Wesleyan University

Updating this thread to see if there is any new information on the Wesleyan baseball program.  We were just at Trinity for a camp but didn't have time to drive through Wesleyan for a peek.

chazball posted:

Updating this thread to see if there is any new information on the Wesleyan baseball program.  We were just at Trinity for a camp but didn't have time to drive through Wesleyan for a peek.

Wesleyan a great school, def more on the liberal side even for liberal arts/NESCAC, if that matters.  But nice campus, nice facilities, and a great education.   Team has slipped in performance since the original post in '04.  They finished last in their conference last year and have been up and down since 2015 when they went 13-0.  What did you think of Trinity?  They are on the upswing as a program.  Haven't been to visit, but know it's a smaller campus. 

My 2022 enjoyed the Trinity camp.  I think it actually helped his opinion of the program that they played on the field instead of indoors, despite the chill.  Coaches were engaged, camp ran tight until the game, as the coaches wanted a second look at some pitchers and some hitters.  As you mentioned, program is very competitive.  

Campus was nice.  Players took campers and parents on tour after camp.  Surrounding area is rough, but the players he talked to said that the campus was safe and most kids live on campus for the four years.  We'll definitely be back.  May plan a Wesleyan trip in there when we do, they are pretty close.

Here are some insight from wesleyan    (2020 Roster information will be available in april)

2019 Player Distribution by State

2019 Distribution by Position

2019 Team Roster Insights

2019 Conference Standings

Win/Loss Record last 5 years

2018 EADA Report

2018 Expense by Sport

Baseball Budget from 2009 - 2018

Note:  Equity in Athletics Disclosure is on a one year lag.  2019 will be published by March 2020.

Here are some stats concerning crime.

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenav...&id=130697#crime

Wesleyan's Dresser Diamond from Foss Hill (aka Doobie Dome, Maryjane Mound, Reefer Ridge, Pot Peak, Grassy Knoll, etc)

Chaz, sorry this is so long. I got carried away. This is about the facilities as well as my 2019's Wesleyan recruiting experience.

First, if you are going to pick a NESCAC program based on the quality of the actual baseball diamond, dugouts, backstop, and bleachers/stands stick with Trinity. Its field was used in 2018 for the NESCAC championship, and will be used again this year. Hamilton and Colby's fields are really its only competition (unless one has a passionate commitment to grass). Every other field in the NESCAC is grass so the weather is a big issue. 

RE: Wesleyan's field, the first time I walked on it I felt a ridiculous wave of nostalgia.  It is almost Identical to my alma mater's diamond-- part of a much larger field, surrounded by beautiful, unique campus buildings, and banked by a nice, small hillside that parallels the left field line.  

The sightlines are fabulous from the hillside and when the weather's nice the games feel like county fairs, albeit very liberal county fairs. Let's just say that wafting smoke you're noticing is not bar-b-que smoke, though I do hear it will give you the munchies (not that I would actually know anything about that).  Another advantage of the hillside is that the school observatory is there, which offers not only a different way to experience elevation, but also has a vending machine that sells Doritos.

The indoor facilities are nice but, unfortunately, despite the great setting, it would be hard to find a worse playing surface in the NESCAC.  The football field runs right through RF and CF.  The larger surrounding field is also used for many other big events throughout the year. Calling the surface uneven is being generous.  The fences and backstop are temporary, erected every spring and taken down at the end of the season.  There are no dugouts--if it rains, players pull out umbrellas -- and the "brick" backstop, which looks on TV like the real deal, is actually made out of some kind of plastic composite. they do the best they can with what they have but the diamond is not a top priority.

Re the program itself, my 2019 had an unusual recruiting experience with Wesleyan.  Son had several offers from NESCAC and Centennial Conference schools but turned them down. He was more interested in other HA schools in the midwest and west. Unfortunately, at those other schools he only got the "if you get in you're on the roster" speech. They weren't going to use a tip/slot/etc. on him.  

So, he still tried to get into those schools on his own but was denied or deferred.  He wrote and asked the coaches at those schools to help followup with admissions but they didn't even bother to write him back.  This made him unhappy, so he decided to circle back to the schools that had offered earlier; of course those spots were long gone.  He did get support from one east coast HA school in the form of a letter from the coach who really liked him and helped explain his situation to admissions.  He was then deferred there in his ED 2 round but the coach kept after him to follow up with admissions so he wrote an earnest letter describing his ardor for the school. Then he had to wait, and this is where things actually started with Wesleyan. 

