Live just North of Atlanta and 2022 is seriously looking into the JUCO route for his first year or two of college. His travel organization is recommending most players look into the JUCO route considering the current size of the college rosters. JUCO is more likely get you on the field.
Which JUCO's in the Southeast would you recommend for getting to the next level? Or other regions that are known to get players ready to compete at the next level.
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I don't have a recommendation for a Juco but perhaps a point of clarity on roster size. The current waiver for roster size ends in spring of 2022. So, presumably, when your 2022 hits campus for the 2022/2023 school year the roster limit of 35 will be back in place. Coaches may have more talent spread across more academic classes but come spring of 2023 they will have to pick the best 35.
There are a dozen great reasons why Juco may be a great option. However, if your son gets other offers I would not dismiss them due to some concern about future roster size.
Don’t assume JuCo is a better playing opportunity. Many JuCos grossly over recruit since they don’t know who will actually show up. A friend’s son played at a ranked JuCo where every starter went major conference and then pro or pro from the JuCo.
JuCos are great for flexibility in terms of heading for college after one year (if eligible) and being drafted.
I'm in the midwest so I can't recommend any JUCOs in the SE, but my son's targets included JUCOs. Any JUCO with a track record of moving guys on to the next level will make it easy to see. Their websites will have a "Players Moving On" or "Where are they now?" section detailing which players went where (4-year and/or drafted). My son's committed to a midwest JUCO whose HC has sent EVERY one of his sophomores for the last 12 years on to 4-year programs WITH BASEBALL SCHOLARSHIPS. The majority receive academic money as well. Roughly 2/3 of each class has moved on to D1s. While that is special, I'm sure there are JUCOs in the SE with comparable results. I'd start by making a list within a decent radius of you and start combing through each one's website for information about their results for getting guys ready for the next level.
There are really good JuCo baseball programs all over the SE. From last years rankings alone you can find : Florida (Region 8): D1 : NW FLA St, Central FLA, FLA SW St, ; D2 : Pasco Hernando St. Georgia : Region 17) : D1 - Gordon St. Alabama : (Region 22) : D1 - Chattahoochie Valley, Wallace La. & Miss (Region 23) : D2 - Pearl River, Hinds, Jones Co., LSU Eunice There are many other good programs - those are just the low hanging fruit. I don’t have enough local knowledge to be much help. But I can tell you that the ranked D2 schools are just as good as the ranked D1 schools - and that is especially true in Region 23. LSU Eunice is one of the best JuCo programs in America - period - and the other ranked D2 schools in Region 23 are also really good. So there are lots of options. Look into who over-recruits and who doesn’t. Talk to current & former players to find out what the program is really like. Look at the stability & tenure of the coaches at your schools of interest. Find out what schools have a track record of developing players - and which don’t. Find out which schools are better with pitchers and which are better with position players. Compare academic ratings and other factors. Then you can narrow the focus to schools that are a fit for your son. Pay attention to the character and reputation of the HC.
I can't offer too much. But I would at least glance at Louisburg CC in North Carolina. Son played on their fields during travel ball and several from our area attended there. Many go on to play later in college and drafted from there.
What I liked: Dorms on campus.
@DanJ posted:I'm in the midwest so I can't recommend any JUCOs in the SE, but my son's targets included JUCOs. Any JUCO with a track record of moving guys on to the next level will make it easy to see. Their websites will have a "Players Moving On" or "Where are they now?" section detailing which players went where (4-year and/or drafted). My son's committed to a midwest JUCO whose HC has sent EVERY one of his sophomores for the last 12 years on to 4-year programs WITH BASEBALL SCHOLARSHIPS. The majority receive academic money as well. Roughly 2/3 of each class has moved on to D1s. While that is special, I'm sure there are JUCOs in the SE with comparable results. I'd start by making a list within a decent radius of you and start combing through each one's website for information about their results for getting guys ready for the next level.
I found overall the "Players Moving On" / "Where are they Now" at best 75% to 80% accurate. IMHO "Moving On" does not mean they are on the 4 years school's roster the following year. Note, there could be reasons for the discrepancy, eg. injury, redshirted, left after the fall session for another school
It is similar to a travel programs discussing their commits.
