True Walk-ons

Not in D1 ball... I have not heard of that. I am sure a some point it happened.... 

On a light note it almost happened many years ago! We had a buddy in college who claimed he was a great HS baseball player and in fact was being considered for induction into his HS Hall of Fame only 2 years after graduation.  One night while at the local watering hole he is boasting and we then dare him to try out for this SEC team and a bet was on the line if he makes it.  We attended the tryouts to verify his claim and some of us in stereo say "holy #@$@ he may make the team"  After he hit 3 hr in 2 days from the left side, lefty 1B with a cannon for an arm.....we thought for sure we lost .  Luckily for us he was a Junior!  HC lets him go on last day of tryouts only to tell him "if you were a freshman you would of made team".

 Surely not these day would this ever happen!

It couldn't happen now IMO, but it happened every now and then back in the day - which I know because it happened to me.  I walked on at a top 25 D1 program and made the team. I was not recruited at that school, but I was at 4 or 5 other schools that weren't as prominent.  I had offers - just not any that I wanted. The HC didn't know I was enrolled in school but when I showed up he knew who I was. There were over 200 at the tryout and 2 of us made it - both RHPs that threw over 90 mph back when not that many did.  So we really stood out. I eventually earned a scholarship but it was uphill sledding all 3 years that I played there. Even though I was the hardest thrower on a really good pitching staff I never got as much opportunity as guys that were recruited.  Going in I had made the decision that I wanted to go to this school regardless of baseball so I was willing to roll the dice and take what I got.  The experience went a long way toward developing perseverance. which has served me well later in life. 

It does happen from time to time. It happened to my wife in volleyball on a Pac 10 team. She made the team but rarely played  over 4 years but it was worth it for her. . Reportedly A kid my son's played with in travel one year was asked to join the team (pac 12) after 1 year of the school's club team . But if you really wanted to play baseball (or any sport ) I wouldn't use it as a recruiting method. 

It happened to a friend at UCLA. He was playing club ball there and walked on to the team.

Before D1 had roster limits (35) players walked on via open tryouts. Now with roster max at 35 a player is more likely to be recruited and not make the roster than to walk on via an open tryout.

The NCAA requires walk on tryouts. A kid from our high school was invited to attempt to walk on by the coach of a mid major about ten years ago. After 45 minutes the tryout ended. The players trying out were told there weren’t any roster spots open.

A D1 mid-major school/head coach that offered my oldest son admitted to us that they hold tryouts every year, but do a terrible job of communicating details to the student body.  The tryout exercise is a "check the box" for the NCAA. 

I walked on at an SEC team back in the 80's after seeing an article in the student newspaper that a catcher had gone down to injury.  I had a chance to play ball at smaller schools, but decided the opportunity to go to this school was too good to pass up.  Didn't even bring any baseball gear with me to school.  So I showed up late to the tryout and they were already taking infield.  I found an assistant coach and said I'd like to give this a try and that I found out late about the tryout.  They let me throw a few to warm up and asked me to join the infield workout.  I didn't even have a catcher's mitt, so I asked one of the other catchers trying out to use his.  The head coach gave me a strange look, he may have even said something like why don't you have your own glove.  Truth is I never owned my own catcher's mitt.  Always used the HS-provided glove when I was in high school.

Anyway, my arm was feeling pretty good as I hadn't played in a few weeks.  I made my first throw to second and it seemed like everyone in the entire place stopped to watch after that.  I remember having to field a bunt down the 3B line and did a spin move to throw to first and it felt like I threw it 100 MPH.  It was a perfect throw but the 1B totally whiffed on it.  The head coach said, boy you almost killed that kid and gave me this huge smile.  It was then that I knew I made the team.

They had me come out for a second day and there was a MLB scout there with a radar gun.  They had me make throws to the bags and field bunts.  I never thought anything of it until much later when someone told me they clocked me at 88 MPH on a few of my throws.  Coach came up to me and started interrogating me after the second day wondering what I was doing there, why wasn't I playing somewhere.  I just told him that I came from a nowhere town in the midwest.  Nobody helped us get noticed, and I really had no idea if I was good enough to play at a high level.  He said, well you're going to get your shot, and so I made the team.  I played some my freshman year, but unfortunately got injured playing summer ball and re-injured it the fall of my sophomore season.  Decided to take the year off to rest, but never ended up playing again.  Got my degree in four years and never looked back.

Not sure why I share this story.  I've never even told my kids these details.  I guess the thought that kids can't really even walk on in this day and age prompted me to do so.  Good news is that today our kids have ample resources to be seen and understand where they fit in the baseball landscape.  Good luck to all of the young men who take the walk-on path.  It's not easy, but I certainly have a ton of admiration for those who choose to take that journey.

fenwaysouth posted:

A D1 mid-major school/head coach that offered my oldest son admitted to us that they hold tryouts every year, but do a terrible job of communicating details to the student body.  The tryout exercise is a "check the box" for the NCAA. 

Of course it is.

SSBuckeye posted:

I walked on at an SEC team back in the 80's after seeing an article in the student newspaper that a catcher had gone down to injury.  I had a chance to play ball at smaller schools, but decided the opportunity to go to this school was too good to pass up.  Didn't even bring any baseball gear with me to school.  So I showed up late to the tryout and they were already taking infield.  I found an assistant coach and said I'd like to give this a try and that I found out late about the tryout.  They let me throw a few to warm up and asked me to join the infield workout.  I didn't even have a catcher's mitt, so I asked one of the other catchers trying out to use his.  The head coach gave me a strange look, he may have even said something like why don't you have your own glove.  Truth is I never owned my own catcher's mitt.  Always used the HS-provided glove when I was in high school.