Over the past year, I had somehow developed a relationship with two other HA coaches who had seen my boy play but also knew he was absolutely not interested in playing for them.  One was at my alma mater and the other was the coach who had recruited my older boy to his HA school.  Since I had more than passing relationships with these guys I broke the cardinal rule that dictates parents should not get involved in this kind of thing and I wrote both coaches asking for advice.  

They both said check out Wesleyan AND they both called Coach Woodworth on my son's behalf.  2019 then contacted Coach Woodworth and sent video.  Woodworth was great.  Listened carefully, didn't make any promises of admissions because he too had used his slots, but promised to still shadow 2019's app through admissions. He called my guy several times as the weeks went by and he had a current player write my guy.  The letter was hilarious, extolling the bar scene in downtown Middletown and the fact that the team takes a two week trip to the west coast every year.  Both of these factors impressed my boy but then he was finally accepted at the first school whose coach originally offered him back in the fall (that he had said no to then and where he was subsequently deferred) and he jumped on that.

Woodworth is professorial.  Quiet. An alum. Only the third coach Wesleyan has had in 75 years. Team has fun and is quirky, edgy, brainy, personality-wise.  But that's the whole university in a nutshell, too.  My older boy LOVES playing there when his team visits every year.  He loves the atmosphere, the way the fans razz him and his team, and the fact that he's usually played well against them doesn't hurt either.  I've asked him not to love the atmosphere too much.  I'd hate to see him come down with reefer madness.

So, Trinity has the best facilities and a slightly more conservative and pragmatic student body.  Wesleyan is looser, the coach is not obsessed with baseball.  My older boy says kids on both teams seem to have a good time, which is not always the case with other NESCAC teams.

At the least, give Wesleyan a visit, which I realize you seem to be planning to do. 

Good luck!

Smoke,

With your name I figured you may know more than your saying about that certain type of Tobacco. I always thought you just never imbibed in the great outdoors.

(running and Ducking).....

Smoke, this is an awesome response, are you kidding me?  Short of any Cheech and Chong references, I get the picture you're trying to paint.  Great to know first hand info on the coach and how he handles his business.  Sounds like a coach that we need to meet.  We're definitely going to check it out, especially if son wants NESCAC without having to go to Maine.  Trinity's facilities were nice, but he liked the coaches a lot and they asked to see his schedule for the spring and summer which he took as a positive.  Really appreciate the info and the stories.  Continued luck to your sons!

smokeminside posted:

 

Wesleyan's Dresser Diamond from Foss Hill (aka Doobie Dome, Maryjane Mound, Reefer Ridge, Pot Peak, Grassy Knoll, etc)

Chaz, sorry this is so long. I got carried away. This is about the facilities as well as my 2019's Wesleyan recruiting experience.

First, if you are going to pick a NESCAC program based on the quality of the actual baseball diamond, dugouts, backstop, and bleachers/stands stick with Trinity. Its field was used in 2018 for the NESCAC championship, and will be used again this year. Hamilton and Colby's fields are really its only competition (unless one has a passionate commitment to grass). Every other field in the NESCAC is grass so the weather is a big issue. 

RE: Wesleyan's field, the first time I walked on it I felt a ridiculous wave of nostalgia.  It is almost Identical to my alma mater's diamond-- part of a much larger field, surrounded by beautiful, unique campus buildings, and banked by a nice, small hillside that parallels the left field line.  

The sightlines are fabulous from the hillside and when the weather's nice the games feel like county fairs, albeit very liberal county fairs. Let's just say that wafting smoke you're noticing is not bar-b-que smoke, though I do hear it will give you the munchies (not that I would actually know anything about that).  

Unfortunately, despite the great setting, it would be hard to find a worse playing surface in the NESCAC.  The football field runs right through RF and CF.  The larger surrounding field is also used for many other big events throughout the year. Calling the surface uneven is being generous.  The fences and backstop are temporary, erected every spring and taken down at the end of the season.  There are no dugouts--if it rains, players pull out umbrellas -- and the "brick" backstop, which looks on TV like the real deal, is actually made out of some kind of plastic composite. they do the best they can with what they have but the diamond is not a top priority.

