Post Graduate Baseball programs

That is most likely because it is not something that happens very often. It only makes sense to take a PG year for draft or academic purposes and many can argue those points. A kid who is struggling to get offers into his senior year of HS is still going to struggle to get offers the following summer as well. Does it make sense to pay for another year of HS to get an offer from a weak D3 school or a JUCO? Probably not. 

I can guarantee you that the guys who were drafted out of IMG are not paying 80k a year. 10 maybe and that is most likely a big stretch. 

I generally agree with Pabaseball on this, but there are cases where a PG can have some value, I think. Certainly when I look at many of the top recruits in the 2020 class I see a lot of kids who are a full calendar year older than my RHP son, so they have the benefit of another year of physical development they gained by either starting school late or maybe being held back at some point.

For my son, the PG question is still an open one. I absolutely don't want to make it another year of high school, or to indulge a college fantasy that isn't real. But my son is coming back from nearly a year off from testicular cancer (I wrote on this board about him a while back). He's doing great now, sitting 85-86 and running up to 88 sometimes. He's got a little interest from some small D1s, but he may not be able to log enough innings to really return to form and get the attention of the schools he's most interested in before the recruiting window on 2020 closes.

So, I'd love to hear some ideas about good PG programs for baseball players.

We are fortunate to have https://www.tcspostgrad.com in our area.  Hear nothing but good things about it and the guy running it is first class.

Thank you for all the feedback. Very useful. My son is also the youngest in the class. There are kids in his class almost two year older. If there was a way, I will definitely do a gap year during high school but there is not good way to do this in California. I would love some suggestions on the west coast. Thanks

D2020 posted:

I generally agree with Pabaseball on this, but there are cases where a PG can have some value, I think. Certainly when I look at many of the top recruits in the 2020 class I see a lot of kids who are a full calendar year older than my RHP son, so they have the benefit of another year of physical development they gained by either starting school late or maybe being held back at some point.

For my son, the PG question is still an open one. I absolutely don't want to make it another year of high school, or to indulge a college fantasy that isn't real. But my son is coming back from nearly a year off from testicular cancer (I wrote on this board about him a while back). He's doing great now, sitting 85-86 and running up to 88 sometimes. He's got a little interest from some small D1s, but he may not be able to log enough innings to really return to form and get the attention of the schools he's most interested in before the recruiting window on 2020 closes.

So, I'd love to hear some ideas about good PG programs for baseball players.

Age doesn't matter once in HS. A player from our summer team was drafted. He didn't turn 17 until December. Coaches look at projection - what a player can become if they train him. All these 15 year olds commit because coaches look at where they can be in 4/5 years. A kid who doesn't turn 17 until September of his senior year is still going to have trouble getting offers the following summer as the schools that have already seen him have decided they're not interested and the new schools would presumably be in the lower level D3/JUCO range. Not that there is anything wrong with either but no sense in spending another 50k in tuition to do so. 

Is there an advantage to starting a kid late or holding back in MS? Absolutely, that is also different than extending HS by another year once you're already there. HS is HS. College sports are just a bonus. 95% of HS players will attend college as regular students. If it doesn't happen it doesn't happen. You can't force a kid to be better at baseball or force schools to be interested. 

I have no problem with PG year for health reasons, academic purposes, maturity issues, draft purposes, or extenuating family circumstances. I just don't think because a kid is 17 as a senior and he has a few 19 year olds in his class that he should be staying back to fill a college fantasy that most likely won't happen. 

Sounds like your son is doing well, good luck to him moving forward. 86+ will definitely attract a number of schools. 

The majority of prep/PG schools are in the Northeast.  I know of a couple CA kids who came here for their PG year.  Since you’d have to board your son, it will be quite expensive ~$60K without aide or scholarships.

Below is MaxPrep rankings:

https://www.maxpreps.com/ranki...ate/prep-schools.htm

Reasonably priced? I attended an ISL (MA) one year. It’s now 63K for boarders and 50K for day students. It’s probably the reasonable going rate.

Academically, it was rigid. Athletically it was challenging. Socially it’s not for everyone. I left after a year. I was a high school kid, not a preppie. 

We looked at this issue extensively 9 years ago. Oldest ended up going to IMG for his senior and PG years. If we had it to do over again, he’d do a gap year or a post grad year at a non-athletic boarding school. 

There are reasons to do an extra year of high school. I wouldn’t focus on baseball as one of those reasons. 

Happy to PM or speak with anyone regarding our family’s experience.  We looked at a lot of schools and gap ideas.

D2020, my continued prayers for your son and family. I’ve been down that path personally twice. Glad to hear he’s doing well!

Thanks, Branson Baseball!

