Time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA?

I think that you left out some content in this OP.  Are you suggesting that your son has not had any interest?

@CoachB25 posted:

I think that you left out some content in this OP.  Are you suggesting that your son has not had any interest?

totally correct.  posted by accident, now edited to be more complete.

Most Ivies are targeting RHP’s throwing 90+. Even the top HA schools were targeting 88-90 when my son was going through a couple summers ago. HA D3’s will start their recruiting in June. I’d recommend going to a June Showball or Headfirst and see what the interest is.

Does he have his SAT/ACT scores yet?

If he has a chance, Gary from PTW will find a spot for him. Gary knows his stuff and is well connected in the HA network

Welcome to the site!

HA D3 recruiting picks up in late May and June, when the regular college season ends.  Ivies are probably already mostly set, and, as TBP said, unless his velo is much higher that's not going to fly.

You have to have something to sell.  What, exactly, have you said in the emails to coaches?  You need to have better information to send than "was throwing 78-81 a year ago."  It's not hard to measure pitching velocity, you should get it done.  Is he playing for his high school?  Starting on varsity?  Doing well?

"the kind of kid coaches dream about - works hard, quiet leader, uber competitive, and is coachable" - well no, what they dream about is a kid like this who can perform successfully at their level of baseball.

Also, D3 baseball has no roster limits.  There are all kinds of levels of D3 baseball, from schools where they will take as many players as want to go there, to the super-high-academic (HA) schools where admission rates are so low that the coach has to really want your son in order to help him in admissions.  You have to figure out precisely which kinds of schools your son fits, between academics and baseball.

He's got a local 1 day showcase to grab his current metrics.  He is varsity starter for second year now.  Hits well and leads his team with EBH so he has some pop.  Its tough, he's all around very good - just not a fireballer or bomb hitter.  I suspect he might be able to throw low 80s, nowhere near 90. 

The numbers lend themselves to D3 far more than D1 (Ivy). I’m guessing Ivy League competition and ranked D3 is far better baseball than you understand. There are a couple of ranked D3s nearby. Their pitchers are in in the 85-90 range. Anyone throwing any lower has such great command they can knock a zit of a gnat’s ass.

D3 ball can vary from very competitive and being able to beat a lower end D1 with their top pitcher to all bodies welcome. Your son wants to put himself in a position where the coach wants him to apply ED and is willing to help get him through admissions.

Here’s an example of a delusion you don’t want. One of the kids I mentored fell for this despite my warnings. It was a HA competitive D3. They competed on the fringe of the top twenty-five. The coach told the kid if he gets accepted he’s on the team. The kid was confident he would get accepted without help. He did. He was excited he was on the team.

The team had an unlimited roster. In four years the kid got about twenty-five at bats and never traveled for away games. The kid’s family had money. He was a full pay. The coach probably got a bonus for luring a full pay athlete to campus.

The upside is he got a great education. His parents could afford the school. He’s been successful professionally post college. But baseball was nothing more than making friends.

Hi. Welcome.

I am going to be straightforward -

6''2" 180 lb RHP with a 3.98 uwGPA / 4.25 wGPA and playing multiple sports and being a nice, hardworking, coachable guy are all strong attributes.

But throwing low 80s unless he's a low slot/submariner means he is probably not going to pitch in college, def not D1. And a 7.0 60 is not enough either. HS stats don't mean much since the level of play and competition varies greatly.

Great idea to attend Showball and PTW and get updated metrics from a neutral third party....really hope he has a big jump in velo and running speed.

But unless something pops soon, you need to go into selling mode and open up your lens as far as schools if he wants to play college ball. The competition for slots at HA D1s and D3s is intense. Based on the metrics you've provided your son is a marginal D3 player, at best.*

An advocate - a club or HS coach typically - who can field interest and make calls on his behalf will greatly help.

Open up your lens. Be open to any and all feedback you get from Showball and PTW, even if that feedback is silence.

-------------------------------------------------------

Someone posted this a while ago and I think it's still accurate. Thought it might help.

Tier 1:  MIT/Cal Tech.  freakishly hard to get in.  Need 3.9+ uwGPA, impressive extracirriculars,  1520+/35+. Even if you are a stud player... total crap shoot.  Mandatory test scores.

Tier2A: Johns Hopkins/UnivChicago.  3.9+ uwGPA.  1500+/34-35+.  Mandatory test scores.