Re the program itself, my 2019 had an unusual recruiting experience with Wesleyan.  Son had several offers from NESCAC and Centennial Conference schools but turned them down. He was more interested in other HA schools in the midwest and west. Unfortunately, at those other schools he only got the "if you get in you're on the roster" speech. They weren't going to use a tip/slot/etc. on him.  

So, he still tried to get into those schools on his own but was denied or deferred.  He wrote and asked the coaches at those schools to help followup with admissions but they didn't even bother to write him back.  This made him unhappy, so he decided to circle back to the schools that had offered earlier; of course those spots were long gone.  He did get support from one east coast HA school in the form of a letter from the coach who really liked him and helped explain his situation to admissions.  He was then deferred there in his ED 2 round but the coach kept after him to follow up with admissions so he wrote an earnest letter describing his ardor for the school. Then he had to wait, and this is where things actually started with Wesleyan. 

Over the past year, I had somehow developed a relationship with two other HA coaches who had seen my boy play but also knew he was absolutely not interested in playing for them.  One was at my alma mater and the other was the coach who had recruited my older boy to his HA school.  Since I had more than passing relationships with these guys I broke the cardinal rule that dictates parents should not get involved in this kind of thing and I wrote both coaches asking for advice.  

They both said check out Wesleyan AND they both called Coach Woodworth on my son's behalf.  2019 then contacted Coach Woodworth and sent video.  Woodworth was great.  Listened carefully, didn't make any promises of admissions because he too had used his slots, but promised to still shadow 2019's app through admissions. He called my guy several times as the weeks went by and he had a current player write my guy.  The letter was hilarious, extolling the bar scene in downtown Middletown and the fact that the team takes a two week trip to the west coast every year.  Both of these factors impressed my boy but then he was finally accepted at the first school whose coach originally offered him back in the fall (that he had said no to then and where he was subsequently deferred) and he jumped on that.

Woodworth is professorial.  Quiet. Team has fun and is quirky, edgy, brainy, personality-wise.  But that's the whole university in a nutshell, too.  My older boy LOVES playing there.  He says the field is junk but he loves the atmosphere, the way the fans razz him and his team and the fact that he's usually played well against them.  I've asked him not to love the atmosphere too much.  I'd hate to see him come down with reefer madness.

So, Trinity has the best facilities and a slightly more conservative and pragmatic student body.  Wesleyan is looser, the coach is not obsessed with baseball.  My older boy says kids on both teams seem to have a good time, which is not always the case with other NESCAC teams.

At the least, give Wesleyan a visit, which I realized you seem to be planning to do. 

Good luck!

Great post.  Will say that the Hamilton and Middlebury indoor facilities are incredible.  As good, or superior, to most D1 facilities in the Northeast.  Have heart Middlebury is about to get turf, but could be off out that. 

The Middlebury Field House is sweet, and definitely one of the better facility's. They expect to convert to a turf field this summer.  The campus is beautiful...the team has steadily improved over the last few years.  HC Leonard is a solid, fair, competitive coach, and a blue blooded baseball guy with a lot of playing experience.

Besides that, no opinion here.   Check it out...

(Smoke has a ton of experience with his two boys with the HA recruiting journey)

chazball posted:

Smoke, this is an awesome response, are you kidding me?  Short of any Cheech and Chong references, I get the picture you're trying to paint.  Great to know first hand info on the coach and how he handles his business.  Sounds like a coach that we need to meet.  We're definitely going to check it out, especially if son wants NESCAC without having to go to Maine.  Trinity's facilities were nice, but he liked the coaches a lot and they asked to see his schedule for the spring and summer which he took as a positive.  Really appreciate the info and the stories.  Continued luck to your sons!

You do not want to play spring baseball in Maine unless it’s all about the college. I figure you’re looking at Colby, Bates and Bowdoin. It was cold at the D3 regionals last year played at Southern Maine (Gorham) in May. 

No, I don't think he does, but he has traded emails with Colby.  Wants east coast, right now focused on HA D3, but he's only a sophomore throwing 82+, and who knows how hard he'll throw as a rising senior. Fun to get him out to see some schools and help him figure out what he wants outside of baseball.

smokeminside posted:

 

Wesleyan's Dresser Diamond from Foss Hill (aka Doobie Dome, Maryjane Mound, Reefer Ridge, Pot Peak, Grassy Knoll, etc)

Chaz, sorry this is so long. I got carried away. This is about the facilities as well as my 2019's Wesleyan recruiting experience.

