D1, D2, or D3

2014Prospect
Welcome to the HSBBW!
I think it is way too early to pigeonhole your son as to what level he can play at. As he gets ayear or two older his abilities will improve and he may hear from an assorted bag of coaches. So at this point just keep working and getting seen. Enjoy the ride!

No; it is way too early. The reality is "many" schools need to market for students. Few coaches have the "staff" to figure out what year your son is. He was at a sophomore event; they assumed he was a sophomore and have begun marketing to him. That is all this means.

quote:

Originally posted by 2014Prospect:
Since we heard from a D3 academic coach, should we assume that this is the type of program that he is best suited for?

not at all,....the only thing I would take from this is the fact you know for sure he is on the college level radar....

lots of things can happen in the next 2 years.

2014:

I'll add my voice to those saying that it's a little early to be locking in to one level. Overall I'd say that college recruiting is a more inside out process then many parents realize. Getting a good evaluation that you can trust and deciding where and what type of school your son would like to attend is more important then who is the first school to show interest.

My son was recruited by a number of DI's but none of the schools he was accepted to were of the academic level he was looking for. In some cases he didn't think he’d have a chance for playing time right away or they liked him as a pitcher only. He didn't want to go to a DI just so he could say he played DI baseball.

On the other hand there were a large a number of D3's that were great academic schools and where he felt like he could contribute right away on the field. He chose the best academic school for him, where he had a chance to play and has had a great college experience so far.

I hope your son enjoys his HS baseball experience and decides on a great college for him.

2014,
Good advice already provided here; and I mention to NOT get the sense that it is too early to start evaluating the mentioned program and other programs.

I’ve always recommended making a list of schools that you are interested in for baseball and academics. Make it a mix of schools at different levels and don’t exclude JUCO and others such as NAIA just to name one. Then there are many things you can do such as study and watch their past and current rosters. You should see some patterns evolve such as whether they recruit from JUCO, have high turnover on their rosters, coaching changes, is there a trend where JUCO players from XYZ end up, etc… This site is full of previous threads on many things to watch. Another big factor to consider is how far your Prospect wants or expects to go away from home. A travel ball program in my area always limits its objective to schools within a 4 hour (+ or -) driving radius, IMO that is where many kids end up going anyway. Maybe your Prospect wants to be on the other side of the country to go to school and play ball. Either way there are many things that you can start to consider. One of the best ways to check out a school and ball program is to visit and attend camps at the school. Or find out what events the coaches on your list attend and scout. Many schools have other college coaches (from other conferences) come in and assist with camps, Stanford and Vanderbilt to name a few.

You have three summer and two winter camp sessions before that summer between your junior and senior year when you hope your phone is ringing off the hook! That time will FLY by if it is anything like ours was.

I agree with 3rd Gen. You have a lot of time. He'll grow and develop a ton over the next few years. Get him to PG for an evaluation by the end of his sophomore year. The videos and or ratings they give are seen by a lot of the teams that go to the East Cobb and other big tournaments as well as by many college scouts.

The experience he gets at those kinds of tourney's will be invaluable and give you a good feel for which level he can play. Nothing can replace facing the top pitchers and hitters in the country. Hit a few good college camps this summer and next. The goal here is to get more advanced training to take his game to the next level.

After his Junior and senior summers, you all will know if he is a D1,2,3,NAIA player. If he is college level, and he is not a player that the top D1's are all chasing, a good recruiting service can get his name known outside of your state, if he wants to go to another region of the country. It is very difficult for most schools outside of the top d1 programs to scout outside of their region. Nearly impossible for most d3's, 2's, and NAIA.

Then visit different levels of schools. And realize that a large percentage of the starters (especially the fielders) at top 20 or 30 D3 schools and perhaps NAIA are playing at mid to low d1 level. The Top 30 D2's are very competitive and often better than most d1 schools.

quote:

Originally posted by Jones fan:

Then visit different levels of schools. And realize that a large percentage of the starters (especially the fielders) at top 20 or 30 D3 schools and perhaps NAIA are playing at mid to low d1 level. The Top 30 D2's are very competitive and often better than most d1 schools.

