Pros and Cons of Lesser Program vs Championship Program

A player should always look where he believes he has the opportunity to play.  If that program recruits more players than positions someone is going to end up on the bench. This is what happens in college ball. This is why players transfer to play.

in a unique circumstance a kid I know was recruited by a national power NCAA basketball program. Maybe I should say he recruited them. He was on the team for four years. He didn't have a chance in hell of ever getting in a game when it mattered. See those three non scholarship players at the end of the bench who rarely take off their warmups during the game? He was one of them. He graduated the owner of a national championship ring and several strands of netting from regionals and a championship. What the team got from him is a quality practice player who wouldn't bitch he wasn't playing and an almost 4.0 student in their APR stats.

The unique circumstance is in a sense the kid majored in basketball. It was a very mature decision. Heading into college he knew he wanted to be a teacher and coach someday. Or possibly a college coach. He was all conference in high school. Rather than play at a D2 he went where he could learn from one of the best college coaches even if it meant rarely playing. He majored in secondary Ed. This past season he started his MA Ed and was a graduate assistant coach. His job/training was breaking down game film.

The elite programs may love their role players, but they don't love them for long unless they are ready to become significant contributors or they fit one of the few roster spots for specialists like bullpen catcher or LOO-G.

I just looked at the rosters of the first three Top 20 teams that came to mind. One had four seniors--all JUCO transfers. One had two seniors--a transfer and a backup catcher who got ten ABs last year, all in non conference games. The third also had two seniors--a transfer and a situational left handed reliever.

Backups tend to move up or else move out.

Anyone who goes to a top program expecting to be a backup should bookmark the NCAA transfer guide in his browser.

One of the big differences between the consistent Championship programs and the lesser programs is usually depth. The lesser program in many cases has very good players starting. It is the next level of players that are not equivalent to the championship teams. 

I have known several players transfer out of D3 championship programs to lesser programs, and unless you are talking about teams at the very bottom of the list, they still have a tough time starting. Unless they transfer in at the right time. 

Do not get me wrong, there are probably teams that they can step in and play at but you may have to go pretty far down the ladder. 

For Example. If you were bench player for Wooster, and wanted to transfer for more playing time. Chances are you would not get playing time at most of the other top teams in the NCAC. OWU, Allegheny, Denison, and Depauw probably do not have openings at your position. Now if you go down the rankings a little, To the next tier, Oberlin, Kenyon and Wabash, there may be a bit more of a chance, but still not great. When you get to the bottom, this year, Wittenberg and Hiram, you may have a chance. Especially if you are a pitcher. 

My son is a sophomore in college.  I have watched some of his high school/travel teammates go on to large conference schools and are now no longer on the team.  I just can't imagine my kid being content not playing and sitting the bench.  He is not opposed to "waiting his turn", but he didn't have to wait.  He went to a school where he was loved, then proved himself when the "lover" moved on to coach at a different school.

Know your kid (as best you can).  RJM told a good story above.  Maybe your player would be content with getting a degree, possibly somewhat paid for, by going to their dream school and sitting the bench.  

Mine wouldn't.

It is "play ball" not watch, practice, etc. School is a life decision; baseball is an sport which can enhance the educational experience. 

If you choose a school knowing that you will likely be a bench player, you should be prepared. It can be difficult to really know if you have what it takes to compete. When it is time to make a choice, it is best to be brutally honest and not kid yourself as to what level of play one can rise to. 

Given the choice, if baseball is that important, pick a school where you will play. 

Well, but it can be hard to know how much you'll play eventually.  Plus most highly competitive athletes I know have to have the self-belief beaten out of them.  They don't give it up easily.  Is that being deluded or tenacious?  Take my football playing nephew, for example.   He  was recruited to a top 10 football program.   He was a three year starter in HS on a three time state champion team.   Heavily recruited.   He redshirted his freshman year.   Got almost no playing time sophomore year,  finally transferred to a much less prestigious and competitive  football program and school  junior year and played. 

Should a kid in that situation have seen the writing on the wall sooner?

This is one area that both athletes and parents don't understanding going into the recruiting process and that is how competitive college athletics are. Most HS players who are considering playing in college are the best or one of the best players on their team, league and region.  What they don't get is that they will be playing against players as good or better than they are plus at least a year, two and sometimes three to get bigger stronger and faster and already used to the "speed of the college game".  So most players I have talked to say that they were totally intimidated when they walked on a college field and looked eye to eye at a "bunch of big harry men" who don't want this punk kid from HS to take their jobs.  This is how it works and only the strongest break through this barrier, which is why there is such a high drop out rate in college baseball. Don't get me wrong there is something to say about going to a program where "you are loved, or where they have a plan for you" but that all goes out the door when you walk on the field and have to take a guys job who has no intention of giving it up.  

This is why it is so important to go to as many games as you can at the various levels and in particular get in the dugout during games and scrimmages at programs you are seriously considering and get at the field level and see what the competition really looks like.  Talk to players and get their numbers and call them away from the field for the real scoop. Know how a program grooms their younger players and the process. This is all part of doing your homework but in the end you have to better than the guy who is on the field ahead of you. 

Find a level were you can play. Better play at a D3 school than get 4 mercy at bats a year in a strong D1 program. 

If you are good and plan to play past college go for the top program but be honest to yourself. 

I get that you should go where you can play.   But not everybody is going to play, especially not instantly.   Guy from my son's travel team walked on a big 10 school, made the team, has been used only as pinch runner.   But he's playing behind some strong upperclassmen at the moment. 

Does everybody who doesn't play really end up quitting or transferring?

 Just judging from my son's school, although there is a lot of roster churn -- a lot -- there are also guys who hang on, despite bringing up the rear, as ti were.  To take an extreme example,  one  junior has had a total of 21 PA's in three years.  That's extreme tenacity.  Don't know what keeps him coming back (or what keeps the coaches bringing him back).   Another less extreme part time player got  37 PA as a frosh -- which is good for this particular program --  he saw that jump to  61 PA's as a sophomore, then saw  that reduced to 40 this year as a junior.  But this kid is definitely a player and has been in the mix since day 1.   I suspect that he probably believes that senior year will finally be his year to break into the starting 9.    So guys do hang on.  I don' think that's necessarily a crazy thing to do. 

The hardest part of moving from HS to college is to truly understand the lay of the land at the next level. 

My son was a California kid; he knew that playing was more important than having "an opportunity" to either make the team or getting a shot once he became an upperclassman. 

He had three different opportunities out of HS; small scholarship at a WCC program, small scholarship at a Southern Conference program and a good size academic scholarship at a top-10 D3 program.

The WCC program he would have had a senior and sophomore at his position. Both had a good number of AB's the year before he would of been a freshman. The Southern Conference program offered him a scholarship after two recruits from their backyard had turned them down (he realized that he was not their first choice and basically being a one year look-see, if he performed he would get another year).

The D3 he saw that they did not have an incumbent at his position. He knew that he could compete and given no real incumbent he had a good shot at playing his freshman year. 

He did not play the first 16 games of his freshman year. Once he got an opportunity he played the majority of the innings his freshman year. His sophomore through senior year he was a starter.

The point is go where you have both the best shot at playing and the fewest reasons for not playing.