First, if you are going to pick a NESCAC program based on the quality of the actual baseball diamond, dugouts, backstop, and bleachers/stands stick with Trinity. Its field was used in 2018 for the NESCAC championship, and will be used again this year. Hamilton and Colby's fields are really its only competition (unless one has a passionate commitment to grass). Every other field in the NESCAC is grass so the weather is a big issue. 

RE: Wesleyan's field, the first time I walked on it I felt a ridiculous wave of nostalgia.  It is almost Identical to my alma mater's diamond-- part of a much larger field, surrounded by beautiful, unique campus buildings, and banked by a nice, small hillside that parallels the left field line.  

The sightlines are fabulous from the hillside and when the weather's nice the games feel like county fairs, albeit very liberal county fairs. Let's just say that wafting smoke you're noticing is not bar-b-que smoke, though I do hear it will give you the munchies (not that I would actually know anything about that).  Another advantage of the hillside is that the school observatory is there, which offers not only a different way to experience elevation, but also has a vending machine that sells Doritos.

The indoor facilities are nice but, unfortunately, despite the great setting, it would be hard to find a worse playing surface in the NESCAC.  The football field runs right through RF and CF.  The larger surrounding field is also used for many other big events throughout the year. Calling the surface uneven is being generous.  The fences and backstop are temporary, erected every spring and taken down at the end of the season.  There are no dugouts--if it rains, players pull out umbrellas -- and the "brick" backstop, which looks on TV like the real deal, is actually made out of some kind of plastic composite. they do the best they can with what they have but the diamond is not a top priority.

Re the program itself, my 2019 had an unusual recruiting experience with Wesleyan.  Son had several offers from NESCAC and Centennial Conference schools but turned them down. He was more interested in other HA schools in the midwest and west. Unfortunately, at those other schools he only got the "if you get in you're on the roster" speech. They weren't going to use a tip/slot/etc. on him.  

So, he still tried to get into those schools on his own but was denied or deferred.  He wrote and asked the coaches at those schools to help followup with admissions but they didn't even bother to write him back.  This made him unhappy, so he decided to circle back to the schools that had offered earlier; of course those spots were long gone.  He did get support from one east coast HA school in the form of a letter from the coach who really liked him and helped explain his situation to admissions.  He was then deferred there in his ED 2 round but the coach kept after him to follow up with admissions so he wrote an earnest letter describing his ardor for the school. Then he had to wait, and this is where things actually started with Wesleyan. 

Over the past year, I had somehow developed a relationship with two other HA coaches who had seen my boy play but also knew he was absolutely not interested in playing for them.  One was at my alma mater and the other was the coach who had recruited my older boy to his HA school.  Since I had more than passing relationships with these guys I broke the cardinal rule that dictates parents should not get involved in this kind of thing and I wrote both coaches asking for advice.  

They both said check out Wesleyan AND they both called Coach Woodworth on my son's behalf.  2019 then contacted Coach Woodworth and sent video.  Woodworth was great.  Listened carefully, didn't make any promises of admissions because he too had used his slots, but promised to still shadow 2019's app through admissions. He called my guy several times as the weeks went by and he had a current player write my guy.  The letter was hilarious, extolling the bar scene in downtown Middletown and the fact that the team takes a two week trip to the west coast every year.  Both of these factors impressed my boy but then he was finally accepted at the first school whose coach originally offered him back in the fall (that he had said no to then and where he was subsequently deferred) and he jumped on that.

Woodworth is professorial.  Quiet. An alum. Only the third coach Wesleyan has had in 75 years. Team has fun and is quirky, edgy, brainy, personality-wise.  But that's the whole university in a nutshell, too.  My older boy LOVES playing there when his team visits every year.  He loves the atmosphere, the way the fans razz him and his team, and the fact that he's usually played well against them doesn't hurt either.  I've asked him not to love the atmosphere too much.  I'd hate to see him come down with reefer madness.

So, Trinity has the best facilities and a slightly more conservative and pragmatic student body.  Wesleyan is looser, the coach is not obsessed with baseball.  My older boy says kids on both teams seem to have a good time, which is not always the case with other NESCAC teams.

At the least, give Wesleyan a visit, which I realize you seem to be planning to do. 

Good luck!

