JUCO

There are likely as many reasons for any one player choosing JC over a 4 year school as there are Junior Colleges!
I'll start the list with a few that come to mind:

• If a player is drafted out of high school and not signed right away, he might choose to go to a JC where he can either be signed (I think it's up to a week prior to the next draft) by the club which drafted him, or re-enter the draft.
  
• Some players may not have the grades they need right now to get into the 4 year school they'd ultimately like to go to, so 2 years at a JC can give them time to raise those
  
• Other players may feel they can ultimately play at a very high level, but are not physically mature enough for that right now....a good JC program can help prepare him for the next level.
  

I'm sure others will offer a plethora of other reasons.

here in calif. a lot of our JC's are better
than our D2's and D3's and possibly a few are
equal to aome of the lower level D1 schools.
my pont is there is no lack for competition
at the JC level here in Calif.

My son chose JUCO over D-1 (much to my surprise) for the following reasons:
1) Playing time.
2) Strength of team and probability of playing deeper into postseason.
3) Coaching philosophy.
4) Coach's connections and transferability after a couple of years.

Academics only played into it a little bit. His business admin and lib arts courses should transfer almost anywhere.

My thoughts:

http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/junior_colleges.htm

NHBaseball,

From my perspective as parent, my concerns were college costs and how much does college cost. Junior college has given him playing time, and a nice scholarship. He just finished his freshman year. Academically, I didnt know how he would fare in college. He has done ok. I have no idea how his classes would compare to a 4 year university, but for him and for us his JUCO experience thus far has been wonderful. He lives in a dorm, so there is 'on campus' life.

I think all the advice already given to your question are valid reasons student-athletes might select a JUCO. I'll just throw in my "two-cents worth" because my son has been at two JUCO's in 2 years, and I think that players and their parents need to know all aspects of their decision to go the JUCO route.

If your kid wants to go JUCO and he is a "Draft and follow" in a middle to low rounds, this makes good sense. This allows the scouts to watch him play for a year, and if he does well by making a significant impact on his JUCO team, his MLB team might offer him a better signing bonus than his initial draft round would normally bring.

However, if your son is not a "draft and follow", it would be wise to find out if the other kids vying for your son's position are "D and Fs", because very likely the kid who has been drafted will get a more serious look over your kid. I'm not saying that the drafted kid always wins out, because if your son is as good or better, he will get some playing time...I'm just saying that the chances are likely that the drafted kid will probably play, and may even get the starting spot because it's a win-win situation for the JUCO club----the drafted kid brings credibility to the JUCO club for that year, he brings the scouts out, the scouts are expecting to see the kid play, so in turn, the coach will usually put him out there, and if at the end of the JUCO playing season, the MLB club chooses to sign the drafted player for a better signing bonus, this is a really big "feather" in the coach's cap because then he can rave about the kids who sign out of his program. It could also be a "win-win" situation for your kid, too because the scouts are at the games and might see your kid play, but all of that depends on the playing time your son gets and your son's abilities. Probably the drafted kid will play on those scouting days,and if your son does get playing time, it needs to be good. And then, of course, there is the possibility that the coach will decide to play the "D & F" no matter what, leaving your son sitting the bench, being seen by no one.

Secondly, I can speak about California JUCOs because my son attended one of the top programs in the Orange Empire two years ago. First of all, if your son wants to play for a CA JUCO and he does not reside in CA, it is HIS responsibility to write a letter or pick up the phone to that CA JUCO coach to make the initial contact. CA JUCOs cannot initiate any contact with players from other states---it is against their rules. Once an out-of-state player makes first contact, then the CA coach and the player can talk to each other all they want. (So for those of you waiting for the CA JUCOs to call, wondering why those calls don't come, you know now what to do!)

