So from what I've seen, at least in the Midwest/South, the majority of D2 schools are made up of JUCO guys. Is that actually what's going on? Do D2 schools look at JUCO's before HS seniors? If they do start to recruit HS kids, do they wait until the spring season?
P.S.
Also noticed that in the PG polls a TON of schools ranked in all divisions are from Florida. Really off topic but I noticed it and thought it was interesting.
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I'm pretty sure that a majority of D2 baseball programs include juco transfers, but I doubt that many D2 rosters have a majority of juco players (compared to high school and NCAA transfers). With top level D2s, I see more D1 transfers than juco transfers. Most of the high school kids who are good candidates for D2 won't be interested in D2 until their senior year and they haven't found a D1 home. D2 coaches are just like all the other coaches... they're looking for the best talent they can find. If a high school sophomore who throws 90 expresses interest in a D2, you'd better believe that coach isn't going to wait to recruit him.
My D1 son transferred this semester and looked at a number of D2s.
Half or more of each roster here in Cali and the schools he looked at in TX and FL were JuCo guys. Roughly 1/3 D1 transfers. The balance (very few) guys direct from HS.
just his dozen targeted schools. I'm sure there's more diversity than what we saw.
Son transferred to a D2 from a JuCo. He was one of about 6-8 juCo players the coach brought in to fill in the holes in the roster (28 players). The JuCo players were expected to contribute right away As mentioned the coach was using JuCo's to fill holes in the line up.
Went back and looked at my son's D2 roster this am. This is the breakdown of players that played in the 3 game series this weekend including pitchers.
6 straight from HS, 6 from juco, 8 from D1.
Went and watched a top-level D2 play this weekend, roster had far more Juco transfers than D1 transfers, and had a total of 17 players who were straight out of HS. The level of play was very good, they played excellent baseball. We spoke with the RC and he stated they don't have a real preference on recruiting from HS or JC, just looking for the right player to fill the hole and he stated "we don't bring guys into our program to cut them, we like to keep them on the roster if we ask you to play here." There is a big difference between a top-level D2 and a program hanging around the bottom of the division 2 hierarchy (we noticed). Probably the same for D1.
Also of interest was the lack of roster size limit in D2 and no limitation on how small the scholarship amount could be...oh, and the best fastball we saw in the game we watched with several pitchers used was 88 mph...there were guys with good stuff though.
D17 posted:So from what I've seen, at least in the Midwest/South, the majority of D2 schools are made up of JUCO guys. Is that actually what's going on? Do D2 schools look at JUCO's before HS seniors? If they do start to recruit HS kids, do they wait until the spring season?
P.S.
Also noticed that in the PG polls a TON of schools ranked in all divisions are from Florida. Really off topic but I noticed it and thought it was interesting.
Here in Calif., the biggest conference is comprised largely of state schools. Of the twelve teams, I'd say the "average" breakdown is something like 15 JC transfers, maybe 3-5 D1 drops and the rest HS kids. When you further break down and look at playing time, the JC and D1 drops dominate. The exception school is the highest academic school - UCSD.
I think this is typical. High academics, privates and specialty schools (i.e. - engineering) will be the least likely to bring in lots of transfers. There are always exceptions. This only makes sense... if a player is not chosen straight out of HS to a D1, he is less likely to step in and contribute right away to a college program than a player who has played two years of JC. So, if you/your son is stepping into a D2 out of HS, this is something to heavily factor in. The wave of incoming transfers will be continuous - often, teams will still be adding to strengthen any perceived weak positions into January. You/he will have to be mentally prepared for that constant influx of new competition. The RC's job (and the HC) is to constantly be searching for someone better than you. That goes for all divisions.
Here in Fl, lots of programs are afforded the opportunity to recruit from the many Jucos, then from D1 transfers. I don't think one freshman played in 27 innings last weekend. I think this is the norm. A few schools in the conference have JV teams, so those freshman are available, but the schools roster is 35 and can travel as such out of conference.
As far as recruiting HS seniors, many don't want to committing until no D1 offers. And since most are private expensive schools, the player needs very good grades to give needs based. When programs are state schools it's easier.
Its as all recruiting, getting the best you can that's affordable to the budget.
My experience is D2 recruiting gets serious in the fall of senior year. The top d2 school in the area, was in D2 National championship game 2 years ago has 36 on roster, 1 JUCO transfer, 6 D1 transfers...rest are straight out of HS. I'm in the Carolina's.
Roster mix will vary greatly among schools. Some schools will have over 80 players listed on the roster. For some private schools this is a huge money maker.
