Newbie to college baseball, what are summer assignments?

There are a number of leagues around the country where college kids play competitive baseball on kind of town teams. Northwoods, Prospect, Cape Cod, etc. The coaches work out where the kids go, but it doesn't always happen. My son was assigned to a team in Wisconsin in January, but in May coaches decided he should stay home.

My understanding is the Cape is kind of the top level, with a number of others around the country.

If they don't assign a kid, it could be they don't have a spot for him yet, it could be they have things they want him working closer to home on. It could be he pitched or played as many innings as they want him to have in the regular season.

I'm trying to master not trying to read the coaches mind, but it's hard.

To expand on Iowamom's info...

Things definitely vary by school.  Some schools take charge of assigning players, some do nothing, and there is a whole lot of in-between.  Not all players get assigned.  Many factors come into play.  The purpose for the college coach is to provide an environment where the returning player will get quality game reps against good competition to improve the skill set and experience before the next college season.  The purpose for the summer organization is to provide that environment but also to provide a quality product on the field that will warrant a (usually) paying fan base to attend and support the games in a setting not terribly unlike minor league ball, but with current college players.

Sometimes placement is done well in advance, sometimes it happens later.  Sometimes it is a combination of both.  I would say most schools will see how things fall out in the fall before starting to assign players.  Many assignments happen late Fall and Winter, some in Spring or later.  There are relationships between college coaches and summer organizations.  There is a level of trust built over the years - when a college tells an organization that the player brings a particular skill set, the organization expects that player to deliver on that level.  I believe you have a son who is a college freshman?  It can be challenging for a coaching staff to accurately assess how a freshman will do against college competition, at least until fall inter-squads happen, often not until into the Spring season.   They will also want to wait and see if the student athlete will likely make the squad and stick - athletically, academically, socially.  With pitchers, innings pitched factors in.  If a P is projected to get a heavy load during the Spring season, he may not get assigned. 

There is a hierarchy to summer leagues.  You can search the topic here and learn more.  Many players who don't get assigned by their school will find their own summer teams, usually with the mid to lower tier leagues.  Many players will stay home and work on strength/conditioning, mechanics, and maybe just take a bit of a physical and mental break.  But the battle continues.  If not working on and improving his game in some way, the player falls behind to those who are.  Summer ball is a grind, particularly when jumping in immediately after a long college season with a very short break to look forward to at the end of the summer commitment.  The player should have dialog with his college coaching staff before taking things into his own hands.  If there is any doubt about making the Spring roster, that is where the focus should be and worry about summer later - but not too late .  

To add based on son's experience that there is a lot of change on these Summer teams, both before the Summer and after the season starts.  I'm guessing the top level league like Cape Cod is pretty stable save for an injured player that needs to withdraw but be replaced.  But as others have noted, lots of things come into play.  If a player Redshirts or does not get many game reps or IP for his college team, the coach will usually assign him to a Summer league to get those opportunities and come back in the Fall more prepared to compete for another season.  And for the "regulars" they may go to a more elite league to get better competition.

The process is pretty amazing how these leagues and teams fill rosters with kids from all levels from all over.  It is a great life learning experience...kids usually stay with host families and engage with the community while there.  The local town fans and kids look at the players as "big time" and seek autographs, pictures, etc.  Players get to meet other players and get minor league-type experience with long bus rides, dingy hotels.  And the competition is key to their development.  Turnover on these rosters can be significant depending on timing (son's league started 3 weeks before he was even done with Spring school), injury, pitcher inning limits, etc.

If your Freshman son is already being contacted about playing next Summer, look at it as real plus.  That means the coach sees him as somebody who will be competing for playing time, if not this year, then by Sophomore year.  That is a good indication of their commitment to him!

If you are a newbie then I am assuming your son is a frosh this year. As others have posted, it depends on the program/coaching staff. In addition, I would assume that it has a fair amount to do with level of play and the competitiveness of the program.  In our experience, most of the players know well in advance where they are headed for the summer because they are headed to the more competitive leagues. The exception seemed to the frosh who were playing less. These players waited until late in the season which I am guessing had something to do with coaches evaluating their growth and where they best fit in. Almost all of them ended up in, what I would call the mid-tier leagues. I would recommend that your son speak with some of the vets on team and find out more about the process with your son's program. If they typically assign players a team in the summer, I would just remind your son that frosh, unless they are playing a bunch, are typically the last ones to get assigned a team.

A quick tutorial

Here is a list of the leagues, not counting smaller local ones:

http://thebaseballcube.com/college/summer/

If you search on hsbaseballweb, you will see that the Cape Cod league is regarded at the "best" for players, especially right before their draft year.  Players are highly scouted.   Many of the best pitchers go here.  You better be one of the best hitters, facing those best pitchers.  

The Northwoods league is highly regarded and  most like minor league baseball, playing every night and traveling.  Scouts are at the games here, as well.   You will hear it is a "grind".  Some players will love it, others don't.

And there are many others listed above:  Coastal, Valley, Texas, etc, plus the smaller local leagues.   There was a post in the last year where folks could post about the local leagues.

There are non-profit and for profit leagues.  Some provide host families, some put up in a hotel/dorm.  I believe all now charge something to play for the summer, and the amounts differ.   The top leagues may offer a temporary contract, basically to fill a roster spot, until the College World Series players start showing up.   There is a lot of "churning" on the rosters:  injuries, summer school, temporary contracts, quitting, pitch counts, etc....

