NAIA BASEBALL

I've been told the highest level of NAIA is typically equivalent to NCAA DII,although there is some variability there as well.

For info on the Florida Sun Conference I suggest you contact Bob Pincus (Central Florida Renegades) via the Florida Forum, or Sal Lombardo (Orlando Scorpions).

Also, check out the Sunshine State Conference, NCAA DII, includes University of Tampa, Rollins, Florida Southern, and several other nice schools and programs.

Sunshine State Conference

NAIA Baseball

All I can say is that my son's NAIA school last year beat every DII and DIII school that they played last season....and they only finished 7 or 8th in their conf.
Also, I believe that the Florida Sun Conf is one of the strongest NAIA conf's in the country....when weather permits year round playing, you tend to be stronger...No, son's school was not in that conferance.
So answer would be, there are some strong programs in the NAIA. IE TWC, Faulkner, etc, etc...

My son's previous NAIA school also scheduled a lot of DII competition and they won their fair share of those games.

There's a huge disparity between the top-level programs and bottom level programs. Some of the bad NAIA programs would struggle against good high school teams. However, as others have said, the top echelon of NAIA ball is good.

lewis and clark in idaho is NAIA and i think some would argue they could beat many D1 teams.

Ed Cheff, the coach of Lewis and Clark State, was asked this very question in an interview that you can find on the HSBBW page. Here is the question and Cheff's response:


Question: :Lewis & Clark State College is an NAIA affiliated school, many of the folks that visit the HSBBWeb assume that the caliber of baseball played at an NAIA school is not as good as that played at an NCAA program. How do you respond to that?

Answer: LCSC competes very well against the NCAA DI programs. Typically the top 10 - 15 NAIA schools are competitive with the DI schools. However the majority of the NAIA schools are more on a par with DII.

quote:

Originally posted by Emanski's Heroes:

Question: :Lewis & Clark State College is an NAIA affiliated school, many of the folks that visit the HSBBWeb assume that the caliber of baseball played at an NAIA school is not as good as that played at an NCAA program. How do you respond to that?

Answer: LCSC competes very well against the NCAA DI programs. Typically the top 10 - 15 NAIA schools are competitive with the DI schools. However the majority of the NAIA schools are more on a par with DII.

Having watched a lot of NAIA ball myself, I would say Cheff's response is exactly correct. Your top NAIAs can compete with almost anyone. Lewis and Clark could beat the majority of DIs - just excluding the top programs. This NAIA program has more kids drafted than most DI programs. It is an outstanding baseball program by most folks standards.

Since I've played NAIA I'd agree with the above post.

Most NAIA is on par with NCAA DII, (maybe low level NCAA DI)

The upper NAIA can compete with the top NCAA DI

What are the top 3 NAIA Conferences

quote:

What are the top 3 NAIA Conferences

As far as...

-Academics
-Competition
-Players getting Drafted
-Most Teams Nationally Ranked
-Or something else?

lets keep it at the 1st 2 Academics and Competition

I'm still working on my opinion for your answer RYNO, but here's some food for thought that I stumbled upon when checking up on a few things.

NAIA Players in the MLB

A pretty impressive list of names

Doc_K thank you for your help my son has an official visit this weekend to a school in the Florida Sun Conference and wanted to get a feel for opinions on NAIA Baseball and this conference in particular. I see they had 2 -3 teams in the top 30 in the polls. And if it is comparable to good D2 baseball will help us when comparing apples to apples.

I'm more familiar with NAIA Baseball in MI,OH,KY and TN.

We played some NAIA schools in FL but not enough for me to really gauge just how strong the talent truly is. The fact that they can play year round is a bonus that's forsure.

Look up OCU...an NAIA school in the Sooner Athletic Conf...they got 5 kids drafted off of last years team...I would guess that they were as competitive as some DI's last year.

The NAIA GSAC conference in California is a very good conference that always has 3-5 teams ranked in the NAIA top 25 poll or receiving votes. They also have many players drafted each year.

Lewis-Clark State regularly beats the pants off the D-I schools in its area (Washington State and Gonzaga), and they pretty much beat the pants off everyone they play.

