Quality of Whittier College's baseball

Don't know much about Whittier Poets specifically....great team name however.  Long time coach, about 20 years or so.  I would probably try to get an accurate gauge on what your son wants and to what level.  

After injury my son is now at a mid level JC.  Guess what?  6 am weightlifting, baseball class following that, classes until 2:30, then to the field for his individual work until 3:15 or so, practice until 5:45 or 6:00.  So it is 6am to 6 or 7pm Monday--Friday.  Saturday are fall games, usually a double header.  This past weekend they hosted a couple of teams, so, while they played 4 games over the weekend they had to work the field etc when the other games were going on.  The academics are easier at the JC which makes it a little easier, but, it is a major time commitment no matter where you are.  

Whittier is in LA.  So, he would be in a huge city, no idea if that is a concern or not.  The weather would be pretty great however. 

I can't really  speak about Whittier in detail.  I can tell you that It's in the conference that my son's school is in.  It seems usually to be a  bottom feeder or,  in a good year, a middle of the pack finisher in the conference..   But it is a very competitive conference.   Plus it seems to schedule a pretty demanding non-conference schedule.   Last year they played Kean, Trinity,  Concordia all of which went to the regionals.  Trinity all the way to the college world series.  So I think you'd be wrong to assume they don't take their baseball completely seriously.  They wouldn't schedule that kind of non-conference competition if they didn't.    They even had a player who was drafted last year -- 1 of just 11 D3 players taken.  So it seems they are looking for top players, if they can get them and develop them.  You can bet that that kid who was drafted must have worked his tail off at Whittier. 

I mention this because the  consistent message I am getting from your posts is that your son really may not have the level of commitment it takes to play college baseball.  I think you and he need to think really hard about this.   I am willing to believe that that there are D3 programs that aren't committed to trying to win, where players aren't asked to push themselves as hard as they can, within the rules of D3. But college athletics is still college athletics.  It is bound to be a big time commitment.  And it's going to require a lot of dedication and focus at any reasonably competitive program.   For example, the AVERAGE  D3 baseball player, according to surveys done by the NCAA, spends just under  40 hours per week -- 35 +/- depending on the survey -- on baseball related activities during the baseball season.   So it's a big commitment, any way you slice it.   Does your son really have the drive and commitment for that?

Leftside:

Thanks for the response.  I think that my post should hopefully give you a sense of what my son is looking for as far as a time/intensity commitment to baseball.  My sense is the Juco route that your son is taking is a very demanding path...with, I assume, a hope of a D1/D2 commitment down the line, and perhaps even professional baseball beyond that (on some level).  My sense is many Juco players are trying to improve their games enoug to find $$$ at the D1/D2 level...it can be a very competative process, so you need to bust your butt 24/7...but perhaps I am wrong there.

The good thing - for my son - is that I am fortunate enough to have the $$$ to pay for a good liberal arts education for my son...we are just hoping that baseball can open other options in terms of schools, given his transcript.  In the case of Whittier, he probably has a good enough transcript to get in without baseball, so we would be hoping that he could possibly qualify for some merit aid if they are interested in him for baseball (which would help pay for airfare!), but if they have a really competative baseball program, there may be a LOT of good HS baseball players who look at Whittier as a way to get a solid education while taking advantage of the SWEET SoCal weather.

Also, as opposed to our neck of the woods - where ther are more Liberal Arts Colleges than you can swing a stick at - there are not as many on the West Coast...which may be a potential factor in how competative slots on the Whittier team are to get.

Thanks again for the post!  Keep 'em coming, guys...

There's one thing you won't get at Whittier that you will get in the East Coast or the Midwest -- snow outs or even, for that matter, many rain outs.   That makes a huge difference.  West Coast schools start playing in February.   And since they don't have many postponements don't have to play such a compressed schedule.  that's one thing that made my son choose a west coast school over a Ohio school, that he otherwise was very drawn to.   I get the sense that in cold weather states with all the snow outs and rain outs teams sometimes end up playing a lot of games in a relatively compressed time frame. 