To fill in the gaps, interested party should also look at
The Official Home for Junior College Baseball - https://thejbb.net/ (Noah Sharp)
I believe PBR and PG also have some information.
FWIW - Foxson attended Patrick Henry Community College (a D2 JuCo in Region X) in Martinsville, VA from 2012-2014 and played on the baseball team. Both years they made it to the Region X playoffs and finished in the top 3-4 in the tournament. At the time the school had good coaches. Both have moved on since so I can't comment on the current coach and whether he was good at helping players move on to the next level. At the time the baseball program was pretty good with full backing from the administration. Sadly, times change and last I heard the administration wasn't so supportive of athletics. It would still be worth checking into.
Of the schools in Region X, Patrick Henry, Brunswick, and Albermarle were the most competitive and it was a toss up as to who would win the regular season.
I agree that the Covid-19 situation has thrown everything out of whack and I have no doubt there will be more D1 drop downs than in a normal year.
As mention Louisburg CC (D1) has dorms on campus.
Thoughts in no particular order, all of which you may already know:
@FoxDad posted:FWIW - Foxson attended Patrick Henry Community College (a D2 JuCo in Region X) in Martinsville, VA from 2012-2014 and played on the baseball team. Both years they made it to the Region X playoffs and finished in the top 3-4 in the tournament. At the time the school had good coaches. Both have moved on since so I can't comment on the current coach and whether he was good at helping players move on to the next level. At the time the baseball program was pretty good with full backing from the administration. Sadly, times change and last I heard the administration wasn't so supportive of athletics. It would still be worth checking into.
Of the schools in Region X, Patrick Henry, Brunswick, and Albermarle were the most competitive and it was a toss up as to who would win the regular season.
I agree that the Covid-19 situation has thrown everything out of whack and I have no doubt there will be more D1 drop downs than in a normal year.
As mention Louisburg CC (D1) has dorms on campus.
In 2020, Patrick Henry CC had ~18 former players at 4 yr schools
In doing my research, I looked at profiles of pitchers out of high school and then looked at how they had progressed. At the school my kid chose there were a lot of 84-85 mph pitchers out of high school who were 95 mph after two years and were signing at top D1's and/or getting drafted. I saw a lot of schools that had big arms who were just transfers from D1's or they threw gas in high school. It also seems most JUCO's are either known for hitting or pitching. Do your research is my advice.
@JETSR71 posted:Live just North of Atlanta and 2022 is seriously looking into the JUCO route for his first year or two of college. His travel organization is recommending most players look into the JUCO route considering the current size of the college rosters. JUCO is more likely get you on the field.
Which JUCO's in the Southeast would you recommend for getting to the next level? Or other regions that are known to get players ready to compete at the next level.
I do think JUCO is more likely to get you on the field, but there aren't any Freshmen position players who are starting in the field at our JUCO and only a handful of Freshmen arms who will get innings this year. The bottleneck will ease to some extent for 2022's but it will still be there for a 2022's Freshman year.
Gordon State is mentioned a couple times in this thread and I can confirm some information about that program. I know kids in the program now, and I know kids who were recently in the program. It is good baseball. They have pro players on the roster now. They've had pro players in the recent past. They have had a couple coaching changes in the past couple years. The guy now is very young and I believe in the first year of his first HC position. Came from Murray State. Like most places, they have an overflowing roster of 50+ guys.
We had 52 enter the Fall. We've probably had 10 leave and all of them self-selected themselves out the door mostly due to bad grades. I don't know how much that compares to other JUCO's, but if it is comparable, I wouldn't worry as much about the numbers. The numbers seem to work out.
My son played with a guy from Chipola who went on to a D1, then played a bit of pro. Excellent player. Ya gotta call it Chipotle, though.
I have no inside knowledge about how good it is, but I would bet that it's pretty damn good. They have a list on their website of players that go on to higher levels of baseball.
@57special posted:My son played with a guy from Chipola who went on to a D1, then played a bit of pro. Excellent player. Ya gotta call it Chipotle, though.
I have no inside knowledge about how good it is, but I would bet that it's pretty damn good. They have a list on their website of players that go on to higher levels of baseball.
Two National Championships. And that is pretty damn good.
Any reason why you call it Chipolte?
