Significant # of Mid-Term Transfers?

Grades

Being told their position on the depth chart and not liking what they hear.

There are lots of reasons for freshmen to transfer midyear:  grades, misconduct, love, injury,not liking the school or coaches, coaching changes, not liking what the coaches say at the end-of-fall conference regarding roles and depth chart, realization that baseball is more or less important than it seemed when they made their initial college choice, desire to go pro sooner by transferring to a JUCO, desire to be eligible at another D1 for redshirt freshman year, inability to afford school, desire to be closer to home, re-consideration of the reasons for initial college choice. 

 

Yes, players generally know where they stand after fall practice, either because the coaches spell it out in their end-of-fall conference or the player figures it out based on reps and observed performance.

 

More important, players learn a whole lot about themselves, their priorities, and what they're looking for in a school and a baseball program during their first semester away from home.  Sometimes, they realize they made a mistake in their college choice and want to correct it as soon as they can.  Not all transfers represent failures.  Many represent better informed, more mature decisions.

 

 

Aside from all the "whys" if a kid realizes he's not getting on the field he might as well make that spring his transfer semester (if he's going D1 to D1). He transfers and the spring and fall become his sitting out year. If he waits until the end of freshman year and rots on the bench, then sits out the following spring when he transfers he's sat out two years of college ball. And he'll only have three years of eligibility left.

Sounds to me like a whole bunch of freshman realized walking onto a D1 program just maybe wasnt the right decision.
Freshman with NLI typically dont transfer after their first semester.
JMO

3 main reasons: playing time, playing time, and playing time. Those end of fall practice evaluation meetings are often brutally honest

I just heard from my son that a very well known Fr. player locally is leaving a local school to go to a neighboring state's Juco based on the current D1's workout program. He's lost 20 lbs...and it was muscle. He believes it hurts his game to be that much smaller and D1 coach isn't flexible with him to augment the team workout. What a shame.

Neighbors kid, 2014 blew it. Less than 2.0 GPA "you are academically ineligible and a liability to the program" Great D1 school and baseball. 90% package, heavily courted in HS by several schools/MLB.
Now; CC transfer/walk on. Good baseball, less distractions, less academic rigor, lessons learned the hard way.
My 2016,former HS teammate of 2014, getting a life lesson I hope sticks.

Where would transfer stats/#'s be available? 

Perhaps 2016 will benefit from that information as part of his recruiting education. Someone is always evaluating.

Two largest factors by far are:

 

-Not doing enough research what the school is actually like. So many kids grow up desiring to play for the local D1 that when they get any offer, they early commit at some stupidly low scholarship amount. They don't look into the coaches, the training, how they run the team, the roster, the grades required to stay on the team, the courses... and so forth. 

-Not being good enough. I see it ALL the time. Kids commit and their work ethic goes to absolute garbage. They get on campus and find out they are the worst player on the team and are all but cut.

Lots of things DO change Senior year. Priorities, relationships w/ friends & families, hectic Senior schedule & work ethic. I'd also lump in changing body types & injuries can change plans in college. 

 

After some thought I guess it's not difficult to understand.

I am sure there are many reasons that a player reevaluates his college choice, but I do have to agree with what TPM said, and add that it applies to divisions other than just D1s as well.  Our son is at a D2 school and we were surprised to see that there were many walk ons this fall (about 50 players competing for a roster spot).  Some of these players got very few at bats or opportunities to pitch.  While I am certain that a college coach can tell pretty quickly who will be able to help his team win games, it was clear that a walk on player better be ready to compete when he gets an opportunity.  Based on what we saw this fall at our son's school, and the schools that some of his friends ended up at (even players who signed NLIs) making the roster is really hard to do. 

From Little League through high school, our sons climb the ladder in incremental steps. Those who are offered the opportunity to play in college suddenly find themselves in the midst of the top 10%-or-so of all high school players; and many on the college roster already have from 1-3 years of experience playing at that level. Throw in the need to perform acceptably in the classroom and the time away from home, and the magnitude of the challenge increases appreciably.

 

What had been progress up measured rungs becomes a leap of several rungs' distance. No wonder that it doesn't work out for all who attempt it.

The above statement is fact. Most folks have no idea how hard it is to make a college baseball roster (any type).

 

Competition, expectations, lack of research leads to lack of playing time.  Lack of playing time leads to transfer in most cases.

 

As TPM said, "most have no idea how hard it is to make a team".  Nevermind actually make the travel team or make the starting lineup at any level.. 

Ditto to TPM's comment. At my son's school, fall ball starts with 45 players and is ultimately cut down to 35. Every single kid who shows up believes he is the best player that school is ever going to see. After fall workouts, scrimmages, bullpens or whatever, a lot of them realize they are in over their heads in a very big way.

A whole bunch more are told they are never going to see the field. The team might honor their scholarship commitment, but their job will be strictly field maintenance. Most kids don't want to hear this and quit. They head to the nearest CC with the head coaches blessing. Some are given a release and are allowed to transfer back home to another DI school and try again.

 

Walk ons are simply told they aren't a fit and hopefully they get better someplace else.

Is there a published list of mid-term D1 transfers available to the public? My 2016 would be very interested in viewing a list like this to help make his decision where he might try to play in college.

I picked up on most from Twitter. One of the sites was "D1 Baseball" that announced ~20 transfers. The others were from various programs announcing the transfer out & other schools adding D1 transfers to D2, D3, JUCO & NAIA on the individual school websites.

Baseball America used to publish D1 transfers, in as well as out, each year. That was back in the day when it was like a revolving door and out of control.

 

People think that the NCAA didn't put a lot of thought into this rule and it was all about them (not taking into consideration the player that gets cut or asked to leave) but in actuality it disrupted programs and put a significant dip into graduation rates and that is what it is all about, isn't it, going to college and getting a degree?  Good coaches in good programs (any type) put a lot of effort and pride into their recruiting. When you walk onto a D1 (no NLI) as a freshman, understand the significance of being asked to leave over a player that has a $$ commitment, even if you are better. That's just the way it is.  I am going to assume those freshman mentioned had no athletic commitment. 

 

I dont think that 20 D1 transfers overall announced on twitter is really the right news source to base any significance on it being a significant number, but that is just my opinion.

 

What matters each and every year is the roster, not the fall, but the spring.  If one is following a program and you suddenly find a lot of changes from year to year, that might be a red flag for you to make inquiries. Most important, IMO, is asking about how many on the roster may be 5 year players or the graduation rate of each program.  A poor graduation rate may signify a poor program. Thats more important than who transfers in or out. Again, JMO.

 

Sometimes people make mistakes, they get to school and realize that their decision  was a big mistake, I find that to be ok. But what I dont find ok is the fact that many, many players and their families do not do their due diligence, and that is what causes transfers. I know its natural to have second thoughts, but if your senior HS player has signed an NLI and you are worried he may be cut as a freshman, then that may have meant that it might not have been the right decision in the first place.