Anyway, my arm was feeling pretty good as I hadn't played in a few weeks.  I made my first throw to second and it seemed like everyone in the entire place stopped to watch after that.  I remember having to field a bunt down the 3B line and did a spin move to throw to first and it felt like I threw it 100 MPH.  It was a perfect throw but the 1B totally whiffed on it.  The head coach said, boy you almost killed that kid and gave me this huge smile.  It was then that I knew I made the team.

They had me come out for a second day and there was a MLB scout there with a radar gun.  They had me make throws to the bags and field bunts.  I never thought anything of it until much later when someone told me they clocked me at 88 MPH on a few of my throws.  Coach came up to me and started interrogating me after the second day wondering what I was doing there, why wasn't I playing somewhere.  I just told him that I came from a nowhere town in the midwest.  Nobody helped us get noticed, and I really had no idea if I was good enough to play at a high level.  He said, well you're going to get your shot, and so I made the team.  I played some my freshman year, but unfortunately got injured playing summer ball and re-injured it the fall of my sophomore season.  Decided to take the year off to rest, but never ended up playing again.  Got my degree in four years and never looked back.

Not sure why I share this story.  I've never even told my kids these details.  I guess the thought that kids can't really even walk on in this day and age prompted me to do so.  Good news is that today our kids have ample resources to be seen and understand where they fit in the baseball landscape.  Good luck to all of the young men who take the walk-on path.  It's not easy, but I certainly have a ton of admiration for those who choose to take that journey.

Great story and one that should be shared with your kids about perseverance and making your own breaks, etc.  Though, I'd leave out the past about showing up late to tryouts.

Three years ago....Football, as a Junior.  He made three appearances in 2015, making 2 PAT's.  Made the team again as a Senior in 2016 but made no appearances in game.

https://bleacherreport.com/art...es-of-finding-kicker

https://mse.ufl.edu/student-ne...ve-as-gators-backup/

https://floridagators.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6218

The open tryouts today are not really open tryouts.  My oldest son had D3, D2, NAIA offers out of high school but decided he was going to local D1 Midmajor.  The coaching staff was recruiting his younger brother and had seen him play a lot.  His best friend was on the team.  They asked him if he wanted to walk-on, I think as much to build more relationship with younger brother.  We had to have all kinds of forms filled out and take a physical and even had to have some blood test done that was required.  After we did all this, they told him when he arrived the day of the tryouts that they were not taking any walkons that year. 

Didn't bid well for them in getting other son.  It was even funnier when my son got the job of HC at the middle school and guess whose son was trying out, the HC.  He told a mutual friend, I reckon I screwed my son because this should be ultimate payback.  My son kept his son and they became good friends.  We actually coached 2 of his sons and built a good relationship.  His junior year after growing and lifting he had increased his ability to hit and throw the coach offered him a preferred walk-on position.   But also told my son if coaching was what he wanted to do he should stay where he was.  My son decided to stick with coaching. 

Never say never.....  I know of 2 cases within the last 7 years where this came true (I have no doubt there are many more, just my retention capacity is extremely limited ).  Enclosed is a baseball example, though not really a "show up for tryouts" case.

https://www.mlb.com/news/arizo...-pirates/c-236351968

The second example is with a D1 women's basketball program.  A student went to a P5 university, played in high school but it ended there.  She loved the sport so much she volunteered to be the student team manager at this university (for 1 - 2 years).  Some unfortunate team injuries & academic problems left the team with barely enough players.  The manager asked the HC if she could try out for the team and was granted.  She ended up on the team her remaining years.

Odds are still stacked up against you but nevertheless, if you are in the right place at the right time, you never know.  Good luck

I believe Paul Stefansky was a true walk on at UCONN

I think of Morgan Brown who graduated from Harvard in 2006. He was a walk on, who would go on to be All Ivy at SS., and captain his senior year.  He was a Harvard Assistant coach and has been the Director of Baseball Operations the last few years. 

I don’t know about baseball but obviously, Baker Mayfield walked on twice and it turned out pretty well for him.

baseballhs posted:

I don’t know about baseball but obviously, Baker Mayfield walked on twice and it turned out pretty well for him.

I don't think we are talking about the same kind of walk-on.  All walk-ons are not created equal...

rynoattack posted:

baseballhs posted:

I don’t know about baseball but obviously, Baker Mayfield walked on twice and it turned out pretty well for him.

I don't think we are talking about the same kind of walk-on.  All walk-ons are not created equal...

 Agreed, but he did not have one power five offer coming out of high school. I don’t think he has many options at all coming out of high school.

Almost never.

When my son was a freshman, his school had its open tryout on the first official day of practice--after the practice.

By this time of the tryout, the recruited/returning players had been doing conditioning as a team and conducting captain-led practices for about a month. The team had already bonded. They already had their lockers. They already had all their practice gear. 

There was a page on the team website announcing the tryout and specifying all the paperwork that had to be submitted beforehand. Players wanting to try out had to look for that page.

The coaches barely paid attention as the 25 or 30 true walk ons warmed up in the outfield. A few pitchers got to throw a half dozen or so pitches in a bullpen. Nobody got to swing a bat. Nobody got to field a grounder. It was over in less than half an hour.

A player would have had to show something very special and unexpected to get noticed in that scenario. Nobody did. 

I think that's fairly typical.