LCSC Draft List

You put these guys in Omaha and I think they'd represent very well.

My son looked into them but, to be honest, he's not good enough (now anyway) to play there.

They are top notch and any ballplayer would be lucky to be a Warrior.

Well, there ya go Krak, There are more out there with this quality of competition, and that produce well equipped players for the draft. D-l is not the only place MLB teams find players. JMHO

The NAIA website is not a very user-friendly site to glean information about the in's and out's of their division.

How many players can a NAIA team have on a roster?

YoungGunDad - I don't know what the number is that can be on the formal varsity roster. What is important to keep in mind is that most NAIA have a JV team. The roster that you look at for many of those schools includes kids that only play JV. There's a few that will play JV and dress varsity. A good way to get a true "feel" for how this works in each program and the players satisfaction/dissatisfaction is for your son to actually talk with current players.

NAIA Baseball is quality baseball. The biggest differences I see in NAIA and high level division 1 ball is pitching, depth, and size. The division 1 school I am graduating from this spring has baseball players that are bigger than myself and all of my college teammates. Pitching is usually tougher on the high levels and teams have depth. In NAIA ball the drop-off between the top players on a team and the backups is big.

Pitching is MAJOR difference but since it's all relative, the hitting is a notch down and so it all evens out. It's good quality fun baseball but you don't have the unbelievable all-american all-academic studs smacking the ball to the wall every third at bat. You don't have 45 kids on a team and the ability to go through 9 pitchers in one game and then come back later that day in the 2nd game of a double-header and pitch another 4 different kids.

What is the reasoning for a school and baseball program to be affiliated with the NAIA instead of the NCAA?

i seen that university of south carolina beaufort is starting a new baseball team in the florida sun confrence. does anyone no anything about the team or the coaches.

I think you get a mixed bag in NAIA. Some teams can compete with some of the top 25 D1 schools (LC State). While other schools are more equivalent to mediocre D3 schools. There's a huge range, so watch out where you're looking at.

oldschool...

do you have examples of top notch schools and mediocre schools competing in NAIA?!

paddyboyo,

My son at one time was talking with that school. He met the coach in Arizona. The coach is supposed to be a very good coach. Has a lot of professional and college exp.Scofield is his name I believe, he works with baseball factory and team one or use to. beautiful area.

Can anyone help out with that list requested above? I realize that I can find rankings easily enough. I am talking about a list of NAIA affiliated schools with a balance of quality baseball, academics, and quality of student life (might as well throw in AFFORDABILITY).

Ryno, I played 3 years in the Florida Sun. It really depends on what program you are looking at. Many of the teams that were in the conference a few years ago are DII now (Nova, Flagler, etc). Ive played against Lewis and Clark also and they are certainly on par with DI. Like it was said earlier, the top 15 programs in NAIA have the talent to play with anyone, the bottom of NAIA is more DII or even DIII. As for tuition, social life, etc it really depends on the school. Although LC and my school were both NAIA, they had more scholarships, lower tuition, etc.

NAIA is a great place for DI players to go when they decide for whatever reason to transfer and not required to sit out a year. You will see Juniors use NAIA since JUCO is not an option anymore.

Jeff Francis was NAIA at the U of British Columbia. He wasn't too bad at 13 million a year with the Rockies.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballtoday:

NAIA is a great place for DI players to go when they decide for whatever reason to transfer and not required to sit out a year. You will see Juniors use NAIA since JUCO is not an option anymore.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news baseballtoday but a D1 player (nor D2) can transfer directly to a 4-yr NAIA straight from their respective program. The new NCAA rules state that no player can "transfer from a 4-yr program to a 4-yr program" regardless of the Conference. If they do, they are required to sit out a year before being eligible to play again. This rule goes both ways, i.e. NAIA to D1, D2 or D3 as well.

The new transfer rules have pretty much dampened the ease of switching programs especially after a players Sophomore year.

3Fingered can verify all of this above.

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YGD...

You're absolutely certain that NCAA rules apply to, and are fully recognized/shared by NON NCAA (NAIA) schools?

I'd be happy to be proven wrong but I'd be surprised if they are.

