The 4 School College Baseball Career

@Francis7 posted:

I know about the 2-4 and 4-4 and 4-2-4 players.

So, it's probably pretty common for a player to attend two schools in his college baseball career.

And, it's probably not the rare bird attending 3 different schools in his college baseball career.

But, what about attending 4 different schools in your college baseball career?

My guess is that it's not common but not unheard of either, and it's somewhere in between the two frequencies.

Or, am I wrong and it happens a lot? Or, does it almost never happen?

For the 2023 season

D1  ~139

D2 ~145

NAIA ~169

@CollegebaseballInsights posted:

For the 2023 season

D1  ~139

D2 ~145

NAIA ~169

Is that how many at each level is at their 4 school?

No. of rostered players at each level that attended 4 or more schools

@CollegebaseballInsights posted:

No. of rostered players at each level that attended 4 or more schools

Thanks. So, safe to say that less than 5% of the current college baseball players are kids who attended 4+ colleges in their college baseball career?

Also, maybe it's hard to say who did it because it's sometimes not traceable when a kid transfers between the fall and spring semester?

@Francis7 posted:

Also, maybe it's hard to say who did it because it's sometimes not traceable when a kid transfers between the fall and spring semester?

There is a term call boiling ocean, there are 62k baseball players.  The specific percent is irrelervant.

It happens.

As for fall/spring transfers, it depends on how the new school documents the players movement.

Otherwise it is mostly, incoming HS players that drop down to a juco after the fall that may not get recorded by the juco as a drop down.

If the player has transfer to multiple schools, CBI can normally find all transfer history going back to his PG or PBR, five tools, fieldlevel, sportsrecruits, etc record.

An HSBBW example:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...-of-a-playing-career

A high school teammate of my son's is now on his fourth school in four years.  He was recruited to a mid major out of HS but as a 2020 he was one of about 25 pitchers on the roster and didn't get an ounce of attention and was told he wasn't needed.  He went to a nationally ranked JUCO program where he excelled and was then recruited to a P5 school.  He had fair numbers there in his first year but the coach got fired and the new staff didn't want him.  He is now at another mid-major for his fourth year.  The fact that he is a LHP with good size and sits 92 is relevant to the number of chances he is getting.

I feel like transferring colleges is crazy common among college baseball players - sorry I don't know where to look this up?  What percentage actually stay at the same school for 4 years?  I almost feel like that is becoming rare.

@anotherparent posted:

An HSBBW example:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...-of-a-playing-career

That's a grinder. Thanks for sharing.

@K9 posted:

A high school teammate of my son's is now on his fourth school in four years.  He was recruited to a mid major out of HS but as a 2020 he was one of about 25 pitchers on the roster and didn't get an ounce of attention and was told he wasn't needed.  He went to a nationally ranked JUCO program where he excelled and was then recruited to a P5 school.  He had fair numbers there in his first year but the coach got fired and the new staff didn't want him.  He is now at another mid-major for his fourth year.  The fact that he is a LHP with good size and sits 92 is relevant to the number of chances he is getting.

Thanks K9

@ILoveBaseball04 posted:

I feel like transferring colleges is crazy common among college baseball players - sorry I don't know where to look this up?  What percentage actually stay at the same school for 4 years?  I almost feel like that is becoming rare.

IRRC, in general, college kids transfer near 50% after freshman year regardless if they play baseball.

@CollegebaseballInsights posted:

There is a term call boiling ocean, there are 62k baseball players.  The specific percent is irrelervant.

It happens.

As for fall/spring transfers, it depends on how the new school documents the players movement.

Otherwise it is mostly, incoming HS players that drop down to a juco after the fall that may not get recorded by the juco as a drop down.

If the player has transfer to multiple schools, CBI can normally find all transfer history going back to his PG or PBR, five tools, fieldlevel, sportsrecruits, etc record.

I still think some will slip through. My kid will be a four school kid, assuming he stays in college? He's on #3 now (a Juco). First school was a 4-year and there's no evidence of him ever being on the roster sans some online news articles. He left the school after his fall freshman semester. He then went to Juco #1 for the Spring of Freshman year and the Fall of Sophomore year. But, due to injury, there's zero record of him being on the roster. When he plays at Juco #2 this Spring, that will be school #3 and there will be no record of him on the baseball pages for the other two schools.

I would also be wary of information on PG profiles. Kids update that when they verbally commit and some never even enroll at that school. I know of more than a handful of kids where this is true.

Anyway, never, ever, did I think my son would be someone switching schools so many times. Hopefully it works out for him the way he wants it. If anything, after this Spring, he will have the experience of how they do things at 3 different college programs. He would like to coach someday and hopefully these experiences will give him some good knowledge and insight.

