D1 to D1 transfer? "Sit" year?

redwing you have a pm

My son red shirted this year after transferring to a DII. Not injury related. He'll be a red shirt sophomore and a junior academically in the Fall. The redshirt included practice with the team and travel on away games.

Sitting out is in my mind a different animal. I believe that location and coaching make a noticeable difference in the experience. A transfer sitting out a year could feel quite isolated and would have to be a self motivated worker to maintain his edge. It seems to me such a personal decision regarding DI - DI or DI-DII that my input while definitely well meaning might be misplaced.

Just my personal opinion but I think the perception that DII baseball is inferior to DI baseball is given too much traction. Yes, in reality more talented players populate the DI rosters but it is the overall experience of actually playing the game that cannot be minimized. A neighborhood kid that I coached just returned from Maine after competing in the USCAA National Championship. True, there are only 33 colleges nationwide participating but you wouldn't be able to differentiate his experience from participation in Omaha judging from the smile on his face.

DI, DII, DIII, JUCO, whatever.........just play the game.

My son has transferred D1 to D1 and a big part of making it a smooth transition for him is having a great summer team to play for to get in those reps. With all the practice games and conditioning and summer ball, it really doesn't have to be a sit out year at all.

quote:

Originally posted by PA Dino:
My son red shirted this year after transferring to a DII. Not injury related. He'll be a red shirt sophomore and a junior academically in the Fall. The redshirt included practice with the team and travel on away games.

Sitting out is in my mind a different animal. I believe that location and coaching make a noticeable difference in the experience. A transfer sitting out a year could feel quite isolated and would have to be a self motivated worker to maintain his edge. ......

Just for clarity, when a player transfers to a D1, and has to sitout for a year, it simply means that he can't play in intercollegiate competition. If the D1 coach sees the transfer player as a contributor in the following year, he will typically place the transfer player on the 35 man roster, so that he can practice with the team. If that happens, it is very similar to a redshirted player that is expected to contribute later. However, in D1, he is unlikely to travel with the team-- most conferences only allow 25 players to travel.

I agree with your comments in general about D2 versus D1. Here in California, the top 10 D2 schools play a very good quality of baseball.

If a transfer to D1 is on scholarship, I think he would HAVE to be on the 35 man roster during his "sit" year.

If he is NOT on scholarship, does he have to be on the 35 man roster to practice in the Spring? I know in the Fall, there are typically more than 35 that practice.

If he has a scholarship he does have to be on the 35 man roster. Also a player must be on the 35 man roster in order to practice with the team.

17.2.8.3 Varsity Squad Size Limitation—Championship Segment. An institution shall declare a varsity squad of a maximum of 35 student-athletes by the day prior to its first scheduled contest in the championship segment of the playing and practice season. Only those student-athletes who are declared as varsity squad members at that time shall be eligible to participate in countable athletically related activities with the varsity squad during the remainder of the championship segment. Declared varsity squad members shall not participate in countable athletically related activities with an institution’s subvarsity team (e.g.,freshman, junior varsity). A student-athlete who is a counter (per Bylaw 15.5.1) must be included in the varsity squad limit.

The championship segment is the spring season, which starts in mid-February.

There could be a lot of factors, such as can you afford to pay for that year wherever he goes? Will he play right away after his sit year?
Best of both worlds would be to go to a top flight JUCO for a year, where he'd likely play 50-60 games and possibly get another scholarship offer afterwards to a D1 for the following year.

That is a good option, TeamMaxBat. Unfortunately, some kids don't realize this until after their sophomore season, when going to a Juco is out of the picture. Then the choice is a good DIII, NAIA or sit out. My suggestion to any kid thinking D1 to D1 is to be sure there's a scholarship waiting on the other side; be sure you're on the team roster for practicing; and be sure you get on a good summer ball team. My boy's summer team will play a minimum 70 games this season against great competition, so he'll get plenty of innings this year. If it's planned correctly, there's really not a lot of sitting. For my son it's been pretty much all baseball all the time.

And to top it off, he's finally happy again, going to a great school, and is once again part of a team.

So yes, it can be done.. carefully.

I hate to bring up an old topic but this thread is right up my alley right now. I was a freshman on a D3 this year but have talked to some JUCO coaches about transferring my sophomore year and playing for them and seeing what offers I got after that. For me, I was really late to the recruiting table in high school and didn't really know what I was doing as a kid. I didn't get seen by any schools except for the one I'm at and right now the competition at this level just isn't there. Anyone have experiences or been through this route before that could offer insight?