The next thing about CA JUCOs that you need to know is that that they cannot offer any scholarship monies to any player....also against their rules. So, if your son is from out-of-state, plan on paying out-of-state tuition. Many do not have dorms, either, so plan on paying CA prices for an apartment. We payed about $15,000 to send our son there, all expenses included, and that was even with two other roommates sharing his apartment.

Competitively, CA JUCOs are really tough, and could beat most D-I programs on the field. They play 50-70 games/year in "baseball weather" all year round. They even have a full agenda of fall games--usually about 15-20, if you include "unofficial scrimmages". BUT (and this is really important), before you send your son to a CA JUCO, go back and read what I said about the "Draft and Follow" issue---since these JUCOs do not have to invest any monies to get a player, there are no commitments to any player. As my son's Orange Empire coach told us, "everybody rolls the dice, hopefully for a nine month honeymoon." The fall season is nothing more than a long tryout for the starting spots!! And those "draft and follows" will certainly figure into the mix heavily, and the MLB will pressure those coaches to see the "D & Fs" play since they are the only ones with money on the line.

Now on to more general observations about JUCOs in general. Competitively, most are really good, and most play a lot of games,so your son will get plenty of baseball. NJACC schools, (and the NWAACC schools here in the Pacific Northwest) can offer athletic scholarships. "Draft & F's" still figure into the mix, but so does the scholarship kid, when it comes to getting a serious look and playing time.

Academically, JUCOs are probably not as challenging as a 4-yr-school, but that is by design. Many students who attend JUCOs are trying to find an economical way to get the core academic requirements finished, so most of the classes are "the basics". If your son went in with good grades, he usually can keep up with the classes well. If your son did not have good grades from high school, he has the chance to pull his GPA up to 4-yr standards. But again, a warning....both of my son's roommates took remedial and easy classes rather than anything challenging, just so they could be eligible to play baseball. When they tried to transfer those courses to a 4-yr school (or even another JUCO), they didn't count. Be sure your son is taking meaningful classes towards a degree. Now with the 40/60/80 rule for JUCO transfer in effect, only meaningful classes will make your son eligible to play baseball after he transfers to an NCAA 4-year school.

Finally, I want to address the dorm issue at a JUCO. While a few schools do have dorms, most do not. If I had it to do over again, I would have tried to find a JUCO with dorms. Since JUCO teams play so many games, and a kid has to keep up with academics (in meaningful classes), it is a lot for a kid who is new to the college scene to clean an apartment, cook, grocery shop, do laundry of his regular clothing AND uniforms for all those games, weight train, attend practices, drive to and from school and games, and adjust to roommates, and STILL have anything left to play his season. Most of the baseball players my son knew (at both JUCOs) who had apartments lived in absolute filth simply because they didn't have time to tend to its upkeep. Baseball and school needed all the attention, and even then, one or the other was somewhat compromised. (A few of those kids flunked out, or failed on the field to end their baseball careers.) His own apartment in CA should have been torched rather than cleaned upon move-out, and those guys all tried hard in there up until January when season prep began...then it all fell apart. (Did I mention that his roommates were also baseball players?)

This last year, we could not afford to send our son back to the CA JUCO, so he lived at home and went to a local JUCO. He was a starter, so he played all those games. Although we made him do most of his own upkeep here at home, he expressed deep appreciation for not having to do all the cooking, or buy food, and we helped wash his uniforms during the season and finals week. All in all, he played better, had better grades, and didn't feel under constant pressure and stress. He actually enjoyed life again. He has also seen his sister's experiences at her 4-yr university, both in the dorms and in apartments over recent years..(she is a SR and will graduate in Dec of this year.) She, too, did better with her academics and juggling campus life in the dorms vs. the apartments, and she is not an athlete...only a science major. In conclusion, by taking all he knows into account, my son now proclaims, without any hesitation, that from now on he will be "a DORM GUY with a FOOD PLAN"-to quote him.

Sorry to be so lengthy, but I hope what I've said will help someone who wants to go the JUCO route.