Totally agree with Jones fan here - and would even go a little further...

One of the things I have learned on this journey is that the notion that D1 > D2 > D3 is a complete fallacy.

In my opinion, the levels have large overlaps.

D3 teams can and have beaten D1 teams. D2 teams beat D1 teams on a regular basis. Yes, the top 20-30 D1 programs are a different breed - but once out of the rarified air of the Omaha contenders, the lower half of D1 and the upper D2 and D3 teams are very competitive with each other.

At the individual level there is even more overlap. There are players at D3 who would start at some D1 teams - and players on D1 teams who would not make some D3 rosters.

Bottom line - don't close any doors - especially not this early. The right fit will emerge in time.

08

Hey 2014, enjoy the ride, but don't get too worried about it this early. IMHO its the summer between Junior and Senior years that counts the most and if you have a limited budget then that is where to spend it. Find a good travel team program in the fall of 2012 to work with through the winter and then play through the 2013 summer in some good tournies. Winter college camps in December - February of the Junior year could be a good focus as well.

D1 can't call you until after July 1, 2013, though if he's on a list from a tournament or showcase then you are bound to get tons of invites to college camps. While good to attend a camp at the school he may have his sights set on, most of these are money makers for the schools so naturally they invite anyone on a mailing list. Call ahead if the camp is at a target school and ask the coaches to take a look at him while you are there for assessment purposes.

For a handy list of schools and web links, go to the NCAA's list of schools organized by divisions. Sort it by geographic area of interest and start filling out the questionnaires for prospects on their web sites.

If money is no object, then spend away. If it is, I would focus on Babe Ruth or Jr. Legion ball this summer, and as I said before, travel ball the summer between his Junior and Senior years.

Again, just one man's opinion, but gleaned from lots of good advice on these forums.

Even at the end of the process we weren't sure whether rightyshortstop should go D1 or D3. After official visits to schools at both levels - it still wasn't clear. When RightyShortstop was a sophomore we had no clue and didn't need one yet. However, I do recommend going to a couple of college camps as a sophomore to get the feel of the difference between D1 and D3. My son did that, it was cheap, and it was very helpful!

Thank you so much for all of the great responses! We will continue to follow this forum, there is a ton of great advice!

quote:

and I mention to NOT get the sense that it is too early to start evaluating the mentioned program and other programs.

2014 Prospect:

My son is also a 2014 RHP prospect. I agree with AL MA 08, and just about everything suggested. While there's no big rush worrying about offers or anything like that, the idea of researching schools and getting a sense of where you fit in is important.

You want to get the criterion for the decision established and identify some options early on. I dont think you want to be establishing criterion while making a decision at the same time.

I have talked with about ten D1 and D2 coaches. The sense I got was about half of them think it's too early and half do not (some are pretty strong about it's not too early). The trend is earlier, as a recent post on NCAA rulings on early signings is one of those signs.

I think our travel program will have my son "burried" in activity in his Junior year - a good thing but, it may not allow him the flexibility to get to schools on his list.

Right now we are looking at two camps/Showcases for next year that will give my son a sense of coaches from 40 to 50 different schools and a number of pro scouts (Cangelosi, Chicago and Blue Chip, Buffalo). Of those schools 15 to 20 are on a watch list for us. They are low cost, will occur in the soph year, and give us a good basis for that Junior year where we will try to get to specific school prospect camps.

In any event, must run.

I agree with alot of what has already been said. Please don't get caught up in the D1, D2, D3 thing....these levels overlap in a lot of cases if you are discussing baseball talent. It is better to understand the pros and cons of each level, and sub-levels.

Most important is to get an expert evaluation of where your sons skills are as a baseline. Also, ask your son what he thinks he wants to study in college. If you know these two things you can start to think about direction and more specific goals. Also, you will save yourself a lot of time and money because you can target 25+ schools that meet your criteria. From that larger list, you can narrow it down over time.