SluggerDad:

I appreciate your feedback about Whittier - it is exactly the kind of feedback that I am looking for.  And while I hear where you are coming from about my son's "level of commitment" to play baseball, I guess that I am having a difficult time understanding why there cannot be a program where there is a balance between athletics, academics and the simple "growing up" process of college.  While I understand that it is 25 years ago, both my wife and I played D3 sports - I played baseball at Vassar and she played lacrosse at Hamilton.  While there may not have been the same level of time commitment and intensity to the program at there might be at the conferences like the North Coast conference or the conference that Whittier is in, there still were the off-season conditioning workouts...the bus rides to SUNY Plattsburgh...but it wasn't the level of intensity that it sounds like some of these programs have.

As I said in the post above, I can fully understand that Whittier may play in a very competitive league, and (obviously), if guys are getting drafted - in whatever round - there is some talent on those teams...and - as with the North Coast conference - if guys are getting drafted from these programs, it means that the talent level and intensity of these programs may simply be a level above what makes sense for my son.  That is why I came to the forum to ask the question, and I really appreciate the feedback!

I am sure that there are D3 schools that play in D3 conferences where the intensity level is not the same as you would find it at a Wheaton, Wooster or Whittier (see what I did there?).  There have to be liberal arts schools where the athletic program is there to attract high school athletes to continue playing the sports the love - as part of the overall college experience...and as a way to get the parents to write checks for $40,000-50,000/year to pay for the new science complex or college activities center.  THAT is the kind of program that I am trying to help my son find.  If Whitter is the same as Wooster or Wheaton, he will just have to keep talking to his college counselor and keep looking.  Unfortunately, his counselor had NO idea how good Wheaton's baseball program was when he suggested it, and I am sure that he had no sense of Whitter's program, either - although he primarily suggested it because it was a school that my son could get into without baseball (which sounds like a good thing, given your impression of the team and conference).

Thanks again!

The thing with the school being in Los Angeles is interesting.  

The weather is a major plus, the competition maybe not.  It is So Cal....one of the major baseball hubs of the country.  There are the big schools who get the cream of the crop, but also D2s, D3s and JCs.  A lot of baseball there.  

Sluggerdad could probably address some specifics in terms of what sort of players there are in the conference, skill wise.  

When my son finished high school he had an offer for an out of state school that was equal to about $10,000 a year.  He turned it down because of the weather.  Ok.  He went to a school, a Ca JC that was super competitive, with 84+ guys showing up for tryouts for a team with realistically 8 or so open spots.  This is not counting redshirts coming back.  

The coach was super hard core and a disciplinarian....cutting one kid because he was running poles in shorts and not baseball pants.  Cut him right on the field.  My kid ended up getting injured and was also cut shortly after his injury.  

He is at another school now, same conference.  Very different coaching approach, way more laid back.  You are still expected to get your work done but you are left to your own to do a lot of it.  Smaller recruiting class, smaller school, smaller town.  And snow.  After all that he ends up in a place where it snows....haha, so it goes.  

My point is, things can vary quite a bit even in conference.  

Getting some feed back about the skill level of the players in the conference may be helpful....

Leftside:

SluggerDad's post got me to digging in a bit...and I doubt that Whittier makes sense - at least for baseball.  It looks like the West Coast version of the North Coast conference...probably even more challenging because of the desirable SoCal weather...

"Hmmm...do I want Occidental, or Ohio Wesleyan...hmmm..."

(absolutely ZERO disrespect to OWU parents or kids, mind you!)

That conference has CalTech, Occidental, and the two Claremont schools (Pomona-Pitzer and Claremong-Mudd-Scripps)...so GREAT academics and GREAT weather.  And, as SluggerDad pointed out, Whittier had a kid drafted by the Cardinals this year.  So...I think that if the academics and intensity of the baseball programs could be a challenge for my son at a Wooster or OWU, I think that - at least on the baseball side - it is going to be an equal challenge at a team in the SCIAC.

