Offers & Committing

@TPM posted:

Question for those whose son got offers or still recruiting.

Did your sons discuss roster sizes with each coach?

Yes, it has been discussed. The overall consensus seems to be 2021s were going to get screwed. The schools we've talked to had only filled half their 2021 classes last summer and won't be taking anymore as a result. One school said they ideally like 10 kids a class. By the time spring rolls around there are about 5 or 6 who get injured, become ineligible, etc and they get down to 35. They will only be taking three 2021s, not because seniors are coming back, but because the underclassmen on the roster have already expressed interest in using all their eligibility + the 2020 makeup season. 

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Not to poach into Francis' thread, and this might be stupid, but since there are no D3 athletic scholarships, what does a D3 "offer" mean exactly?  Just help through admissions?  If your kid is academically top notch, help in securing merit money?  Just a guaranteed spot on the team for the first spring?  Thanks.

D3s have no roster limits.  Sometimes a coach might offer, "I don't over-recruit, so your son would have a place on my team" - it might or might not be true.  "Guaranteed" could mean a j.v. team, or a 50-man roster.  The most tangible kind of D3 offer is help with admissions, where the player would need such help (i.e at a very selective school, or where his grades aren't quite at the college average).  D3 coaches are not supposed to help at all with merit money.

We absolutely asked about roster size.  My 2021 committed to a JUCO where 35 has always been the coach's ceiling.  He is reluctantly going with 39 this coming season due to Covid and is a first for him.  My son committed July 9th as the first 2021 in their class and at that time, we were told they'd only be bringing 10 total 2021s in which is not at all the norm.  I'd be surprised to see many schools have a "regular" sized 2021 class and those that are, were likely filled before Covid broke.  There is little risk to keeping 2021 classes small because you've got 2 freshmen classes on campus right now and - if needed - you can always go bigger with your 2022 class to compensate.

@PABaseball posted:

Yes, it has been discussed. The overall consensus seems to be 2021s were going to get screwed. The schools we've talked to had only filled half their 2021 classes last summer and won't be taking anymore as a result. One school said they ideally like 10 kids a class. By the time spring rolls around there are about 5 or 6 who get injured, become ineligible, etc and they get down to 35. They will only be taking three 2021s, not because seniors are coming back, but because the underclassmen on the roster have already expressed interest in using all their eligibility + the 2020 makeup season. 

Won't the same thing happen again for the 2022s?

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Not to poach into Francis' thread, and this might be stupid, but since there are no D3 athletic scholarships, what does a D3 "offer" mean exactly?  Just help through admissions?  If your kid is academically top notch, help in securing merit money?  Just a guaranteed spot on the team for the first spring?  Thanks.

I think the answer to this depends on what you are looking for.  Some D3s offer generous merit aid that can far eclipse any athletic money a D1 would give.  So, if your son is a good student, D3s can be very affordable.  Combine that with the fact that you are a recruited athlete with nearly guaranteed early decision admission, and the situation can be very attractive. 

Some HA D3s do not offer merit aid, however, only need-based aid.  If your son is a good student, this won't give him any extra money at those schools.  The goal for those schools is just to get the admissions door open, when it might otherwise stay closed, because of athletics.  For those schools, using the net price calculator early and making sure you can afford the expected family contribution that it produces is key.

@TPM posted:

Question for those whose son got offers or still recruiting.

Did your sons discuss roster sizes with each coach?

My son (looking at HA D3s)  would ask about the size of the recruiting class (if it wasn't just offered up by the coach), but not the size of the roster.  We looked at past years to gauge the size of the roster.

@Francis7 posted:

Won't the same thing happen again for the 2022s?

Possibly, but I think coaches will have a better gauge on how to deal with the situation. For this coming season the 35 man roster is not in place, next year it will be. So while they can over recruit this year, they really can't for next year. The coaches we talked to basically said if they're not a draft candidate, the upperclassmen aren't going to exercise that extra year. Instead of taking 10, they might have to take 7 for the 22's and 23's. They were pretty clear about being more selective. 

Even at the older one's school. All the guys that were supposed to be coming in are still coming, the cuts were made in house. They'll have 40 when they start tomorrow. The '22 class is at 10 on PG. I assume more in house cuts will be made when it gets to that point. 

