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I am a 2005 graduate and look around on college rosters that I would like to someday attend. I have a college planner (not guidance counseler and not affiliated with my school) who is very knowledgeable and created a list for me of schools that would fit me academically and personally. This list does not necessarily include schools I would start at for baseball right away.

Nevertheless I was looking at Richmond's and Wake's roster with my father and he said, "look, no 5'9" kids on that team, only 5'10" therefore you shouldn't really consider this school as much." He says that schools like these put more emphasis on height and more than likely the coach doesn't like to recruit kids who are smaller yet might be just as good. He wasn't telling me to completely rule the school out but he was telling me that I shouldn't think I have a good chance at it.

My question is, If you are good enough and show interest in the school and put yourself on the market (showcases, major tourneys etc.. ) for them to see you, will they rule you out because of your size?

My thoughts are that there just arn't alot of good smaller players so every DI school might not have a 5'8" - 5'9" guy. But I do also agree with my dad that some school are descriminant and will rather have someone bigger than an equally as good and maybe smarter player who is a bit shorter. What are your opinions and should I still pursue it. I do, however, have smaller safety schools on the list where I know I can start freshman or sophomore year. So I don't just have my head in the sky.
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I went to Charlottesville on Sunday and watched UVA come back in the 9th inning to beat Seton Hall 4-3. There were two players on UVA's squad under 5'10, that played and played well, the second baseman is 5'7" and the outfielder Dunn is 5'9". UVA is a ACC D-I school.

CV

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

Earl Weaver
NDBaseball 27

I had the good forune of being in Tempe, AZ this past weekend series between ASU and UCONN

ASU has a starting junior shortstop, Dustin Pedroia , who is 5 ft 8 inches -- he is their leading hitter at .475 with 2 dingers and 15 RBI's out of the lead off spot.

If a SS that size can play at ASU I think that tells you something.

Drop me an email with your info and lets see if we cannot help you get where you want to go in the fall of 2005

TRhit@msn.com
www.collegeselect.org

TRhit
LHP here:

If a college cares only about your height and not your ability, don't consider them.
I'm not saying this to say it but a lot of colleges (and pro teams) have a tendency to exaggerate their player's heights.
Besides does height really matter?

Pudge Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, Matt Stairs, Billy Wagner, Pedro Martinez, David Eckstein, and others say no (all of which are around or under 5' 10").
NDbaseball, I think you and your father are taking a very healthy approach. Some DI coaches do make size an issue. As an illustration, I watched 2 games in the Bay Area this weekend. One team started 3 players 5'10" or shorter and one started none under 6'. Stanford clearly shows they don't care about size for some of the position players, they care if you can play. Look at the Cal roster and they must consider size in their recruiting. I think you are right to recognize this could be an issue with some programs in which you have an interest. Find the programs where they measure you as a player.
TR,
My only observation and opinion is that there are programs who "consider" size/height in the recruiting process. No doubt the 6' plus athletes from Cal are players as evidenced by the respect their recruiting classes receive each year. I would agree also that most every every coach would like to have a roster filled with players like Sam Fuld, Johnny Ash and Danny Putnam.
I'm aware of guys such as Putnam, Pedroia and Fuld. I point them out every time I read Baseball America or Collegiate Baseball. But the response I get is usually "They are super athletes." TRhit I'll be emailing you soon I've been kind of busy the past few days between working out, school work and running a couple hitting clinics with my strength trainer.
I can show you a 5-9 / 5-10ish Division I college shortstop that had a pretty good first three years of college baseball.

All he has done over that time is work hard on his game and the areas that needed to get better. By doing so he has started over taller (sometimes much taller players).

If a smaller guy can play good coaches will not see his size. But having said all that ... a smaller player must be better (usually) than a taller / larger player. When all things are equal the bigger player will typically get the nod.

Work hard and believe in yourself and good things will happen.

Bob,
"Doing nothing is still a course of action"
My son just made a verbal to a D1 program (lower-mid level), and while he's listed as 5-8, he's rally only 5-6, though he's graduating after 3 years of HS and won't turn 17 until May, so he has some time to add a few inches.

I would guess many players add an inch or two to their height, especially those under 6 feet (the same way many of us older fellas subtract 10-15 poundsSmile.

That said, athletic ability is the most important, as my son is a speedster and is built like a rock. Add in a 3.8 GPA, and we heard from all but the top programs. One of his coaches said the other day that colleges will overlook one "weakness" (height in his case), but not two.
Has anyone heard the saying "size matters?" You
don't want to hear it from the wrong person! I
think that scouts and colleges look for pitchers
to be at least 6' tall(some pro teams 6'2").Most
players add inches to their heights,so don't take the stats printed as the gospel.A scout told my son at a showcase=You don't see any tape
measures around here do you? Baseball heights and reality can be 2 different things.
Heard the same "height" discussion at a recent indoor showcase my son attended.

He's 6'2+"...Stood next to a ton of kids who were listed as 6'0" and were really 4-5 inches shorter than my son. Some people said that "your son is really taller than 6'2+""...I said no. The other kids aren't 6'0".

When you lie about your height and a scout finally sees you in person, it puts a cloud around everything that you've said and done.
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BeenthereIL, I don't think that exaggerating your height and inch would hurt you in scouts minds unless you exaggerate 2-3"s. Pedro Martinez is 5'8 1/2" and is listed at a minimum of 5'11" everywhere I look. Exaggeration has become commonplace so to speak. I have posted on PG's message board a while ago complaining about prospects exaggerating because in Baseball America I read and article and then two pages later the kid was listed again 2 inches taller. I guess it is just talent that counts, unless your under 5'10" then its just pretty darn hard. All scouts will say is, "He's a nice little player."

I've seen picture of Matt Bush standing next to 6'2" guys and there is no way he is the listed 6'. It's just for draft purposes.

Thanks to everyone that has responded to my originial post.
As seen on TV!!!

You are about 1" taller when you get up in the morning than that same evening.

Measured both my boys that nite, and was just about a inch difference the next morning.

Something about gravity, compression of the spine, and guys lying about their height. Us women would never lie about height or weight!!!
NDbaseball....I wouldn't let the coach's perception of "if size matters" deter you from pursuing your dream school. You don't want to look back and wonder "what if?" I say give it a shot, give the coach your best, and then it is up to the coaching staff to determine whether you fit into their plans or not. Altho, I would caution you to keep your options open with other schools in case "size really does matter" with your dream school.
I was at a Colorado Rockies tryout this past summer. As the scout called each name off of the registration list, the kids had to come up to him to hand him their information card. I know that the card had personal data, name age, school, height, weight, grad date on it.

Each time a kid handed a card to the scout he looked at the card and then glanced straight at the player. I just had to ask him why.

He told me he looked at the card, checked the height listed and then compared it to his eye level. He was 6'2". Being eye to eye was 6'2"....He was comparing heights listed to what he saw.
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