Now, my son could probably get into Whittier without baseball...but if I am going to spend $250,000 on a college education for my son, with all due respect to Whittier and their students, I am not going to spend that nut on a school with a ACT 25-75 range of 20-25.  I think I am going to continue to see if I can find a LAC school where 1) he can still play baseball and 2) a school where I get a bit more educational bang for my buck than $250K on Whittier.

Well, I hesitate to suggest this because so much of the talk has been about weather, but given the topic of balance, does anyone have anything to add re: the Northwest Conference?  It's not unlike SCIAC in terms of the range of baseball quality and academic rep.  Maybe Lewis and Clark  or Pacific might be fits?

smokeminside:

Well...since Linfield - a member of the Northwest Conference - won the D3 national championship two years ago, and with schools like Lewis and Clark, Reed and Willamette in the conference, my guess is the baseball is probably - in terms of intensity - as competative as the North Coast or SCIAC.  Thanks for,the suggestion, though...

I certainly don't mean to judge but I know a bit about Muhlenberg and Washington College.  According to your post your son with a "not-too-spectacular transcript" may want to look at bit closer at what they require. While they may not be Ivy, they are pretty damn good. Muhlenberg is an average SAT of 1300 and 3.5 GPA, those aren't average lines....unless of course a 90 MPH fastball is also average!!

old_school:

I fully recognize that a school like Muhlenberg is a stretch for my son!  If it wasn't, this search process might very well be done, as he loved his visit last week.  He is a B-ish student at a very good NE private school (which has sent many kids to the 'Berg) with a mid-20's ACT profile...which sits very solidly at - or even a little below - the 25-75 range of their admissions pool.  I can tell you that my son's guidance counselor does think that - if he has a good first trimester and the baseball coach likes him, he has a shot, but it is FAR from a certainty.  The advantage he has is - sad to say, but true (no disrespect meant to parents of kids who may not have the resources on this forum) - is a dad who can write a $58,000/year check.  Schools like Muhlenberg do have to have SOME full-pay kids in the class.

To be honest, writing a check like that for an undergraduate education (other than to a Swarthmore, Wesleyan or Amherst) sounds CRAZY...but that is what the top-tier schools cost...and they have people who will write that check gladly.  At the Muhlenberg level, it is still a reasonably good proposition for the right kid (like my son), but it is starting to push the boundaries of value, in my view.  I will write the check if he can get in because it is a better school than his transcript would suggest he can get in.  One of the reasons why I think some of these conferences - like the North Coast, SCIAC and Northwest - have such KILLER baseball programs (as I am learning) is because they attract really good baseball players who fit the academic profile enough to get material merit aid - which is outstanding.  A kid who plays baseball at Wooster, Occidental or Lewis and Clark - with a $15,000-20,000 merit scholarship - is getting a great deal...and I thing that there are a lot of kids who would find it REALLY difficult to go to those schools (either as a practical matter or from a price/value perspective - if they had to take out $60,000-80,000 in loans to cover that $58K/year nut) if they did not get merit aid.

So...one end of the spectrum is the 52nd-percentile kid who gets merit $$$ to go to a NCAC/SCIAC/Northwest school because he can throw 86 in high school.  The other end of the spectrum - for some of these better LAC's who need full-pay kids in the mix - is to admit kids on the left tail of the applicant distribution pool who can 1) add something to one of the athletic programs of the school and 2) can write a big check.  You may argue that the 20th-25th percentile kid who bumps another applicant out of the mix because he either has an XY-chromosome or can throw an 84 mph fastball is not consistent with the goal of the college to have the best possible student body, but you could also theoretically argue that the 55th-percentile kids who are getting $15K "merit" packages because the baseball coach REALLY needs a shortstop in this class are taking $$$ from much better students who NEED that $15K to make the school work.