@LuckyCat posted:

My son (looking at HA D3s)  would ask about the size of the recruiting class (if it wasn't just offered up by the coach), but not the size of the roster.  We looked at past years to gauge the size of the roster.

I think where a roster size is not enforced, it's important to ask how many is the max kept on the roster.  

@Francis7 posted:

Won't the same thing happen again for the 2022s?

I think that if we get to the 2020 season, a lot of players will get cut to get the D1 roster back to normal. 

Sorry that I hijacked your topic. 

@fenwaysouth posted:

bamatarheel and danj,

You've got my mind turning over this morning thinking "what if"....

Congrats on your offers and acceptance.   I'm probably not alone in thinking your posts reflect the true reality of college baseball recruiting in the Covid era.   We've been "talking" about it for 5 months on HSBBWeb, and your very real world experience is right there to share with our readers.   Thanks for sharing.  I'm blown away by the expediency of today's offer/acceptance in the recruiting process.   Both of you jumped at an opportunity based on what you knew and didn't know.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my son spent 20 months trying to find a combination of a top engineering school and decent college baseball team.   My son is very data driven, and he never rushed into a decision in his life....even to this day   Given the recruiting climate today, I don't think it would have ended nearly as well for him.  He wasn't a flamethrower, but he was a control pitcher.  He was a talent that a D1 HC or RC needed to see at least twice.    I could see another reality where he would have picked the engineering school then tried to walk-on to a D1 or D3 school.   

The good news for your sons is they found a place that checks the boxes and you didn't have to field a handful of offers then revisit more colleges with offers in hand which is the typical operating procedure that most of us went through in normal times.   

Again, congrats and thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I probably could have / should have gone into more detail. My son committed in Nov of last 2019 and it was his first offer ....even though he knew others were coming. He just happened to catch lightening in a bottle.

We started the process in the spring of 2019 reaching out to over 75-80 schools....in a certain southern region. We continued to narrow his list to 25+ schools through their interest, however after meeting with his high school varsity coach in the fall of 2019  ..who knows my son well we determined that my son needed a D1 school that develops kids. Those are tough to find and would not exist in the ACC nor SEC.....so we identified two program that we felt were perfect . My son had played in front of these programs. Our high school coach and travel team 

We contact this program through my sons travel program....they were aware of him but did not think he was interested and the rest was history. FYI.......option 2 would have twice price / overall cost to attend.

@TPM posted:

I think that if we get to the 2020 season, a lot of players will get cut to get the D1 roster back to normal. 

Sorry that I hijacked your topic. 

(2021 season, I assume) 

I think you may see a few more transfers than normal out of D1's before spring semester.  Coaches will be more proactive going into 2021 season with rosters.  There are too many good 2021 and 2022 high school grads for D1 coaches to let the scholarships stay tied up in existing players.

You may be saying the same thing in your post.

@TPM posted:

Question for those whose son got offers or still recruiting.

Did your sons discuss roster sizes with each coach?

Yes

The program my son committed to we were told by high school and travel coaches they do not over commit and only use JUCO to fill needs when kids leave early for MLB. During his visit we asked and they confirmed that ......they even suggested we research their last several recruiting classes listed on PG / compare to rosters listed ... see how many make it to senior year.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Not to poach into Francis' thread, and this might be stupid, but since there are no D3 athletic scholarships, what does a D3 "offer" mean exactly?  Just help through admissions?  If your kid is academically top notch, help in securing merit money?  Just a guaranteed spot on the team for the first spring?  Thanks.

If the coach asks the player to apply early admission and offers to walk the application through admissions it’s means the player is highly desired by the coach. He’s using one of his “acceptance chits” on the player. This player is going to be on the team freshman year. 

Given 18-20 players typically impact the season and a D3 will have 24 of these players on their roster over four years anyone else will have to break through. 

A friend told me at his son’s school there were 27 players in fall fall who thought they were preferred walk ons. They were not one of the six walked through admissions. These 27 were competing for 3 roster spots. Even though D3s can have unlimited rosters this coach kept his roster to 32. 

@Go44dad posted:

(2021 season, I assume) 

I think you may see a few more transfers than normal out of D1's before spring semester.  Coaches will be more proactive going into 2021 season with rosters.  There are too many good 2021 and 2022 high school grads for D1 coaches to let the scholarships stay tied up in existing players.

You may be saying the same thing in your post.

