Several scouts have told me recently that many college teams are deciding to not send players to Summer Leagues . Supposedly it is to keep them healthy and to hide them from being stolen by other teams. They said it was mostly Sophomores. Was sure news to me.
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Definitely think that is happening. I noticed my son's Summer roster this year looked a lot different than it would have 3-4 years ago. Not nearly as many P5 players and a lot of mid major D1's, JUCO and D2's.
I know of schools who aren't letting ANY of their incoming freshman play in summer leagues. They are having them come to campus early to workout, etc.
Theories are: 1. Want them in town to work out. 2. Do not want them tired/hurt for Fall. 3. Hiding them from other teams/portal. 4. Want more to play as Seniors vs drafted.
Interesting.I am for all the Summer reps u can get.
There has been a huge number of injuries this year in college baseball. I wonder if that is playing a role in this?
Interesting, yeah. I noticed more D3 guys on rosters in the Northwoods League than I ever remember seeing before
DMac, Good Knight, Master P;
It is an example of Coaches desire for "Control" without a commitment to the player for scholarship $$ and playing time.
Summer Baseball offers the player a new experience in the game of baseball. The opportunity to focus on baseball away from the Academic life for 2-3 months. Playing 5 days each week with wood bats is similar to Pro Baseball.
Bob
@Master P posted:I know of schools who aren't letting ANY of their incoming freshman play in summer leagues. They are having them come to campus early to workout, etc.
Yep. A bunch we know are all planning to go to campus early. Mostly a mix of D1 and some D2's. Some will be playing in a summer league and leaving the team early to go to campus.
@Good Knight posted:Theories are: 1. Want them in town to work out. 2. Do not want them tired/hurt for Fall. 3. Hiding them from other teams/portal. 4. Want more to play as Seniors vs drafted.
Interesting.I am for all the Summer reps u can get.
A player doesn’t know what he needs to get out of summer ball until the spring season is over. If you played a lot of innings in the spring you may get more benefit from training, working out, and letting your body rest & recover from the spring grind. If you didn’t play a lot in the spring you need the summer games for reps. But some may need more reps ( or innings on the mound) than others. There are a lot of variables in play. The fall season is when jobs are won and lost at school so it’s imperative that a player show up in the fall healthy, rested and ready to perform. So anything that is done over the summer has to be done with an eye toward the next fall.
I don't think a lot of players and parents understand this adbono. They do not realize how much stock coaches put into fall ball. They assume that is just practice time and then spots are won in the spring. I would say most coaches have their minds made up in November who will start next February or maybe in October. Especially guys who did not get reps in the spring need to get it figured out in the summer and those who got a lot of reps better be prepared to do it again because usually someone is coming in to take your job in today's culture.
I only have 2 years of summer ball to go by, but last year I saw more college coaches at summer league games then the previous year. From talking to my kids they were there to A) scout players already in the portal, or B) Scout players, and maybe through an intermediary tell them to go into the portal.
@Good Knight posted:Several scouts have told me recently that many college teams are deciding to not send players to Summer Leagues . Supposedly it is to keep them healthy and to hide them from being stolen by other teams. They said it was mostly Sophomores. Was sure news to me.
Good call out Good Knight. Never occurred to me this was going on, but it makes sense. Coaches want to keep their best players off the market and away from the portal. Coaches have to control and protect what they can as their livelihood depends on it. The genie is out of the bottle and control has shifted somewhat to players.
As an aside, the scouts will be more numerous at Fall ball because they really need to see these kids play.
@adbono posted:A player doesn’t know what he needs to get out of summer ball until the spring season is over. If you played a lot of innings in the spring you may get more benefit from training, working out, and letting your body rest & recover from the spring grind. If you didn’t play a lot in the spring you need the summer games for reps. But some may need more reps ( or innings on the mound) than others. There are a lot of variables in play. The fall season is when jobs are won and lost at school so it’s imperative that a player show up in the fall healthy, rested and ready to perform. So anything that is done over the summer has to be done with an eye toward the next fall.
The above is 100% accurate.
If you are a freshman player that didn't get many innings or at bats, which happens, your coach should be sending you to play. If you are a HS senior pitcher who put in a lot of work, head to campus early, take some classes.