I found the following website earlier in the summer  https://www.summerbaseballregi...com/2019_ten_leagues

CollegebaseballInsights posted:

I found the following website earlier in the summer  https://www.summerbaseballregi...com/2019_ten_leagues

 

My son played in the NECBL this past summer. Many of his teammates were headed to the Cape so think he looked at NECBL as an inferior league. I remember him saying something to the effect of "not as competitive so should get opportunities to start a bunch." Did not take him long, more like first start , to find out that NECBL is loaded with talent. After watching a handful of games myself, I would say it's strength is definitely offense! Seems like every player could hit but was working to improve defensively. Highly recommend NECBL!

Just an FYI....the Traverse City Pit Spitters that won the Northwoods league finished their season on August 16th and played a ridiculous 72 games!!!   It's tough enough to keep kids interested for 40+ and playing until mid-July.  I have absolutely no idea why anyone would think that 72 games in the summer is a good idea.  The Northwood League has a reputation for good baseball, but that's a serious amount of strain to put on kids who will be heading straight back to school and starting baseball as early as the first week of September.

Maybe it is a trend.  The Expedition League (Great Plains) just completed its second season and the 10 teams in the league played between 64-68 games.  The teams are for profit, but the players pay nothing, so maybe they need that many games to have a chance to break-even or make a profit. 

I spent the last week of the season in Nebraska watching my son's team play and they were down to the teens in terms of players left by that point.  A couple of the pitchers left were at 1-2 inning limits left to pitch, but somehow they got through it.  From what I heard, many of the players were near burn out but all were grateful for the experience.  They had some bus rides from 8-10 hours on road trips, so they definitely got a chance to experience what life in the minor leagues will be for those lucky enough to be drafted.  And the nightly crowds were bigger than most of them experienced (no SEC kids in the league) before.

Players need to be really ready to commit and stick with it.  Too many kids bailed--two did after the first week--and that creates a really bad look for the kid and their school. 

Buckeye 2015 posted:

Just an FYI....the Traverse City Pit Spitters that won the Northwoods league finished their season on August 16th and played a ridiculous 72 games!!!   It's tough enough to keep kids interested for 40+ and playing until mid-July.  I have absolutely no idea why anyone would think that 72 games in the summer is a good idea.  The Northwood League has a reputation for good baseball, but that's a serious amount of strain to put on kids who will be heading straight back to school and starting baseball as early as the first week of September.

Even worse, Buckeye... many schools have already been at it for a week or two now.  So, basically ZERO break between the end of Spring season, summer ball and the start of Fall season if you were "lucky" enough to be part of playoffs in the Northwoods.  That's rough.

My son's team won the GLCBL championship at 30-16 and even at that had kids leaving the last week of the season.  The opponent in the final game had 11 guys dressed.  A 54 game college season jammed into 3+ months is one thing....but to play 46 in less than 6 weeks is crazy....can't imagine how the Northwoods League gets kids to stay for 72 games and an extra month. 

Between the two of them our sons have played in the Cape, the Northwoods, the NECBL and the Futures League.  Honestly, they were all great for different reasons but if I had to choose a favorite it would be the Northwoods.  It was a grind for sure, but the fans and atmosphere at almost all of the parks were really special and made it a very fun place to play and to watch.  And yes, the summer probably went a few weeks too long in that league but it gave the players an opportunity to take tons of reps and this was extremely beneficial to our son the summer he played there.  

The summer league assignment, definitely VARIES among baseball programs and the contacts that the HC or RC has. My son has had teammates that played in all the leagues mentioned above. One year my son was scrambling for a team as his college coach thought he was getting an internship. The Hamptons hasn't been mentioned much but is a good league for underclassmen (many rising sophs). The talent varied based on team.

2015 played in the NECBL as a rising senior (and a brief period as a rising soph where he actually played a combination of NECBL, AAU and American Legion. The NECBL is top notch (many draftees) and generally considered second best behind Cape. Sometimes an NECBL player upon end of season may be asked to come up to Cape for a few games (easy due to proximity of the teams). I have noticed that the rosters of Cape are getting younger (many rising freshman who were drafted and chose college and rising sophomores). Temporary contracts are "buyer beware", and sometimes leaves a player scrambling for another league upon release. NECBL tended to have less movement/attrition of position players than Cape and Northwoods (probably due to length of season here). Pitchers will come and go in practically any league (leagues always looking for pitchers even in a short notice) due to pitch count/innings limitations placed on them by college.

In any event, hopefully OP's son and other posters will land somewhere that he can get reps (especially important for position players ABs). Summer leagues were key to son's advancement as he would face programs/pitchers he would not see during regular season. As it turned out one summer team rotated him among the two middle infield positions (and 3B) which worked out well as his college position changed his junior year from 2B to SS. 

What is the deal with summer baseball leagues and the athlete's amateur status? Are they paid? If not, do they just get per diems?

bitcohen posted:

What is the deal with summer baseball leagues and the athlete's amateur status? Are they paid? If not, do they just get per diems?

These are collegiate summer baseball leagues and they are not paid.  They usually pay something to play....maybe just for the uni, or more, depending on the league.  There is no per diem.  Some leagues provide meals after games.  Some host families provide meals (sons' did not....just refrigerator space).  Some leagues "say" they will help find the player a job, which of course would be paid.  Some will pay transportation, but only if they complete the season.  It will be spelled out in the contract.  Their amateur status will remain intact.

I looked at it as the cost of a summer baseball camp lol.  I would have had to provide meals for him at home, so I gave son a "per diem" lol!