(man...I am DRIPPING with cynicism today)

Bebop, I guess I should have been more clear.  I mentioned Lewis and Clark and Pacific specifically because they are in the middle to the bottom half of the conference baseball-wise, and they're good but not prohibitively good academic schools. 

Reed is not in the conference.  I imagine most d3 conferences have some tough teams.

Given the other responses here, and comments I've seen elsewhere, it may be that things have changed everywhere since you and I played d3 ball.  We had no fall program to speak of and tryouts started right after Christmas break (at Whitman). Now even a program as historically weak as Whitman seems to be embracing the "new" template, with more involuntary voluntary workouts and simply bigger time commitments all around.  

By the way, Reed College, has no athletic programs -- at least no varsity athletic programs -- at all. They are trying a different route to flourishing.   Many D3 schools use the lure of varsity athletics to get students through the door.   I read somewhere that 20% of all students at the all D3 schools combined are varsity athletes and that at smaller D3 schools  (cause some like NYU are VERY large)  up to 40% of all students are athletes   Reed has, for better or for worse,  decided not to use athletics as a lure.  They think even at the D3 level it's corrupting of the true mission of higher education.

smokeminside:

My bad on Reed.  I do think that times have changed since you and I played ball...in part because - as I mentioned in the post above - of the MASSIVE increase in the cost to go to a good LAC, and the value of getting $15,000 in "merit" aid from some of these better (but not "elite") schools.  That is one of the reasons why I have focused on a couple of schools in the Centennial conference - I don't think that conference takes baseball as seriously as the others being mentioned (no one in that conference is likely going to the D3 college world series or MLB draft anytime soon).  There might be value in a kid at the lower end of their applicant pool who can 1) likely still do the coursework; 2) can write a $58K/year check; and 3) can maybe help one of the varsity sports be competitive against other teams in the conference (and potentially help with intra-conference recruiting and relative standing).

(this is all quite exhausting)

The merit aid question is a really good one.  It's seems kind of bass ackwards that my 2017 has his sights set on schools that give NO merit aid  AND will be extra challenging baseball wise, while he could apply to less elite schools, score some merit aid and have a baseball experience that could be more fun (though losing a lot is no one's idea of fun).

I may be sending you some questions about the Centennial Conference!

ps, missed your edit on your latest post, and didn't see the Dripping post!  I've been shocked at how much effort this recruiting journey takes if you take it seriously and want to help your kid get as many options as possible.  I love doing research so part of this is my fault.  

pps. your ability to pay full price should open more doors, i would think.  But I don't really know; it's not a problem I have!

"So...one end of the spectrum is the 52nd-percentile kid who gets merit $$$ to go to a NCAC/SCIAC/Northwest school because he can throw 86 in high school."

If you are linking merit aid with 86mph at the D3 level, as this suggests, you should be completely off base.  Not saying there might be a school which skirts the rules, but 86 and merit aid would be a blatant NCAA D3 transgression.

I hope this is read in the spirit it is offered: your posts come across, to me at least, that you are willing and hoping to get your son into a LAC where he would be a big "reach" in terms of academics and scores, using baseball, and perhaps check writing ability as hooks (and baseball is a reach at this point too.)  However, the baseball program has to be one to meet your and your son's expectations on college life, while also building the type of experience and discipline and effort he will carry with him for life, even though he, perhaps, has not shown such diligence  to date.

At least 4 questions appear for me:

1.) will your son be able to succeed in the classroom of a strong LAC based on his academic approach historically?

2.) Will your son be able to succeed in baseball based on his baseball approach historically, with the added proviso baseball cannot, in college, impact in competitive ways such as those  you are posting;

3.) Will your son be able to do both, when baseball and academics are a "reach?"

3.) how would you expect your son's past actions and efforts in the classroom (nothing negative implied but reading your posts that he "under-performs" his ability or potential) and on the mound to change and set a pattern for life after college unless college(whether in the classroom/on a baseball field/or both) is the time, place and vehicle for those changes?