If you are eligible for the draft, you need to go play summer ball. If you are a starter, you will relieve. FWIW, son took off after freshman season. He had logged too many innings his first year.
As far as players transfering, this has been going on since son was in college, the only thing that is different is the process along with NLI opportunities.
JMO
I don't think incoming freshmen playing in collegiate summer ball was ever that common. All of the P5 incoming freshmen that we knew, back in 2018/19, were going to campus to work out, take classes, etc. On teams where my son has played, there have been at most one or two incoming freshmen.
I think it's sad that position players wouldn't get to play in the summer, all because their coaches don't want them to get poached. As Consultant said, summer ball is a time to focus only on baseball, without classwork.
@TPM posted:As far as players transfering, this has been going on since son was in college, the only thing that is different is the process along with NLI opportunities.
JMO
Not having to sit out a year is huge. Kids had to really want to leave before.
@fenwaysouth posted:Good call out Good Knight. Never occurred to me this was going on, but it makes sense. Coaches want to keep their best players off the market and away from the portal. Coaches have to control and protect what they can as their livelihood depends on it. The genie is out of the bottle and control has shifted somewhat to players.
Or has control shifted to programs with wealthy alumni business owners willing to ante with NIL’s?
@baseballhs posted:Not having to sit out a year is huge. Kids had to really want to leave before.
They wanted to leave for the same reasons players want to leave now. But at one point it was like a revolving door.
Because APR became terrible at many programs, and guys weren't graduating, NCAA implemented credit requirements for graduation.
My BF son sat a year as per NCAA transfer rules than it was discovered some course credits had not fully transfered to the larger P5 he transfered to. He sat out 2 years.
Things are under control now, thankfully.
@RJM posted:Or has control shifted to programs with wealthy alumni business owners willing to ante with NIL’s?
Ding ding ding we have a winner.
On a much smaller lever but still something to watch: Some Private School D3’s are offering a lot more academic money than in the past to build powerhouse teams. Since the sport isn’t a money maker and it’s just D3 you wouldn’t think that’d be the case but they have wealthy alumni too and they want to win.
This is interesting to me. None of the freshman or sophomores at their mid major have been given assignments yet in our program. We have also have 3 active players committed to P5s which is a bit bizarre to me. I guess this is the new norm.
@Good Knight posted:As an aside, the scouts will be more numerous at Fall ball because they really need to see these kids play.
I think they are more numerous in summer ball right before the draft. A lot happens in 10 months.
Our younger guys are still going to summer ball if they did not get to play. I have 3 guys staying with us playing in Coastal Plains. BTW, Coastal Plains does not let you play if you are in portal unless they have changed rules. You have to be on a college roster to play.
There are guys planning on leaving schools where they have been big contributors, I believe for the first time ever, for the money. They see what guys like Tommy White and Paul Skenes got at LSU for going in the portal and they will follow suit. How can you blame a kid for wanting to get paid millions to play in college rather than just a scholarship. The big money schools who have backers willing to support baseball will just get better. LSU was the perfect example of bringing in the proven guys rather than the unknown. Their proven portal guys have been their backbone. I just wonder if guys like Tre Morgan and Dylan Crews got paid like Skenes and White. Not bashing LSU just the most known situation in D1 baseball. I wonder if the money keeps coming into them or will it depend on whether they win the National Championship or not.
@3and2Fastball posted:Ding ding ding we have a winner.
On a much smaller lever but still something to watch: Some Private School D3’s are offering a lot more academic money than in the past to build powerhouse teams. Since the sport isn’t a money maker and it’s just D3 you wouldn’t think that’d be the case but they have wealthy alumni too and they want to win.
The Ivies could be the top players in any sport they desire with NIL’s if so motivated. Imagine the NIL endowment fund they could build.
Harvard: Excuse me, Mr Zuckerberg. Do you have a spare billion we could use to dominate college sports? Mr Gates and Mr Ballmer said they would be happy to ante up a billion.
@RJM posted:The Ivies could be the top players in any sport they desire with NIL’s if so motivated. Imagine the NIL endowment fund they could build.
Harvard: Excuse me, Mr Zuckerberg. Do you have a spare billion we could use to dominate college sports? Mr Gates and Mr Ballmer said they would be happy to ante up a billion.
Weather generally sucks there for baseball tho. Maybe other sports.