Tier2B:  Swarthmore/Williams/Pomona /Tufts/WUSTL/Emory/CMS/W&L/Amherst/Bowdoin/Middlebury/Colby/Haverford/Babson: 3.8-3.9 uwGPA, Still definitely will want test scores.  Maybe as low as 1400+ can possibly do it if you have mad skills or even lower if you have under represented minority status.

Tier 3:  NYU/CWRU/Hamilton/Brandeis/Rochester/Wesleyan/Grinnell/Trinity (CT)/WPI/RPI/Stevens/Bates/Carleton/Macalester/Wesleyan: 3.75 + uwGPA, Still generally will want test scores.  Maybe 1300+ can do it?

Tier 4:  DePauw/Denison/Gettysburg/Washington and Jeff/Trinity TX/Franklin Marshall/Kenyon/Occidental/Wooster/Chapman/Whittier/Centre/Clark/Wheaton/Lewis and Clark/Dickenson/Muhlenberg/Whitman/rose hulman)/a few others.   Now we're getting to schools that might be test optional.

* My daughter dated a baseball pitcher at her HA D3...he was 6'5" and threw 93mph at the end of his freshman year. In D3.

It's rough out there.

@RJM posted:

The numbers lend themselves to D3:far more than D1 (Ivy). I’m guessing Ivy League competition and ranked D3;is far better baseball than you understand.

Thanks for honest feedback. We never pushed our son to play ball.  He just loves it and declared along the way he wanted to play at the next level.  We are not athlete producing parents despite being former D1 athletes ourselves.  We value academics, so we know he will be fine, but he has to chase his dreams.  Once we learned how competitive this process had become, he put in everything he could to improve.  To his credit he's put on weight and improved his play.  We won't be heartbroken if he applies to college the old fashioned way, but he will. 

@SpeedDemon gave spot on advice. Great list BTW. I would add maybe go to Headfirst. Based on his metrics from a year ago he likely won't play college ball...who knows coaches make these decisions not a bunch of posters on a board, and you will know after a few events.  Long time legendary poster here  @Coach May said "You will know if they are interested"

My advice would be to make a list of schools he is interested in and do an A-B-C list forgetting about baseball and then add BB to the equation. If there are some schools that are fringe baseball programs he could email the coach. My son played D3  and he had a teammate that maybe played 10 games over 4 years (due to large roster) only in clean up innings, but he was loved by the team and coaches and while he did not travel much he had the full college baseball experience. Now that I think about it he did travel with the team to the CWS.

I will add that college baseball is hard, freaking hard, and most parents/posters/non-college players have not idea how hard it is, until they see their sons, or experience it. It is particularly difficult for STEM students so keep supporting his dream as long as it is his dream.

Best of luck!

@BaseballDadBig4 posted:

Thanks for honest feedback. We never pushed our son to play ball.  He just loves it and declared along the way he wanted to play at the next level.  We are not athlete producing parents despite being former D1 athletes ourselves.  We value academics, so we know he will be fine, but he has to chase his dreams.  Once we learned how competitive this process had become, he put in everything he could to improve.  To his credit he's put on weight and improved his play.  We won't be heartbroken if he applies to college the old fashioned way, but he will.

When did he decide he wanted to play at the next level?  What has he done to try and get there?  Lift, pitching lessons, long toss in the off season?    Of this decision was made recently then you never know what can develop if he works really hard.  If he has been working really hard and is still only throwing 80, might not be good.  Where is he physically wise in terms of maturity?  Is he done growing, still looks like he will add height?   Lots of things to consider

SpeedDemon’s post is a great starting point. Figure out which school he fits into academically, then try to determine which fit athletically. Every year there are 20 or so good players who are academically qualified for the top 4 or 5 academic schools. Once those kids commit (usually August-September), the coaches begin to fill in the rest of their classes. You can outsource a lot of this to PTW. They can tell you pretty quickly which schools will be interested and how many kids that coach is looking for. They are also very honest and don’t beat around the bush.

Does he have a wicked changeup or curveball? Throw a funky pitch that gets outs? Every team has a spot for a reliever specialist.

@Dadof3 posted:

When did he decide he wanted to play at the next level?  What has he done to try and get there?  Lift, pitching lessons, long toss in the off season?    Of this decision was made recently then you never know what can develop if he works really hard.  If he has been working really hard and is still only throwing 80, might not be good.  Where is he physically wise in terms of maturity?  Is he done growing, still looks like he will add height?   Lots of things to consider

He decided somewhere during his sophomore year.  Since he's never been velocity oriented, I don't really know what he's capable of.  He's slender but starting to show some muscle growth for sure.  Maybe 10 pounds in past year.  He's got a wide shoulder base and a wingspan longer than his height, so I think potential-wise, he's got a lot going for him.  He's been spotted as potential candidate collegiately for his dedication to his changeup which is a solid pitch for him.

