Walk on Question

There is a significant difference between being a "recruited walk on" and just trying to walk on.
A recruited walk on has probably been scouted for some time and has had conversations with coaches. A recruiting coordinator has had a conversation with the player as well as the family and discussed how the player would likely be utilized. There may be no scholarship money available, but there is desire to see the player on their field.

A player just walking on with not really known by the coaching staff, not invited has a huge uphill battle to wage. Hitting, or in the case of a catcher a eye popping pop time would be necessary to really get the attention of the coaches.

The coaches have their scholarship players as well as all the recruited walk on's that they have already led to believe have a shot at making the spring roster.

If you have other options, I would pursue those. If not, you need to create some.

Probably a good idea to make contact with the Coaching staff prior to the Walk On tryout. By the way, Catchers or Pitchers frequently are the positions chosen from these tryouts.

Given the new NCAA rules, teams are going to have a good number of "nonscholarship recruits" (or "recruited walk ons", whatever term you prefer), as these guys "nonscholarship recruits" will be treated just like any other recruit but the difference will be these 6 or 7 won't receive any money, but are part of the team (listed on the roster). Being in this status does present some uncertainty for the player during his time on campus, but most coaches are honorable men and won't dump a player for the sake of another. But, when you factor in injuries, travel costs/player, etc., the nonscholarship player is the "most expendible" should there be any extenuating circumstances. (Again, though, most coaches are decent men and generally wouldn't treat you this way).

Given this new scenario, simply showing up on campus and attending a tryout is likely going to be that much tougher as coaches will likely already have some kids filling in their nonscholarhip roster spots (which depending on the next couple of years changes from ~6 to ~8). The best situation for trying to walk on is to take the advice given above, but also learning about the number of scholarships the team may have to work with (i.e., an underfunded program). So, while it won't be anything for the major D-I programs, there will be a lot of other D-I programs that have to deal with fewer than the max NCAA allowed scholarships, therefore with the new 25% minimum these schools will depend on more nonscholarship players to fill their rosters. If it is a public school, check out the athletic budget or ask the athletic office about the number of scholarships for the baseball program. Then you will know where to set your sites.

Good luck with your choice; be diligent in your research of programs as you explore this option.

ok thanks guys.And no thats not my situation Im just curious

I think what you are looking for is can a player just show up on the first day of school and expect to introduce themselves to the coach and have a shot at making the team.

For the most part, I would say the answer is no, with the new scholarship rules, most coaches will allocate their money to players and will know who most likely fill the roster with recruited walk-ons and walk-ons. Some schools will hold tryouts but the likely hood of making the team would be low.

Knowing that, why not just contact the coach late in the recruiting cycle and let them know you have been accepted to the school and would like to walk-on, the worst thing that can happen is he says Thanks but there are no positions available.

Does that address your question?

that helps a lot,yes.

Im just curious if that would be an option down the road which is why I asked