D1, 2, 3 athletics are COMPETITIVE.  They want to win, regardless of the size of the pond they find themselves in.  As a competitive team there is a required dedication. It sounds like your son wants to experience a "normal" college experience AND be a college athlete.  Frankly that's not a realistic expectation.  If you're looking to use his athletics to open doors that wouldn't otherwise get opened, he's going to have to pay that back in his dedication to the cause.

You suggest you have the means to cover him enjoying the college experience without athletic aid.  He'd be wise to find a school he wants to attend that also offers club sports and play club ball.  He can have fun and be a regular student.  One of my son's who could have played D1 level baseball but chose not to is doing just that.  He is having the time of his life.  No regrets by him or his parents on his decision.

infielddad:

Thanks for the post.  I certainly meant nothing negative or nefarious about the concept of colleges giving merit scholarships to qualified applicants based on whatever criteria they deem as important - especially if the student is at-or-above the median applicant.  I may have been a bit cheeky with "52nd percentile", but the point that I was trying to make - rather inelegantly, it seems (my apologies to the board) - was that as a school makes decisions about how to divvy up merit scholarship aid, I am sure that they follow a matrix of various factors to come to that decision.  It is doubtful that ALL merit aid is simply done by ranking transcripts and then drawing a big red line on the list when the money runs out.

(if you are positive that, in fact, it actually IS that way, I would welcome any articles or papers that validate that...I would hate to make an untrue assertion).

My sense is that schools - especially schools of the range that I am talking about (schools in the 51 to 125 range on USNWR's top national LAC list, for sake of this example) look at a lot of factors in how they give out merit money - since they do not have the resources to be fully need-blind.  I do believe that, in order to receive merit money as part of a package, however, the student must present a profile at or above the pool average - so if you think I am asserting that these schools are violating NCAA D3 standards, I am not saying that at all.  However, I do not think it is unreasonable to, for example, give more merit aid to a 60th percentile guy than a girl - in the name of building up the enrollment of guys.  It would not me unreasonable to give a 60th percentile applicant from a school that the college wants to develop a relationship with more merit money than, say, a 65th percentile applicant that is the fifth-most-qualified applicant from a HS that sends lots of kids to their school.  And I do think that it is not unreasonable to give a 60th percentile kid who can help a high-profile sport at the college be more successful more relative merit money than a 60th percentile kid that does not bring any high-profile talents or abilities outside of the classroom.

I am NOT saying that these schools are giving merit money to 30th percentile kids in the pool that some coach absolutely HAS to have.  If I made that inference, I did not mean to.  I do believe that the baseball players at these high-profile schools in the 51-125 range are kids who have academic profiles above the median...they are hard-working kids - both in the classroom and on the playing field.  That is why the baseball programs at those schools are so strong - because the merit aid that these kids are getting is SO valuable.  But if you are saying that there are not situations where a baseball player in the 60th percentile always gets EXACTLY the same merit aid package as the generic - and wonderful - 60th percentile kid, I would love to read whatever documentation you have that dispels that thought...because I certainly do not want to say that if it is not true.

I think, in all of my posts, I have made the point that my son would likely not thrive in an environment where the demands of a high-profile D3 baseball program would match the demands of a strong academic curriculum.  Some kids can, and do, handle those multiple bandwidth demands beautifully.  The most important thing for my son - who is a late bloomer (like many kids are) - is that he can handle the increased workload and responsibility of a good LAC.  If the reality is it MUST be either the academics or the baseball, then perhaps there is no college baseball in his future.  I want to put him in a position to succeed.  When I played baseball at Vassar (and when my wife played lacrosse at Hamilton), sports were always kept in CONTEXT relative to the real reason we were there.  Maybe that's why our teams sucked (ha!).  There weren't 6AM practices and morning only classes and 3-5 "optional" (nudge, nudge) practices a week in the fall.  Perhaps there aren't schools out there who balance the two...or in order to play baseball, you need to go to a school that demands less academically to do both (which, quite frankly, sucks as a concept).

Thanks for your input.  I really appreciate your thoughts!