All of the feedback has been good to think about.  Thank you.   I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.  Anything we can learn can be helpful for others too.   

In 2018, a parent on here created the following list, in which he averaged the academic ranking (US News) of schools with with their baseball rankings (Massey), and came up with a top 100 list.  Obviously some of the data is out of date and it fluctuates from year to year.  But I remember finding it helpful as a way to think about which top academic schools have strong baseball programs, and which do not:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ranking-2018-edition

Sounds like he has potential!  He’s got to make sure his mechanics are good.  Not sure if you have an instructor or not, but that could add some mph.  Good luck and keep us posted

@anotherparent posted:

In 2018, a parent on here created the following list, in which he averaged the academic ranking (US News) of schools with with their baseball rankings (Massey), and came up with a top 100 list.  Obviously some of the data is out of date and it fluctuates from year to year.  But I remember finding it helpful as a way to think about which top academic schools have strong baseball programs, and which do not:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ranking-2018-edition

My son added the math and physics major rankings to make the academic ranking more specific. Some of the schools at the top might be really strong in economics and other areas, but not great for STEM, or the opposite. The list is a huge starting point though!

Hi BaseballDadBig4. When I look at the people who've responded, they are all people I've learned a lot from over the years when I was figuring out my 2023 MIF.  I currently have a 2025 LHP who has similar grades. 1480 PSAT. 6ft, 190lbs, plays on a top 30 travel team.  We did a Showball, AZ Fall Classic, big PG tourneys last year.  He was throwing 82-85 all year. He had exactly 3 D1 schools have single conversations with him and no offers.  I know he is on a bunch of D3 follow lists.  Maybe he's on some D1 lists but if so, he's in that group of 50-200 players below their top tier of desired players.

He was 85-87 this winter before he hurt himself.  Unfortunately it will now be late summer before he throws again... if we're lucky.

I suspect the Ivy have almost all got their 2025 position player spots figured out.  Pitching recruiting is more flexible and can be later.  But I think you HAVE TO find out his current velocity to know whether or not a D1 is possible.  That said, I think you would probably know if he was 85+ currently.  In high school, particularly if you are in a non-metro area, 85+ blows the doors off most hitters.

So I suspect he is in the D3 pool which is just fine.  Honestly, I learned with my 2023 MIF that finding the school that fits his academic goals; and where he will actually play; is the most important thing.  With 2025, it was a bit hard because he is a D1/D3 "tween'r" but I suspect the injury will help figure it out for him.

My observations have been a smart 6'2" RHP at 83+ with good stuff can find a place at a HA D3 if you go to Headfirst/Showball/PTW.

Good luck!

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

finding the school that fits his academic goals; and where he will actually play; is the most important thing.

^^this

If you have the resources you should get your son to attend the camps of the HA D3 he is interested in or the super camps. Most of them are in June as playoff are about to start.

I will give a bit more perspective on D3.  HA is thrown around a lot, but realistically most people who throw out the term, HA D3 is, well, debatable.  When it comes to East coast schools, HA are MIT, Babson, The NESCAC schools (Amherst, Bates, Colby, etc)  and a handful of others Swathmore, Middlebury, etc.   Those schools get kids from all over the world, MIT has a freshman that threw 96 in HS according to Perfectgame (currently recovering from arm surgery).  MIT threw two kids at us who topped at 85mph earlier this month and a lefty closer who topped 89mph.  Those schools are looking for Velo's touching over 85  for the most part.  but pitchers throwing over 80 with all the other measurable they might take a flyer on to see if they can develop after all, no roster limits. (something I am familiar with as my son is 6'5 and weighed a mere 165lbs as a HS senior sitting 82 hitting 84 with better breaking stuff, but again 6'5" is something that stands out and not already being 220lbs means there is more in the tank).

Often, if you aren't talking a top 25 D3 program, this is what they have to take, looking for the hidden gem that might turn into something.

What I found surprising at not only my son's school but also at schools he played were the sheer number of pitchers sitting 80/81 and below (and obvious they weren't going to get much more than that at 5'9" etc).  These schools top starters were all 85 plus, and a lot of schools at D3 have a 90mpg arm, but most bullpen arms (outside of closers) were lucky to see 83mph.  Some of these schools were very high level academic schools.  Honestly, I was used to those numbers in the D1 HS league my son played, and certainly was not expecting it in college baseball.