We'll have to get an official ruling from Three Fingers...

44
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YoungGunDad,
I think you've gotten a little carried away here, or maybe O44 and I misunderstand your point.

A player transferring from a 4 year school into a NAIA school may play immediately if he has a cumulative 2.0 GPA and a written release from the previous school's AD. That's the NAIA transfer rule. Of course, NAIA (and all other collegiate) players have to meet academic progress requirements.

Similarly, with rare exceptions and assuming academic progress, a player may transfer into a NCAA D3 or D2 school, and play immediately.

It's NCAA D1 that has tightened the rules: If a player transfers from any 4 year school into a D1 school, he typically has to serve one academic year of residence before he is eligible to compete. If he transfers from a 4 year to a 2 year and then to a different D1 school, he typically needs an AA degree to avoid the year of residence.

In all cases, the only rules that affect a player are the ones in force at the school he attends or will attend in the future. Look, collegiate sports rules aren't laws; if a player breaks the rules, he isn't sent to jail or fined or ticketed or dunked in the pond. The only punishment that the NCAA, NAIA or the various JC organizations can give a player is to prevent him from playing at their member schools.

So, for example, the NCAA doesn't try to make rules which limit or control how a player might transfer into a NAIA school. The NCAA knows that it would have no way to enforce such a rule.

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A follow up question...

Got the 2.0 and the program release...What are the academic progress requirements like at NAIA schools? How/Would they come into play on a transfer?

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I do not believ their are executives from NCAA or NAIA on here offering definitions and info---why not read the rules for each and/or call the administrative offices for each and pose the question to them---there is too much of "I heard" or " I understand"---both organizations are the final say---talk to them

The " I was told" or "I heard" bit can lead to problems--trust me

quote:

Originally posted by 3FingeredGlove:
The NCAA knows that it would have no way to enforce such a rule.

...but currently has a team of lawyers lobbying congress for legislation to mandate non member institutions to abide by NCAA rules. Furthermore, the NCAA is asking congress for the right to regulate all on and off campus non athletic student activities. The NCAA has issued a statement saying, "We feel our expertise in promoting fair and just rules and regulations uniquely qualifies the NCAA to help all students reach the goals set forth by the NCAA. If this legislation passes, as we are confident it will, we will rename the organization to, The Ubiquitous Student Strategy Resource."

The news conference ended when the USSR minister of information left the podium to a chant of "All Hail".

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Dropped my jaw for a minute there CPLZ...

44
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quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:

quote:

Originally posted by 3FingeredGlove:
The NCAA knows that it would have no way to enforce such a rule.

...but currently has a team of lawyers lobbying congress for legislation to mandate non member institutions to abide by NCAA rules. Furthermore, the NCAA is asking congress for the right to regulate all on and off campus non athletic student activities. The NCAA has issued a statement saying, "We feel our expertise in promoting fair and just rules and regulations uniquely qualifies the NCAA to help all students reach the goals set forth by the NCAA. If this legislation passes, as we are confident it will, we will rename the organization to, The Ubiquitous Student Strategy Resource."

The news conference ended when the USSR minister of information left the podium to a chant of "All Hail".

Yeah, the NCAA just makes rulings to benefit the schools and really does not take the side of the student/athlets.

Observer, as you can see from my earlier post that I qualified my statement with the ending that 3Fingered could confirm it. I apologize for making a statement about this that may have confused anyone. It certainly was not my intent.

We just recently went through some of this tranferring situations and 3Fingered was very instrumental in helping us along the way. There was a mid-major D1 that was interested in younggun last summer and told him that if he went to his NAIA school that he would have to either sit out a year or go JUCO, THEN be eligible to come play for them. As 3Fingered mentioned, there are "loopholes" for lack of a better word for getting around some of these rules.

I did have a typo on my earlier post. It should've said but a D1 player (nor D2) CANNOT transfer directly to a 4-yr NAIA straight from their respective program. Again, this may be incorrect if a player does certain things and meets certain requirements. We just did not know them at the time and now is a mute point since he is now at a JUCO.

3Fingered, I am always carried away! My wife can attest to that! lol