Interesting discussion about a complicated topic.     "Merit aid"  aka tuition discounts are a delicate and dangerous tool.  As bebo suggest, very complicated calculations go into determining who will get it.  Don't assume that only the top students get it at all.  Often for these middling schools the very best students in the applicant pools have very low  likelihood of coming anyway.  And schools  know or at least try to guestimate such likelihoods.  They spend a lot o time trying to do so.

 Remember some of these schools have very, very low yield rates.   10-15% in some cases.  By contrast  the Stanfords, Amherst Wesleyans of the world have yields of upwards of 75 or 80%. For the low yield LAC,  It's a very tricky thing using their limited merit aid to maximum effect.  Very tricky. 

You may think it's a straight meritocracy as the term "merit" aid may seem to imply.    But don't be fooled.  There's a good book about how SLAC go about deciding who to admit  (less focused on deciding who to fund).  Called Building a Class, I think.  Eye opener. 

Nuke83:

I guess that - in my discussions with his travel team coach (and others), not every D3 program in every D3 conference has the EXACT SAME LEVEL of "competition".  And - to be clear - my son has been in a strength and conditioning program (3-4 times a week) for the past two months.  His HS "voluntary" workouts start next week.  He is not afraid of work.  

I am simply trying to find D3 schools and conferences where there is a balance...and where - in the offseason - it is not a 20-hour a week commitment to play a sport.  It wasn't like that when I played...we had a team that wasn't very good, but we still had a great time and I found that the fellowship that I had playing a D3 sport was a great part of the overall college experience. To simply say EVERY level of college baseball is COMPETATIVE (period) - with the implied "take it or leave it" attitude that your statement infers - if true - is pretty sad.  It may be that way at a lot of places, but it is hard to believe that it is that way everywhere.

Perhaps you are right, and his travel team coach is wrong.  Thanks for your input - I will run that by him...

SluggerDad:

Great post about how schools with limited merit money whack it up - it dovetails pretty much exactly with my understanding of the issue.

I have taken a close look at the merit award programs at one of the Centennial conference schools and they clearly outline exactly what is available and the grades/test scores needed to be awarded that amount - it's broken down into 4 different award categories somewhere along the lines of $20k, $15k, $10k, $5k,  The first two award categories really come down to having the highest grades and test scores + some other factors.  The lower two did not list grades or test scores as part of the criteria and had more subjective measurements like leadership or special skills (I don't have it open right now so I don't have the exact language) - so they do leave themselves some leeway to decide who will get merit awards.  I'm not suggesting that they use those awards for athletes but it leaves the door open for athletes with more mid-level grades (who are getting in to school) to receive awards for other talents/skills they have off the baseball (or football) field.  

Having families that are full pay is also part of this school's master plan - clearly outlined in their master enrollment plan, also found online.   

I'm guessing the other schools in that conference (and elsewhere) must have the same sort of write-ups on their websites?  

What I find interesting is that once our 2016 was on schools baseball radar (he was contacted by several Centennial conf schools after HF, is only interested in one) the admissions offices must have been given his info.  In at least one case the admissions office has been super aggressive in contacting both us and 2016 - more so than the coach from that school.  

Bebop:

If you believe the baseball workload, particularly the fall workload, at schools like Whittier College, Lewis and Clark College and others that you have mentioned in your posts will be overly vigorous and not supportive of a balanced college experience, then I'm pretty convinced varsity athletics will not be the right fit.  You probably need to just ask the head coach straight-up, "how hard do you guys work, particularly in the Fall?"

I can say this - It is entirely 100% possible to enjoy a rich and diversified college experience, while playing varsity baseball at a high-level at any of the schools mentioned in this string - It's not easy, but usually things that are truly meaningful and enriching are difficult.  If it was easy, everyone would/could do it - and then it wouldn't be special anymore.