I've also seen kids in the Patriot league at 85-88mph, those are good academic D1s.  So don't let too many scare you off at Velo has to be 90mph unless you talk P5.  There are other considerations, but, those considerations might get you there, whether you see the mound or not depends on how much work you put in, and the second you don't show progress is the moment they may say goodbye.

PS. 78-81 as a sophomore is not bad considering D3's don't recruit sophomores nor many Jr's  They pick up the D1 leftovers after Jr year and up to March of Sr. year. by then an 80mph sophomore could be topping 85 or more and be very appealing.

"Time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA?"

If you're in the mix, its always time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA.  There wasn't a time we weren't nervous about it until he got his official acceptance letter from Admissions on Dec 10.  We had months and months of previous experience with traditional D1 recruiting and scholarships which we felt was pretty straight forward.   Half way through this recruiting "thing", he decides 100% he wants to major in engineering.  We do lots of homework, networking and determine the best fit for him is Ivy, Patriot, and D3 HA engineering programs due to less games, less travel, less practice and forgiveness around engineering lab time.  Essentially, he's getting more study time at these programs.   My son decides to forego a couple D1 scholarship offers to pursue other potential Ivy, Patriot, D3 HA interest that was just getting started.   That was a really big pill to swallow.   

So, we reboot our efforts and dive into the world of Ivy and D3 HA recruiting through networking, and lots of reading.  We discover the recruiting process is a gauntlet with academics and athleticism metrics, and we also discover that our son is someone these programs are looking for.   However, we are kind of at the tail end of Ivy recruiting timeline but right in the meat of the D3 HA recruiting calendar.   There was never a time to rest in this process which made us anxious.  We had our foot on the gas the whole time, and it was a constant churn with interest from various programs.  Even the ED application process, and verbal commitment from the HC never made me 100% comfortable.  I'd heard things and seen things that gave me cause for concern.   My son kept in touch with a few coaches that reached out to him even after he verbally committed.   However, at some point you have to take a leap of faith with the HC and his program.   After the ED application, we waited 8-weeks to get an official word from Admissions.  The 8-week wait was the worst part of all of it, and my wife and I enjoyed many varieties of wine over those 8-weeks.  Once accepted, we were able to exhale.

If you are nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA schools that is normal in my experience.

@fenwaysouth posted:

"Time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA?"

   After the ED application, we waited 8-weeks to get an official word from Admissions.  The 8-week wait was the worst part of all of it, and my wife and I enjoyed many varieties of wine over those 8-weeks.  Once accepted, we were able to exhale.

If you are nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA schools that is normal in my experience.

Truth!

I think I am permanently scarred from the 8 week ED wait. I always showed the confident face/mad magazine what me worry? look to my kid and spouse but if they ever reviewed my browser history they would be appalled by the plan b, c, d to ..z''' I had looked up. The waiting was brutal so besides coming on this board I would need to maintain sanity by entertaining my sick what if game.

Unless a kid is a stud who is going to be pursued by every program the process is stressful whether it’s high academic or not.

Want some stress? My son got injured in the first game of the first weekend of the summer post junior year.  He went from expecting offers in the few couple of weeks to being ghosted by every interested program.

His target schools with mutual interest were two Ivies, two HA P5’s and two quality Big Ten programs. He needed baseball for the top four. He got accepted to the two Big Ten’s on academics. He ended up playing in the Big Ten. His offer came in late August. Freshman orientation has already started. He headed for college with one suitcase and some cash to buy some more clothes. We shipped some stuff. Parents weekend we rounded out what he needed.

An important part of this story is a quality 17u program with a reputation with colleges coaches. His offer came off a phone call from his travel coach to the college coach validating he was healthy and back to himself again.

Lots of amazing feedback and support.  To follow up on OP, my son has first summer showcase this weekend where he hopes to see officially where he is at.  I'll keep everyone posted.

@BaseballDadBig4 posted:

Overall, he's the kind of kid coaches dream about - works hard, quiet leader, uber competitive, and is coachable.

That’s not the kind of kid coaches dream about.  They dream about HR’s and no hitters, .400 hitters and gold glovers.

A vast majority of college athletes work hard, are coachable and are uber competitive.  Those qualities are mere prerequisites.

Find a school where he actually has a chance to play.  Don’t reach too high in terms of Baseball.

