Hopefully this isn't a dumb question, but which schools fall into the "Mid Majors" category for D1? And is there a D1 category below that (and if so, which schools fall into that)? I'm assuming the Ivies are there own category unto themselves. Context for question: my 2025 recently got numbers that are at or close D1 numbers, but I'm thinking he's probably not Power 5 level (and even if is, not sure that'd be best place for him).
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This will kinda give you your answer.
https://www.midmajormadness.co...-teams-by-conference
But it seems they declare everything a midmajor that is not P5.
I think there is a low D1. I don't think I would consider Northeast, SWAC, Summit, MAAC, Ivy, Horizon, Big Sky, America East, and Meac mid maors. There are a few others that only fit there because of 2 or 3 teams. If you are not competing in end of season tournament consistently other than your guaranteed you are not a mid major conference. When you talk mid major teams, there are a lot of them.
I have heard some say you have teams that are mid major in one sport and not in another. Don't know if I agree with that.
The Power 5 D1 conferences are SEC, ACC, Bug10, Big12, Pac12. Schools in those conferences are referred to as P5 and they include all the blue blood college sports programs. The schools in non-P5 conferences (American Athletic, Sunbelt, Atlantic 10, WAC, etc.) that compete in D1 athletics are referred to as mid-majors. This would include schools like Boise State, UNLV, Texas State, Southern Miss, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, etc. When it comes to college baseball, many mid-majors are more competitive that P5 schools at the bottom of their conference - with the exception of the SEC.
Everybody's got a different perspective. I've always viewed it by conference RPI and Warren Nolan's website does a pretty good job. 31 D1 conferences which makes it pretty easy to divide into top 10 D1 conferences, middle 10 D1 conferences, and bottom 11 D1 conferences. Pretty cut and dry.
HOWEVER if you've tracked this over the years there is a quite a bit of fluidity between the middle and bottom D1 conferences. One year a program can be a D1 mid-major (between 11-20) then the following year they could easily move up or down as the case may be. I saw my son's conference do that quite a bit. The top 4 conferences are always the same, but they did change position every so often (prior to conference alignment) especially the ACC and SEC.
https://www.warrennolan.com/ba.../2022/rpi-conference
As always, JMO.
Go by the power rankings (RPI is one) rather than P5 or mid major. It will give you a better idea of the top, middle and bottom. To me it’s top fifty, next fifty and the rest.
I saw my son as a mid major prospect. He chose an up and coming unranked P5 with an up and coming coach. The team ended up top twenty a couple of times while he was there.
@BaseballJoe posted:Hopefully this isn't a dumb question, but which schools fall into the "Mid Majors" category for D1? And is there a D1 category below that (and if so, which schools fall into that)? I'm assuming the Ivies are there own category unto themselves. Context for question: my 2025 recently got numbers that are at or close D1 numbers, but I'm thinking he's probably not Power 5 level (and even if is, not sure that'd be best place for him).
I guess my thought is that there is a big difference between "at or close to D1 numbers" and feeling like he may be a Power 5 kid. There is also a big difference between the top 20 or so Power 5's and the bottom 20. There are plenty of really good mid-majors who can compete / win vs plenty of Power 5's...especially those in the bottom 3-4 of each conference
I appreciate this question. I often wondered the same thing.
@fenwaysouth posted:Everybody's got a different perspective. I've always viewed it by conference RPI and Warren Nolan's website does a pretty good job. 31 D1 conferences which makes it pretty easy to divide into top 10 D1 conferences, middle 10 D1 conferences, and bottom 11 D1 conferences. Pretty cut and dry.
HOWEVER if you've tracked this over the years there is a quite a bit of fluidity between the middle and bottom D1 conferences. One year a program can be a D1 mid-major (between 11-20) then the following year they could easily move up or down as the case may be. I saw my son's conference do that quite a bit. The top 4 conferences are always the same, but they did change position every so often (prior to conference alignment) especially the ACC and SEC.
https://www.warrennolan.com/ba.../2022/rpi-conference
As always, JMO.