I don't know what I meant..lol. 2020 has been like a lifetime.

@Go44dad posted:

(2021 season, I assume) 

I think you may see a few more transfers than normal out of D1's before spring semester.  Coaches will be more proactive going into 2021 season with rosters.  There are too many good 2021 and 2022 high school grads for D1 coaches to let the scholarships stay tied up in existing players.

You may be saying the same thing in your post.

I think you are right.  My son is a 2019, and many of his former HS team mates never really got a chance to show what they can do their freshman year in 2020.  Next spring, assuming there's a season, these kids will have hardly played in 2 years and have new kids coming in behind them.  Tough place to be.

Our son is committed to a HA D3. HC still told us to keep academic and baseball options open because of this crazy and unknown environment we are current living in. The issue is deferrals at HA schools because school is currently online. HC said he will walk through the application for admissions but even with a very positive academic pre-read response from the director of admissions, he added a caveat that deferrals in this incoming freshmen class can possibly affect admissions for 2021 HS graduates. He was asked to apply ED1 by the HC so he won’t know if he is accepted until December at the earliest. Doesn’t leave much time to activate plan B. 

Not sure how son can keep baseball options open while still being committed to what was one of his target/dream schools. 

CoVid aside, unless I’m missing something, your son has made a commitment by agreeing to apply ED but the coach has not guaranteed admission. Sounds like a good deal for the coach, and not so much for your son. I would keep looking. 

Hope for the best, keep an eye out for the worst.  When your son committed, were there other schools he told no?  Did any of them say, "if anything changes, let us know"?  Even in normal years, stuff happens, kids get rejected or deferred, there is activity after the ED1 results come out, plus at that point the slightly less selective schools get busy.  Just make sure your son keeps his grades up this fall.

2021CatcherDad,

I 100% agree with JCGs and anotehrparents comments.   I will go so far as to say they haven’t committed anything of substance, so I wouldn’t view this as anything more than a convenience to them.  I’m a big believer in quid pro quo in recruiting…you have to be getting something of value back.   Your son has given up a lot more than he is receiving back and that bothers me.   You do have options.   It is a matter of deciding if you want to pursue those options.    It’s almost Sept 1 which is when many D3 schools typically get extremely active.   I have seen many people get recruited later and it turned out fantastically for them.   There are plenty of D3 HA schools out there whether you apply ED1, ED2 or RD.  I would go back and touch base with any program your son has reached out to or attended a camp of showcase with.   I would get busy quick.   I know what it is like, but you have to keep moving forward.  Heck my son committed about this time 10 years ago to a D1 which was very late in the recruiting cycle.   We had contingency plans AND we continued to reach out to new programs, always.   We never let up on the recruiting gas pedal until we were absolutely sure (letter from Admissions).

As always, JMO.   Good luck, and let me know if I can help you in any way.

@2021CatcherDad posted:

Our son is committed to a HA D3. HC still told us to keep academic and baseball options open because of this crazy and unknown environment we are current living in. The issue is deferrals at HA schools because school is currently online. HC said he will walk through the application for admissions but even with a very positive academic pre-read response from the director of admissions, he added a caveat that deferrals in this incoming freshmen class can possibly affect admissions for 2021 HS graduates. He was asked to apply ED1 by the HC so he won’t know if he is accepted until December at the earliest. Doesn’t leave much time to activate plan B. 

Not sure how son can keep baseball options open while still being committed to what was one of his target/dream schools. 

The link below is a thread from just over a week ago on Recruiting Slots at HA schools and my reply.   I think the HC is just being honest and giving you a totally fair read on the situation.   Does he have fewer "slots"  this year, maybe, can he sneak a few more guys over his slots, doubtful due to deferrals. 

What to do? He's not using a slot on your son as noted above.  You must try to be as realistic as possible on his chances to get in.  In a normal year if acceptance is 20%, for 2021's it might be 10%-15%.   Everyone thinks their kid will get into these schools but in normal years its an absolute crapshoot.  What would I do?  Apply ED and be prepared to apply to 10 other schools in mid-December or tell the coach that while this school is your #1 choice and you are committing to playing baseball for him, his comments give you pause on actual acceptance and you would prefer to apply early action, and then apply to the other schools of interest.  Just my 2 cents...

https://community.hsbaseballwe...20#64092996560767020