D3 JV Teams

SluggerDad posted:

bobbyaguho posted:

 

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California is a tough place to find a great fit for the majority of  student athletes aspiring to play college baseball. There are more talented and qualified players than there are roster spots. That's why I  encourage players and their parents to look outside California.Lots of opportunities exist on the east coast and midwest .

 

Just to echo and expand on this point, consider some numbers.    There is not a single D3 school in all of  Northern California.    in all of California, there is only one D3 conference.  Basically a  9 team conference, with  all 9 teams being clustered in  So Cal.  As, bobbyaguho says,  three of the  schools in that conference are extremely  selective and admit students from all over the country, indeed all over the world.   But even  some of the less selective schools that  draw a larger % of their students from their local areas, still  are very serious about their athletics and, at a minimum,  heavily recruit student athletes  from up and down the West Coast and Hawaii  -- sometimes farther afield. 

In all of Washington State,  Oregon, and California combined there are 19 baseball playing D3 schools.   These three states have a combined population of nearly 50 million.   Plus in each of these states, baseball is intense and intensely competitive -- most intense in California, but Washington and Oregon are very, very serious about their baseball too.   So there are a  LOT of very talented baseball players in these states -- a lot -- and at all levels they are chasing a very scarce resource -- college roster spots.

Compare that  to Ohio or Wisconsin.  Wisconsin has  21 D3 programs -- more than California, Washington and Oregon combined, but it has a population of less than 6 million.  Ohio has, I think, 23 D3 programs with a population of 11 million.  

So yeah in California finding a roster spot, even at a D3 program, is tough indeed. 

I'd like to hear opinions and experiences from parents about these "East coast and Midwest" D3 schools. Is it true that it's easier to get on the team (and stay on the team) and balance academics with baseball? I hope it's true and not "the grass is greener on the other side of the hill".

It is a numbers game. If you look at the number of HS by state, extrapolate out 7-10 seniors a year and then identify the number of college programs offering baseball you will see that states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio have more roster spots available to less players in their respective states. If you are a good player from a state with more players than roster spots you will have a far greater success finding a team if you are willing to leave your home state. 

My son played on a very good HS program in norther California. He was probably the 5-6th best player on his HS team. He got very little attention from California schools. Yet he had  offers in South Carolina, Ohio and Texas. He choose to go to school in Texas and had a very successful collegiate career. If he was unwilling to expand his horizons he may of not had an opportunity to play collegiate baseball. 

Bogeyorpar posted:

SluggerDad posted:

bobbyaguho posted:

 

...

California is a tough place to find a great fit for the majority of  student athletes aspiring to play college baseball. There are more talented and qualified players than there are roster spots. That's why I  encourage players and their parents to look outside California.Lots of opportunities exist on the east coast and midwest .

 

Just to echo and expand on this point, consider some numbers.    There is not a single D3 school in all of  Northern California.    in all of California, there is only one D3 conference.  Basically a  9 team conference, with  all 9 teams being clustered in  So Cal.  As, bobbyaguho says,  three of the  schools in that conference are extremely  selective and admit students from all over the country, indeed all over the world.   But even  some of the less selective schools that  draw a larger % of their students from their local areas, still  are very serious about their athletics and, at a minimum,  heavily recruit student athletes  from up and down the West Coast and Hawaii  -- sometimes farther afield. 

In all of Washington State,  Oregon, and California combined there are 19 baseball playing D3 schools.   These three states have a combined population of nearly 50 million.   Plus in each of these states, baseball is intense and intensely competitive -- most intense in California, but Washington and Oregon are very, very serious about their baseball too.   So there are a  LOT of very talented baseball players in these states -- a lot -- and at all levels they are chasing a very scarce resource -- college roster spots.

Compare that  to Ohio or Wisconsin.  Wisconsin has  21 D3 programs -- more than California, Washington and Oregon combined, but it has a population of less than 6 million.  Ohio has, I think, 23 D3 programs with a population of 11 million.  

So yeah in California finding a roster spot, even at a D3 program, is tough indeed. 

I'd like to hear opinions and experiences from parents about these "East coast and Midwest" D3 schools. Is it true that it's easier to get on the team (and stay on the team) and balance academics with baseball? I hope it's true and not "the grass is greener on the other side of the hill".

It's not that there isn't talent in the East and Midwest. It's the number of colleges. The further east you go the older the education trail. I didn't research how many baseball programs there are in Massachusetts. But there are 68 colleges with athletic departments registered with the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA.

It is not really a regional phenomenon. It is school by school or conference by conference.  For instance, in Ohio you have the NCAC and the OAC. Teams in the NCAC usually have roster sizes in the thirties. Sometimes less. In the OAC, rosters are usually in the 40's.  

While most teams have JV squads, it id not as slugger dad describes. The JV teams usually play a few games in the early spring to get an extended look at players in a game situations. The JV games are usually complete shortly after teams get back from their spring trip. 

Not that it is that easy to get and on and stay on a team. I know one team that brings in quite a few players in the fall and many do not make it to the spring, every year. At my sons old school if you were a recruted player you have at least two years to prove your self. At OWU a freshmans chance of playing changes from year to year. This year only one freshman is getting extended playing time. They have 5 seniors starting (they are the best players) and the other positions are taken up by sophomores and juniors. Next year there will be quite a better opportunity for playing time.

A lot of research is required when targetting schools. Each school is unique.  Schools in the same conference or region of the country handles things in their own way. Some put more emphasis on winning, some it is merely to expand the student experience. 

I am not an expert on D3 JV programs. My son's school had a JV program for a year or two; I don't think it is still in existence. 

You can learn a lot about a program by looking at the past 3-4 years of stats. What you will see is in Year 1, you will have 9-13 position players that play the majority of the innings. Then you will have 6-12 position players that will get a few innings and a few a bats (difficult to define a few until you look at the stats). Then in Year 2 as the seniors from Year 1 move on some of the 6-12 players that got playing time will move up. In addition, you will add a new class of freshman. Some of the Freshmen will be part of Year 2's players that play the majority of the innings and some will join the 6-12 that will get a few innings. Year 3 & 4, the process continues. The good players move up, the good players that are recruited will join in and the cycle will continue.

Then the question is where do JV programs fit in. I am not an expert; but it takes a commitment from the University, it's coaching staff and the athletic department (to fund a JV program). I would expect most D3 programs to follow the model that I have outlined. Funding a JV program is a terrific way to keep players that may not play engaged with the program. In that there are not that many (from what I have seen) I question if they can make a big difference in the competitive profile of a given program.

Why not consider California JC or the strong Division 2 teams in the UC system. The Coaches do not guarantee roster positions.  

Bob