This^^^
Follow the conference rankings.
@RJM posted:Go by the power rankings (RPI is one) rather than P5 or mid major. It will give you a better idea of the top, middle and bottom. To me it’s top fifty, next fifty and the rest.
I saw my son as a mid major prospect. He chose and up and coming unranked P5 with an up and coming coach. The team ended up top twenty a couple of times while he was there.
Mine was the same. Most people don’t realize that Tennessee was that team. Bottom team in SEC when son committed. Had not been to Hoover in years. Son just wanted to play in Hoover. So far, has been to Hoover, been to CWS, won SEC regular and tournament championships, was #1 and set all kinds of records. Son will be forever in UT Record books. Led team in era last year. Can lead or be top 5 in 3 categories after this year if he has a decent season and throws 15 innings. You never know how quickly everything can change.
I still think ultimately he is an upper mid major player but has worked real hard. Or maybe it is just the mustache and flow. 😂
Keep an eye out on American Athletic which will be expanding from teams leaving CUSA.
IMO the term “mid major” is meaningless, particularly when if comes to your son’s recruiting plan. I mean are you an East Carolina mid major prospect, or a Saint Bonaventure mid major prospect?
Your son “just” needs to find the schools that want him. Even rankings aren’t really that important. My son had D1 and D2 offers (verbal), but there were also a couple mid-ranked D3 schools who weren’t interested. There are just so many variables around what each school needs, and how those schools evaluate your son’s potential to make them better. I think the typical journey is to initially shoot for the stars, then keep adjusting your sights until coaches start showing interest.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:IMO the term “mid major” is meaningless, particularly when if comes to your son’s recruiting plan. I mean are you an East Carolina mid major prospect, or a Saint Bonaventure mid major prospect?
Your son “just” needs to find the schools that want him. Even rankings aren’t really that important. My son had D1 and D2 offers (verbal), but there were also a couple mid-ranked D3 schools who weren’t interested. There are just so many variables around what each school needs, and how those schools evaluate your son’s potential to make them better. I think the typical journey is to initially shoot for the stars, then keep adjusting your sights until coaches start showing interest.
I agree with many things you post. But not this. In today’s world of 6 years of eligibility, the transfer portal, NIL, and a 20 round MLB draft I believe that now is not the time to shoot for the stars. For the vast majority of people now is the time to have a realistic & attainable goal from the beginning. Waiting for the recruiting process to level set you will waste a lot of time and money. And will inevitably lead to frustration and disappointment. IMO if you know you are shooting at the right target before you start hunting the odds are much better for a good result. As long as an over-supply of good players is saturating the market this will be the case.
@adbono posted:I agree with many things you post. But not this. In today’s world of 6 years of eligibility, the transfer portal, NIL, and a 20 round MLB draft I believe that now is not the time to shoot for the stars. For the vast majority of people now is the time to have a realistic & attainable goal from the beginning. Waiting for the recruiting process to level set you will waste a lot of time and money. And will inevitably lead to frustration and disappointment. IMO if you know you are shooting at the right target before you start hunting the odds are much better for a good result. As long as an over-supply of good players is saturating the market this will be the case.
lol, I guess agree with everything that you post. to be clear, I'm not advocating the shoot for the stars method, I'm just saying that it's typical. It could be as simple as going to a college camp and realizing that you don't belong. I believe you should go to a school where the coach honestly expects you to start as soon as you get there.
Mid Major is hard to gauge in baseball
East Carolina is more "major" than Kansas, Penn St, Washington St, etc. But Lehigh and Western Illinois are not in the same vicinity as schools like ECU and Coastal. And they all fall under the mid major umbrella.
Some would be competitive in P5 conferences. Some are considered good because of the conference they play in. We would probably be talking about how awesome Kansas is at baseball if they played in the Horizon league too.
Long story short - not all mid majors are created equal
