decades ago. No 6am lifts. No out of season training. We didn't even practice every day. I had a lot of fun and made a few friends for life.
Local D3 Juco who is not a strong team at all. They usually lose 80% of their games and most losses are by 10 or more runs.
They were recently in a spring break tournament and the results were the usual. But one of the games was against a club team from a school that was a recent D1 National Championship team. And, in that game, against the club team, the weak D3 Juco won easily.
Small sample size but it's one recent example.
Top 25 D3s have good baseball. The bottom of D3 baseball could get confused with a high school game real quick
Club isn't good - there are just some clubs that are better than your run of the mill HS team.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:These comparison's are unavoidable. For my son's perennial top 20 D3 team it was always the struggling D1 across town. Would have been fun to play them in a series, but that would have been a no-win situation for the D1 program.
I've watched some of my son's former high school teammates play club at a D1 mid-major. Some were cut from the D1 team, some just straight to club ball. In my experience you'll see a few guys who could easily play D3 ball pretty much anywhere. for those guys, baseball just wasn't the priority during college. others on the team were just average high school players.
I found the video below of VA Tech's 2021 championship game. Baseball is hard to judge based on one game, but they look pretty solid to me. But, not at the level of Birmingham-Southern.
I played club ice hockey in college many decades ago. No 6am lifts. No out of season training. We didn't even practice every day. I had a lot of fun and made a few friends for life.
agree with all of this, I am not knocking club ball at, I think it is great. Just don't confuse them, they aren't close.
My money is on the D3 Top 25 for many reasons. A D3 Top 25 team is organized and has established roles, plays, practices, strength & conditioning programs, pitching programs, and a team that knows how to win against like competition. Club baseball is a lose affiliation of former high school players who occasionally practice, and enjoy continuing to play for fun. It would not be close.
JMO.
Agree with all of the above, and now for a slight thread drift....
Fairly often over the years, a parent comes on the board to say that son has not gotten the D1 offer his family had hoped for, and rather than look at playing in other divisions, he has elected to hang up his spikes and attend State U without baseball. The parent bravely accepts son's choice, but speaks a little wistfully about D1 club ball and the possibility that Junior might play that to stay in the game and give mom and dad something to do on weekends. And at least some of the time, the parent harbors the faintest of unspoken hopes that the son's success in club ball will lead to a call up to the D1 show.
Well, the unicorn really does exist. His name is Jason Franks of Cal Poly. I wasn't looking him, but I'm glad I found him, and hope he and his parents are enjoying the heck out of his renewed life in baseball. It's pretty cool IMO. Dream on!
Here's another...
Just came across this tweet, link below but written out below link too;
https://twitter.com/CoachWelch...cWSHZq-Tl9Ky-OeZ-O2A
25 year olds don't have D1/D2/D3 relationships, they have relationships. They don't have D1/D2/D3 jobs&careers, they have jobs & careers. Your focus on division is short lived & in the end meaningless. The sooner you focus on the big picture, the sooner you'll focus on what matters
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:Just came across this tweet, link below but written out below link too;
https://twitter.com/CoachWelch...cWSHZq-Tl9Ky-OeZ-O2A
25 year olds don't have D1/D2/D3 relationships, they have relationships. They don't have D1/D2/D3 jobs&careers, they have jobs & careers. Your focus on division is short lived & in the end meaningless. The sooner you focus on the big picture, the sooner you'll focus on what matters
AKA A quality education to set up your future combined with the best possible baseball experience regardless of division.
A friend’s son was on a D3 champion. The dog pile looked just as fun as a D1 dog pile. Several years later I’ll bet most of the players on a D1 champion wish they were making as much money as this kid from from the HA D3.
As someone here once stated, unless you’re a pro prospect college is about a forty year plan.
@JCG posted:Agree with all of the above, and now for a slight thread drift....
Fairly often over the years, a parent comes on the board to say that son has not gotten the D1 offer his family had hoped for, and rather than look at playing in other divisions, he has elected to hang up his spikes and attend State U without baseball. The parent bravely accepts son's choice, but speaks a little wistfully about D1 club ball and the possibility that Junior might play that to stay in the game and give mom and dad something to do on weekends. And at least some of the time, the parent harbors the faintest of unspoken hopes that the son's success in club ball will lead to a call up to the D1 show.
Well, the unicorn really does exist. His name is Jason Franks of Cal Poly. I wasn't looking him, but I'm glad I found him, and hope he and his parents are enjoying the heck out of his renewed life in baseball. It's pretty cool IMO. Dream on!
I know of at least a few players who played club baseball at my son's D1 HA school who eventually joined the school team. One guy in particular comes to mind who was drafted in the 28th round who stayed in MiLB for a few years. The guy was every bit of his 6'6" frame and threw very hard.
In my mind, the bigger question is how did the college coach miss this guy and let him play a year of club ball.
A lot of the kids who play Club Ball are talented but too lazy to really apply the work ethic it takes to play college baseball. Several others of them are good enough to play D3 but wanted the big school experience at a P5 school.
But again, you find me the club ball pitching staff that has enough depth to not be batting practice for the Top 150 teams in D3, let alone the Top 25
Friend's son went D1 as a PO. Didn't go as planned and left the team after a couple of years. But he loved the school and stayed there. He's playing on the club team as an outfielder now.
Older son played Club Baseball at UGA. I would describe them as the best travel team I have ever seen, with a beer league attitude. A few pitchers that touched upper 80's. Lots of smack talking and several hang overs. Guys that could really hit.
Out of 40,000 students, you can find 20-30 really good young men that went to school for business, veterinary, etc., that love to play ball. Wanted to go to UGA but weren't good enough/recruited for UGA D1 baseball.
I think they could beat a D3 school in one game. Just about anybody can win one game. Top 25 D3 team would be dumb luck. In a series, no way.
There was just enough depth to have a lot of fun over a weekend.
@3and2Fastball posted:A lot of the kids who play Club Ball are talented but too lazy to really apply the work ethic it takes to play college baseball. Several others of them are good enough to play D3 but wanted the big school experience at a P5 school.
But again, you find me the club ball pitching staff that has enough depth to not be batting practice for the Top 150 teams in D3, let alone the Top 25
i wouldn't necessarily say "lazy". not committed to being a D1 baseball player, maybe but i know a couple of kids playing club ball who are anything but lazy...they're just focusing their time and efforts on something else. one's a very talented film student who, had he been passionate about baseball, could have been a D1 prospect (big body catcher with soft hands, good feet and a hose). he just liked baseball and loved filmmaking, though.
@3and2Fastball posted:A lot of the kids who play Club Ball are talented but too lazy to really apply the work ethic it takes to play college baseball. Several others of them are good enough to play D3 but wanted the big school experience at a P5 school.
But again, you find me the club ball pitching staff that has enough depth to not be batting practice for the Top 150 teams in D3, let alone the Top 25
I don't think you appreciate just how much talent is out there. Sometimes college baseball just doesn't work out, and that's okay. It doesn't mean your lazy and have no work ethic. Some kids just choose to put academics and social connections first. Plus, the original question centered around the TOP club ball team. The area around VaTech is a hot bed of baseball. Trust me they got some studs that aren't playing.
An honest assessment would be that the Club Team would struggle in a series. Lack of pitching depth would be their Achilles heel. I don't deny this; however, the exact same can be said for most of the lower levels of college teams as well...
This is just one random example of a "Club Team" player.....
My son (in HS) LOVES Eric Sim. He is great for the game imo and has elevated JUCO overall with his JUCO Bandit stuff and general love for the game.