Francis7, I wish your son the best.

Thanks @anotherparent

@Francis7 posted:

I still think some will slip through. My kid will be a four school kid, assuming he stays in college? He's on #3 now (a Juco). First school was a 4-year and there's no evidence of him ever being on the roster sans some online news articles. He left the school after his fall freshman semester. He then went to Juco #1 for the Spring of Freshman year and the Fall of Sophomore year. But, due to injury, there's zero record of him being on the roster. When he plays at Juco #2 this Spring, that will be school #3 and there will be no record of him on the baseball pages for the other two schools.

I would also be wary of information on PG profiles. Kids update that when they verbally commit and some never even enroll at that school. I know of more than a handful of kids where this is true.

Anyway, never, ever, did I think my son would be someone switching schools so many times. Hopefully it works out for him the way he wants it. If anything, after this Spring, he will have the experience of how they do things at 3 different college programs. He would like to coach someday and hopefully these experiences will give him some good knowledge and insight.

If you go back to your original question, some statistics were provided.

imho, don't spend too much time trying to figure out the percent of players with 4 or more colleges.

The comment about PG, PBR, etc was just to give you a data research flow.

Note, data analysis is based on 15 yrs of understanding patterns.

@ILoveBaseball04 posted:

I feel like transferring colleges is crazy common among college baseball players - sorry I don't know where to look this up?  What percentage actually stay at the same school for 4 years?  I almost feel like that is becoming rare.

I'm going to plug college baseball insights here.  The annual membership fee is a great value for the amount of information you get on each program.  I feel for you F7.  My only goal is for my boys to get a great education and play the sport they love at just one school for their entire "career".   With CBI, I can see the trends in roster size, transfers in and out, how a school uses the portal recently.  Given how much money I've spent over the years, this one truly is a no brainer bargain.

Perhaps CBI has a discount code he can post here just for the members?

@Dadbelly2023

CBI is awesome. (I have a subscription.) The only thing I would warn people - and this is in general and not specific to CBI data - is not to just see and hear what you want to see and hear when doing your evaluation of a school and baseball program. And, you really need to discount what you are hearing from current players and their parents. No one will be totally honest about the program that they are currently in for fear that it will impact their standing. Keep your eyes and eyes totally open and don't dismiss anything because you want this to be the one. Even if something sounds good, question it. I can give a couple of examples of things we were told that sounded great and then we found out they were misrepresented in the recruiting process. You will have to DM me because I won't share that in public...at least not now. Good luck in your search.

@Francis7 posted:

@Dadbelly2023

CBI is awesome. (I have a subscription.) The only thing I would warn people - and this is in general and not specific to CBI data - is not to just see and hear what you want to see and hear when doing your evaluation of a school and baseball program. And, you really need to discount what you are hearing from current players and their parents. No one will be totally honest about the program that they are currently in for fear that it will impact their standing. Keep your eyes and eyes totally open and don't dismiss anything because you want this to be the one. Even if something sounds good, question it. I can give a couple of examples of things we were told that sounded great and then we found out they were misrepresented in the recruiting process. You will have to DM me because I won't share that in public...at least not now. Good luck in your search.

@Francis7  It is this simple,  How you interpret the data is important.

Be open to the information as for you might need to change how you think.

Note, CBI cleans up incorrect and/or missing roster data

Here are the simple steps:

1 - Do a simple search based on standard search method (academics, location, size, cost, etc)

2 - Look at Head Coach Tenure/Roster profile(s)

Note, Head Coach Tenure is very important, as for said changes will have a significant impact on rosters.

Student Athletes/families should be looking for predictable patterns of roster management

These infographics show the HC changes since 2017

Current HC Tenure

As of Dec 16, there were 205 HC changes

Check out the fall rosters if available , note the incoming HS recruiting class was already accounted for, check out who they bought in via portal (JUCO or 4 yrs)

This fall CBI has done a one-time posting of 2023 Fall Rosters (2024 projections) as they have become available

Includes incoming recruiting class

NCAA-D1 261/305

NCAA-D2157/251

NCAA-D3121/386

NAIA106/196

Here is a link to free version https://collegebaseballinsight...r-turnover-insights/

Here are links to coaching changes for the last 2 years

Head Coaching Changes 2023-24 Season

Check to see how the coach has implemented his strategy in 2 years

Head Coaching Carousel 2022-23 Season

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Perhaps CBI has a discount code he can post here just for the members?

In adhering to norms of this forum, We just provide relevant content on this forum.

We run campaigns on x (formerly twitter) during certain times of the year