Ideally he ends up at a school that is slightly above his academic level, and slightly or significantly below his baseball level.  That will give him the best chance to get a great education and actually get on the field

^^1000% @3and2Fastball

I also want to about 3and2's comment: "Ideally he ends up at a school that is slightly above his academic level."

My older two boys succeeded hitting that sweet spot and ended up with challenging but manageable academic stress at their respective HA schools.

My youngest, a rising junior, is....well, let's just say the jury is out on him, and it may be deliberating for all of his remaining collegiate journey before it reaches a verdict.  He is trying to follow the HA path his older brothers took but he's a different kind of learner.  I don't think the place is a great fit but he says he likes being there, he has good friends on and off the baseball team, and he actually shared some insightful thoughts when we saw him at spring break.

Just don't ignore the academic fit part as you're focussed closely on the baseball side of things.

Today would be a great day for 2025 kids to fire off those emails to HA coaches. Most of their seasons are over and the coaches will begin recruiting season this week. There are Showball and Headfirst events over the next few weeks. If a player is ready to show and can afford to attend, I’d recommend going.

Little update:

My son finished with a total of 4 innings pitched for his HS season all in relief.  Being stuck behind 3 seniors who went to Babe Ruth world series made things a little difficult (same father/uncle coach to cousins).  Politics in baseball are rampant, but skill always has a lot to do with it too.

On the flip side, he was the only all conference player on his team as an OF and captured the "best offensive player" award for his team.

Also went to his first "combine" of the season.  By the time he pitched, his arm was pretty worn out from the OF drills and testing but hit 80.  Plans to go back as a PO to throw fresh.

Next is Showball in 4 weeks.

Is there a reason he is focused on pitching?  Seems like he is a great OF!  How is his hitting?

Agree with RHP-parent, sounds like his hitting is better than his pitching.  Why are you focused on pitching?  Has anyone (travel coaches, eg) told you that is what he should be doing?

And, for velo, does anyone you know (travel coach, e.g.) have a radar gun?  Can't you measure his velo sometime he's fresh, before the next showcase, to know whether it's worth going as a PO?

There are many great colleges that are not super-selective nor super-great in baseball, where he could have a great experience.  And with his grades, he would likely get a lot of merit scholarship money at such schools (think the lower-baseball-ranked schools in the NCAC, NWC, Centennial, MIAC, NESCAC, NEWMAC, etc.).

A quick view of D3 conference standings in 2024:  https://www.d3baseball.com/conferences

A quick view of D3 baseball Iterative Strength rankings in 2024:  https://masseyratings.com/cbase/ncaa-d3/ratings

Is that the Showball in Cali? Has he created a short list of top schools he's interested in there? Most of the kids are going to spend a lot of time talking to Ivy coaches. Make sure he contacts the coaches he's interested in ahead of time and fills out their recruit form. By the time my son went he felt like he already knew the coaches and it was a very stress free conversation. Didn't feel like he had to make a first impression (besides a firm handshake, eye contact, etc.).

IMO, Showball is geared much more towards pitchers, which is great if you are a pitcher. Make sure he has a good warmup/bullpen plan. A lot of coaches will watch that, so make sure he is focused and throws everything while warming up. Catchers will also get attention. Fielders will need to hit bombs in the scrimmages or post a good 60 number.

To answer the question above: we get very little coaching throughout the year.  Unfortunately, his younger sister was undergoing chemotherapy this last year and we had to sign up with an off-season team in near her to keep our family close.  That meant that he missed 70% off off-season workouts which was 125 miles and a mountain pass away.  So, he's uncoached for over a year pitching wise - but we are grateful that he found a home for summer ball on a showcase travel team.  I don't want to get into names, but the head coach took him last summer after a handshake which was gracious of him.

He does hit well, led his team in SLG, OPS, and EBHs - but he's not a slugger at the college level.  He's a hair away from a 7.0 60, had one unofficial 6.9.  He just plays baseball.  He will play anywhere.  And darnit, the kid wants to play in college and that's why I'm here, lol! 

A kid who runs a 6.9-7.0 time in the 60 and can hit can definitely get on the field in D3 ball, again provided he doesn’t overreach his Baseball skills and try to play for a perennial D3 powerhouse

a RHP topping out at 80 has a much smaller chance of seeing playing time

Either way, once he gets on campus the coaches will dictate where and when he plays, and in what role

@BaseballDadBig4 posted:

To answer the question above: we get very little coaching throughout the year.  Unfortunately, his younger sister was undergoing chemotherapy this last year and we had to sign up with an off-season team in near her to keep our family close.  That meant that he missed 70% off off-season workouts which was 125 miles and a mountain pass away.  So, he's uncoached for over a year pitching wise - but we are grateful that he found a home for summer ball on a showcase travel team.  I don't want to get into names, but the head coach took him last summer after a handshake which was gracious of him.