Thanks for your post on the Juco life CT. Our son is considering the Juco route,so this is particularly interesting to me.
It just might make him reconsider his college future when it comes to baseball.

CT, thanks for the posting, lots of info....

I have a player who is a Junior 2006, who's grades have been on the low side. His current GPA is 1.9 and he now realizes that he has work to do on the academic side.He has made a promise to put in the work to get the grades up. He hasn't taken the SAT ot ACT yet. He is a good RHP with decent size and is the #1 pitcher on a large school varsity.

Should we target our into letters to
JUCO coaches from the start and wait and see if he can get the GPA high enough to be considered for DI or DII programs ?

I think there is a little misconception about Jucos and the grade situation.
Our son has been approached at the current time by four D1 Jr.college coaches,all in the Jayhawk conference.I have had the pleasure of getting to speak with three of them at length about their programs.
With each coach the first question has always been about my sons GPA,3.5
These coaches want to win just as bad as the top D1 programs if a kid can't maintain his eligibility he doesn't help them much.
Get the grades in the right place first,the rest will take care of itself.

About targeting Jucos,I think I would give him a chance with as many different venues as possible.You never know what will happen.

For us, the local JUCO was the answer, also.
My son made the decision to attend even though he was offered scholarships from a couple of 4 year universities and other colleges running the gamut from all categories had also shown interest in him.

I say "local" even though it is out of state, because for him, it will only be a 40 minute commute. The only downside to this is paying the out of state tuition.

However, with the JUCO, the cost is still a lot less than the colleges who offered top scholarships to him, when we looked at the full cost minus the scholarship.

The benefits my son saw with JUCO are these:

1) Play time- definitely. Since you have only 2 years at JUCO's, you have less competition for your position, and you will get lots more play time. By the time you reach transfer year (Junior year), you will probably have over 50 more games played than the average Junior who is on the large university team.

2) Eligibility- you are eligible all years instead of having to wait until Junior year as in the 4 year university.

3) Competition is most of the time just as good in the JUCO than anywhere else. And, as we all know, the more you play the game, the better you get. A scout told us to get our son on a team where he could play, play, play.

4) Cost- explained above.

5) Being at home really does count for what another poster said- less stress. Plus, in our case, my son can keep up with his trainer here in town, besides working out with the team. Also, mom and dad's support by being at games really means a lot to our boys, and to us.

6) Even if it's a small JUCO, and you may be afraid that they aren't followed heavily by scouts, your coach will bring the scouts in. Scouts don't have to be at every game in order to judge your son properly. If you feel the scouts aren't getting notification, then take the initiative, and have your son send out letters to the teams he's interested in, along with his spring schedule.

7) Academics- after checking the catalogs and schedules for all types of schools, I found that the courses for the first two years would be pretty much the same no matter where you go. You have to get all of the required subjects out of the way. My son laid out a 2 year plan, to go for the full 60 credits for an Associate Degree, and after everything that was required, he only ended up with 4 extra courses that were considered "electives." For his electives, he picked courses that actually will count towards the required courses for his chosen major. We did check with a few schools he's interested in transfering to after JUCO, to make sure that his courses would transfer, and we were told that if he does get the Associate Degree, everything would transfer. Be sure to check that out, though.

So, we are looking forward to this new experience. Classes start in only 2 weeks, and that is also the first day of practice. The fall schedule is about 20 games. Coach is up front about telling us that he uses the fall as a "tryout" for the spring, and my son is used to that. He did that with his travel teams in the past. And, Coach has already told us where he plans to play our son.

So, now it's up to the young men to show what they can do. We are looking forward to being at all games this fall, and next spring!! Looks like they have a great parental support team there, as we visited a few games last spring.

My son is happy with his decision, and looking forward to playing the game he loves!!

sunbkd...you have a PM

WI mom, best of luck to your son during his
fall ball. I have a suspicion he will make the
cut especially if he has been through tryouts
before.

WIMom- you have a PM