As a quick add-on, over our son's four D3 playing years, we were in the bleachers (and on the field once....!) for a number of "Senior Days" both at our son's school as well as at opponent's stadiums.  It was always such a significant event, oftentimes you could tell it was probably going to be more emotional for the student athlete and his parents than their college commencement, it certainly was for us - and I think there's a reason for that.  So worth the work.

Basically what they are telling  you is how much they are willing to give in tuition discounts to students with certain characteristics.   Those formulas are no doubt based on statistical analysis of their historical admissions and yield profiles.  They need to be able to estimate how many students of each sort they are likely to attract and at what discount rate.

No guarantee, though, even if you fit the relevant profile,  that you will get the discount.  They have a finite pool of dough.   When they get through giving it,  they stop giving -- period.  So I would assume those are eligibility criteria, not criteria that will guarantee you the relevant discount.  

Believe me, if  schools could put an end to the practice of giving massive tuition discounts --  especially to students who don't need them to make college affordable --  they  would.  But they can't because the competition for good students is absolutely fierce. You wouldn't know this from people's over-focus on the Stanford, Ivy's, MIT's, Amherst's of the world.  But there is a whole other universe of schools out there.    And the common app has made it much, much easier for students and much harder for these universities and colleges.

They can't really afford this practice.  Eventually a big crunch is coming.   Many financially precarious small liberal arts colleges will be shutting their doors. And not that far in the distant future.

So one thing you might want to think about in choosing a school like this is whether it's actually going to be around in five years or so.    My banker friend, who I mentioned before,  in a different context,  warned us off Pacific University in Oregon for just this reason.  It is in a very financially precarious state, the friend claims. (Educational institutions are part of the friend's portfolio at the friend's bank). 

To back Nuke up, it doesn't matter what level (D1/D2/D3/NAIA/JuCO) of college baseball, the time is commitment is at least 20 hours a week - usually closer to 30-35 (even in the fall season).  My son played JuCo (D2) and at a D2 university.  Even in the fall at both schools he had workouts at 7 am and then daily practice from 3 pm - 6 pm (Monday off).  It's worse in the spring when the weekend is taken up with two double headers.  Even though the games didn't begin until mid-day, it if was a home game they were at the field at 9 am to prep the field and BP/warm ups.  If an away series, they would be on the road early Saturday morning or Friday night depending on the distance to travel.  Road series often saw them getting back late Sunday evening after leaving Friday evening or Saturday morning.

A few of my son's HS teammates went on to play at the D3 level and found it to be very competitive and a serious time commitment.

There may be some D3 schools that don't demand a serious time commitment (regardless of sport), but they will be far and few between.  And probably not have very good athletic programs. Times have changed.

Bebop:

I think maybe your son should set his sights on a D3 with a JV program in baseball.  Apparently more and more D3 programs are starting them up, as a way of, I think, getting even more paying customers to the door and also in recognition that not every freshman athlete is ready for the full on varsity experience.   Here's part of what one schools says about its rationale for introducing JV teams.  Sounds a little like your son and what he is looking for:

The JV teams play smaller schedules against mainly local community college and club teams.

They are attractive to athletes needing more experience to make the varsity team, students wondering if they can balance athletics and academics and students who want to remain active without the full demands of a varsity program.

Although the teams are an added expense and increase the demands on the facilities, Kuntz believes there is a long-term payoff for the college. - See more at: http://www.clusports.com/jv_vo...sthash.470boFR3.dpuf

SluggerDad:

That is a great suggestion...I will look into it.

The feedback and information that I have gotten from this site has been incredibly helpful.  At the end of the day, my son is not playing professional baseball...I have always viewed baseball as a way to give my son a "home" as he transitions to college...a group of guys (and coaches) who could make the school a little smaller for him.  That was what baseball did for me at Vassar.  It sounds, however, like things have changed pretty dramatically as far as the amount of time that a D3 athlete must commit to participate - especially in the offseason (even at schools where sports are more a way to attract students to play the sports they love, as opposed to schools where sports are a way to get the school more exposure).

I really do appreciate everyone's feedback!