He does hit well, led his team in SLG, OPS, and EBHs - but he's not a slugger at the college level.  He's a hair away from a 7.0 60, had one unofficial 6.9.  He just plays baseball.  He will play anywhere.  And darnit, the kid wants to play in college and that's why I'm here, lol!

I’m sorry about your daughter. I hope she’s doing OK.

Same, prayers for your daughter

Just returned from Showball and PTW with some college visits mixed in.  

Showball was great.  Everything is run well and all the players worked well together.  While shagging fly balls for the hitting session, lots of guys were trying to field balls between their legs and such.  Some great talent but I was amazed at how they had trouble staying relaxed and loose.  The parents, as you'd expect, paced nervously for two days, lol.  

At the end of day 1, it was fun to go to the top of the grandstand and watch the players scurry around to talk to the coaches.  My son had a plan and was able to talk to every coach he had interest in talking to.  There were some players who used their entire time waiting to talk to a single Ivy League coach.  My son had a blast talking to the Penn coach and I hear he is quite animated.  Overall, he got good feedback and only one coach seemed to think his test scores might be a problem.  This was a surprise to him as he knows the school is test optional.  I mention this to alert any other parents out there.  Even the test optional school coaches seem to want scores.  It's adds a whole extra layer to this process.  (I mean, with his grades, I feel that my son's chances at admission to some of these HA schools might actually be higher without the baseball).  Make no mistake, I know exactly how competitive these schools are with admission.  I'm a former D1 walk-on at an Ivy (not baseball).  

Day 2 he was not allowed to hit in game as he was a primary pitcher.  Showball policy.  He was a bit bummed about that, but no worries.  His pitching was his usual.  Had great command of his breaking stuff and gave up only a couple of infield hits on ground balls.  No walks and struck out quite a few.  His fastball was not on - he only threw 79.  Really tough, as a parent, as the previous pitcher hit 92 and every coach in the joint moved in for a closer look.   This was the only 1 of 16 pitchers that broke 90 in our session.  Highest pitch I had seen up to that point was 84.  I definitely expected more velocity.

He left Showball feeling that he had played well.  

Until PTW, we went out the East Coast to see some schools and have fun for a few days.  Toured Fenway.  Met with a NESCAC coach on campus and had talked with at Showball.  Got the skinny on this particular school's test optional approach which did not necessarily jive with what we had learned earlier.  So that left us pretty confused - in the end we all realized that we can control what we can control and son is trying to improve his ACT score in July.  I'm sure it will be clearer down the road.  

Our campus visit approach was to see schools based on their environment more than anything.  Hard to visit any schools in particular when you don't really know who will be interested come September and October.  

PTW was the end of our 11 day trip.  It was hot and we were the last of four sessions.  The showcase was very well run and again the players seemed to remain loose and have a good time.  Son did well with skills assessment, at least from I could see.  He didn't hit as well as he would have liked.  The strike zones at these showcases are intentionally big and my son has a little trouble with making good contact with pitches out of the zone so he ended up getting rung up looking twice.  Not what you want to do at these things, but that's ok.  His pitching was so-so.  Have no clue what his velo was since it wasn't posted.  Most of the coaches looked exhausted after 2 days in the heat, so I'm not sure it mattered too much.  

He got interest from 2 mid to lower tier HA D3 programs on a day he felt like he did not play well.  

Most important things we took from our experience:

1. there are a lot of players at these Showball and PTW events with similar skill level to my son.  So either they are all on the outside looking in or he's right where he should be.  

2. he learned that he likes smaller schools in rural, but not too rural, areas.  I'm really glad we took him to see Dartmouth.  It's an amazingly beautiful campus but it is on the extreme edge of that rural spectrum. When a 17yo notices that he didn't see a grocery store the entire day and that bothered him...  

3. Showball and PTW (related groups) are both well run.  No shade to either one of them.  Coaches were approachable for the athletes and we don't regret our decision to attend either.  

The top HA D3’S will absolutely require test scores for baseball even if the school is test optional. A lot of the other HA D3’s will as well. The coaches only get so many slots with admissions and admissions wants test scores if they are going to issue a likely letter or give a thumbs up on a preread.