I have some experience with the PG route.  I agree with a lot of what has been said, but have a slightly different opinion on some of it.  There are really two different PG paths - the all baseball one like IMG and TCS, and the academic/athletic one.  I look at it the same as a college decision - the old 4 years vs 40 years argument.  High end academic prep schools are incredible places with extraordinary academic opportunities, and some have very good baseball programs, having kids move on to D1 every year.  

That said, I don't think a PG year turns a D3 kid into a D1 kid without special circumstances.  While I do think an additional year of maturity, both physical and mental is an advantage, I would tend to agree with the posters above who suggest it's not a game changer.  I do think there is value if a kid has an illness that keeps him from playing (good luck D2020!), or maybe has arm surgery and needs to extend the recruiting process.  High Academic prep schools aren't cheap, but I could not overstate what amazing places they are for young people.

I'm pretty familiar with some of the Northeastern schools that offer a PG year.  Feel free to PM me if you have questions I may be able to help with.

As PABaseball mentioned, health is a possible good reason for a PG year. I know a 2019 who will be doing a PG year at one of the elite prep schools in New England. He had an injury -- missed junior year and most of the summer between junior and senior year. He is a MIF with D1 measurables per recent public showcase data (sixty time in the 6.7s, infield velo in the upper 80s, exit velo in the low 90s) so I'm hopeful this path works out for him. Without the measurables, I think the chances of success are much lower.

Regarding MKS' follow-up question about California, per CIF rules, once you start high school your athletic eligibility ends after eight semesters, so there is no way to do a 5th year and participate in sports.

Another possibility is start JuCo as a part time student, keep training and showcase in the fall. Unless something has changed recently as long as the student only takes two courses per semester the NCAA clock doesn’t start ticking. 

I didn't start this thread, but it's been really helpful. I appreciate all the input. We'll see how the summer and fall turnout. As I said, we aren't going to pursue a PG year if the summer proves he really doesn't have the potential to play college ball. I'd only consider it if he establishes genuine college potential -- as determined by independent eyes -- and an additional year of healing and development will allow him to complete for the right rosters at his level, whatever that is.

I'll agree with pretty much everything that was said above.  FYI, MKS, we are in California too.  My guy was a 13 year old high school freshman and two years younger than his peers.

If we could do it over, we'd take one of two paths for that son:  1) a post graduate program at an academically oriented high school, e.g., a boarding, prep school; or 2) a gap year with some college classes, work to make $, volunteering, church as a family, etc. 

Should the student be a rising Senior now, then in both cases above, the student-athlete would be a "Class of 2021" instead of 2020 if he takes the PG or gap route.  College coaches simply need to know which year a student-athlete will be.  It's not a negative to take a PG or gap year. 

As others have noted above, there are fantastic high schools that offer a PG year.  The baseball varies as it does at high schools everywhere.  Everything else varies too:  costs, weather, academics, # of boarding vs. day students, college counseling, etc.  I am happy to share my thoughts on any school as we visited many...too many but that's another story.

Boarding schools can be expensive, so an alternate route is a gap year somewhere.  Doing this gap year at home allows for courses at a local college (though not too many courses so that NCAA eligibility is affected), dinners at home, worship services as a family, a job to make money, volunteering, training for baseball or other sports, etc.

Our experience at IMG was negative.  I've posted a number of times about this.  My son played D1 baseball, but he didn't need to go to IMG to do that.  The paths above would've worked just fine IMHO.

Good luck!

Son was already being recruited by D1s as a true HS sophomore when he decided to spend his Jr. year of HS living abroad in Europe.  He knew he'd be missing an entire year (10-months) of baseball; the age 16-17 year which is arguably the most important for like.....everything in baseball development and recruitment.  Before he left for the true Jr year abroad he notified coaches that he'd be reclassing that summer from a 2017 to a 2018 due to the year abroad sans HS sports he'd be taking an extra year of HS, the Post-Grad Year.  And he did.  

Son reclassed as a true sophomore in summer of 2014, so coaches began seeing him no longer as a '17 but an '18 then, as opposed to a coach seeing him all thru HS as a '17, then suddenly in fall of '16, after they've basically made a decision on him, he suddenly announces he was an '18.  Too late at that point, as coaches have already placed you in the "Want" or "Don't Want" box.

Understand, there's two ways to skin the 5-Year HS Cat: 

1. Reclassing during sophomore or Junior year

2. Post-Grad Year

There's an enormous amount of nuance to the 5-year HS plan, whether PG or reclass option.  Very complicated.  

Son did his due to the year spent abroad.  He wanted to play that 4th year of HS basketball and baseball.  The 5th year was a great year for him, academically and athletically.  He loved it.  

Don't let the price tag scare you at the New England boarding schools either.  The endowment money is enormous.  There are many kids and parents paying less than 10% of COA at many of them, due to qualifying for FA.  

PM me if more questions.