Redshirting at JuCos?

I will throw this out there from experience albeit a different day in time so take it with a grain of salt. 

I red shirted my first year of JUCO.  My reason was decided for me but I agreed with the coaches as they sat me down and discussed my options.  I had a loved one who was killed in a car accident a few weeks before the first season game.  They thought I needed the time with the extra year for mental purposes.  So I agreed and took it.  Best thing for me as I was young HS graduate (140 Lbs) so the extra year was spent practicing, working out etc.  So yes 3 years at a 2 year school.  But like someone above said, everybody's road is different.  

I had to sign the scholarship every year at Juco.  

I will say this about JUCO, you will play against some really talented kids.  Some guys get drafted after year one, some get picked up by DI colleges during the season due to injuries, some go on to play at a 4 year school, and some quit baseball all together.  I've watched talent be thrown away due to no work ethic or alcohol and drugs.  I've played against a few guys that had long careers in the MLB.  One of them was (140 Lbs) as a freshman and sophomore then transferred to Auburn and he was SEC player of the year in hitting/pitching. He ended up pitching 17 years in the MLB.  You just never know, Hard work, Attitude and God given talent! 

cabbagedad posted:

Happens a lot at some California JC's.  Of the 80 plus programs, I'd say about half or more are significant feeders to programs at various levels across the country.  On average, 8-12 players advance each year from the JC to a 4 yr school in those 40-50 better programs.  A portion of those top schools get very large turnouts and redshirting is commonplace.  It's crazy competitive with good players.

Agree with this. I went the California JC route before going D1. I went to one of the top programs, at the time, in NorCal.  Our team turned out a lot of D1 players. My freshman year they were sophomore heavy on the pitching staff. The head coach originally asked me if I wanted to redshirt that year but also saw that I was academic guy and understood why I didn't want to. My best friend ended up red shirting his freshman year at the same JC. What ends up happening is that there were a handful of redshirts, but some ended up just quitting instead of practicing everyday. Only the ones that were serious stuck around. Two of those red shirts actually got drafted that year without even playing in a real game. Both went on to play D1 after their redshirt freshman year. One made it all the way up to the big leagues with the Angels.