Getting Younger and Younger

If he's really that good, he's got the world by the you-know-whats so I wouldn't feel too sorry for him.

Honestly the one thing this entire thread reminds me of is the age of consent – a child may think they know they want, what their dream school is etc but they are not mature enough to make that decision. I don’t care what side of puberty the kids is on, how well rounded he is in 8^th he shouldn’t allowed to be recruited, offered or anything else…IF MSU still wants him in 3 years the offer WILL STILL be there – honestly the more I think about it MSU is the party that looks really that looks really bad in my eyes.

Is there no rule for private school eligibility? I thought that you only have 4 years of varsity eligibility? Will he have to sit out his junior and senior year?

I think it's 4 years of high school baseball during 9-12th grade, the middle school years don't count towards the 4. It would only be a problem if he repeated a year in high school.

Private schools don't have to conform to the state high school rules as long as they're not part of the state athletic association. A kid local to us played five years of varsity at a private. The catcher on his team was twenty before his senior season was over.

States athletic associations also have exceptions to the four year rule. In PA a 1A (smallest classification) high school may have 7th and 8th graders on the high school teams without losing any future eligibility if the middle school and high school are the same facility. For baseball 1A is a high school with 146 or less boys.

Based on the research and the comments, it looks like the young man is an outlier, so clearly someone we want to keep an eye on as he grows older and stronger. 

So as an outlier, this doesn't portend to be the beginning of a new trend of dipping down into the middle school market (which we know occurs in boy's and girl's basketball and girl's lacrosse).

With few exceptions, we continue to see the baseball radar turned on during freshman year, leading to the commits beginning towards the end of the freshman year, accelerating for the larger conferences during the sophomore year, and taking off for the mid-majors during the junior year.

Here's what I haven't seen: the probability of a successful collegiate career for the student-athlete and the school program based on this timeline. Now that would be a great study, and incredibly valuable for the student-athlete and their parents.

Agreed.

But, since the schools wouldn't benefit, they won't be doing the study.

And we thought the US was cradle robbing...this article, written in April, talks about scouting in the Dominican Republic...sometimes even at age 12!!!!

Excerpt:

"They both look young—too young to be July 2 players for this year. One wears a Nationals shirt and carries a Phillies equipment bag. He looks like he belongs in Little League. He has the mechanics of a child and the arm strength to match.

“He looks like he could be a guy,” said an agent, using the industry nomenclature for a legitimate prospect.

The player is 13 years old, international class of 2016. It’s a school day, but instead he’s here, taking infield on a professional diamond. If the agent doesn’t get him now, someone else will. By paying a family and his youth league coach a few thousand dollars today, a trainer can secure in the neighborhood of 20-40 percent of a player’s future signing bonus.

In Latin America, this sight is not unusual. The system now in place with Major League Baseball drives teams to aggressively scout 14-year-old boys, with trainers and agents looking for the next great 12-year-old. Want to sign one of the top 16-year-old players for this year? You’re probably too late."

http://www.baseballamerica.com...ng-for-14-year-olds/

I think for many in the DR, baseball is their ticket out of extreme poverty.  One of our coaches was dominican and that is how he looked at it.  There sure seems to be alot of talent on that island but maybe its because there is so much focus on it.