Smoke - Another great post.  What a beautiful field.

A coach at a competing NESCAC school told me that Wesleyan does not play the national anthem before games, while his did.  He told me this knowing my political leanings.  Anyway, not playing the national anthem may be common at NESCAC schools, I am not sure.

They play the anthem at Amherst, and they have a military appreciation series each year.

I watched Wesleyan's hype video of the 2019 season.  Looked awesome.  

Gov posted:

The Middlebury Field House is sweet, and definitely one of the better facility's. They expect to convert to a turf field this summer.  The campus is beautiful...the team has steadily improved over the last few years.  HC Leonard is a solid, fair, competitive coach, and a blue blooded baseball guy with a lot of playing experience.

Besides that, no opinion here.   Check it out...

(Smoke has a ton of experience with his two boys with the HA recruiting journey)

Gov, a local kid has committed to Mid for next year. Great kid, really good player. You guys have got a good one!

57special posted:

Gov posted:

The Middlebury Field House is sweet, and definitely one of the better facility's. They expect to convert to a turf field this summer.  The campus is beautiful...the team has steadily improved over the last few years.  HC Leonard is a solid, fair, competitive coach, and a blue blooded baseball guy with a lot of playing experience.

Besides that, no opinion here.   Check it out...

(Smoke has a ton of experience with his two boys with the HA recruiting journey)

Gov, a local kid has committed to Mid for next year. Great kid, really good player. You guys have got a good one!

Good to hear.  What position and strengths?

I'm coming to this a little late, but my 2020 recently went through the HA recruiting mill (including at multiple NESCAC and Centennial schools), so I wanted to weigh in with a couple of general thoughts:  

Cast a wide net.  I agree that playing baseball in Maine has its drawbacks; but Colby, Bowdoin and Bates are terrific schools and your son may or may not end up with better options.  A kid who is targeting the NESCAC presumably is a very good student; but very good students have a 10-15% chance of admission at these institutions without a baseball 'tip' from a coach.  Coaches at these institutions typically only have a few tips available each year.  And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  What goes on in the classroom/science lab means a lot more to his future than what happens on the baseball field.

The process is unpredictable.  There were coaches who seemed very interested in my son who suddenly ghosted him late in the process.  Some coaches never answered repeated emails, even though other schools in their conference that have much stronger baseball programs and academics made him an offer.  Your son may have the entire NESCAC calling him, or maybe only a couple of schools--and you'll never really know why.

Focusing on just a few school is a high-risk strategy.  Maybe your kid falls in love with a particular school but the coach won't support him with admissions.  He can apply as a non-athlete, but even for great students, that is a roll of the dice (unless there is a building on campus named for your son's grandparents). If his first-choice school says "no," then getting near-certain admission as an athlete in a colder climate, or at a school that was 3rd on his list for other reasons, can look very appealing.  If Bowdoin isn't a good fit, don't pursue it.  But I don't think ruling it out because you think it's colder in Brunswick in March than in western Massachusetts, upstate NY or Vermont is a good strategy.

Finally, HS students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want.  My son was focused on very small colleges (mainly because my wife and I encouraged that).  Then, late in the process he announced that he only wanted to attend a larger university.  When my son had this epiphany, there were only two schools that met his new criterion where he had been talking with coaches, and he essentially eliminated a bunch of others from consideration.  Luckily things worked out and my son is going to what emerged as his first choice. But that was not a given. And it was possible partly because he had thought broadly about potential schools.

Great post, Chico.  

One quibble, I would edit this sentence: "And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted."  to say And if your son is a pitcher who is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  There are always a few drafted, and this year there is talk, at least,  of 2 from 1 conference being drafted in the top 5 rounds.

On the other hand, this: "...students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want. "

...is one of the truest things ever said on this website.

JCG posted:

Great post, Chico.  

One quibble, I would edit this sentence: "And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted."  to say And if your son is a pitcher who is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  There are always a few drafted, and this year there is talk, at least,  of 2 from 1 conference being drafted in the top 5 rounds.

On the other hand, this: "...students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want. "

...is one of the truest things ever said on this website.

D3 guys definitely can get drafted. (Even pitchers—the Mets took a guy from Hopkins last year and he is pitching in their organization.)

But even among draftees, a NESCAC / Centennial / etc. biochemistry or Econ degree almost certainly has a much greater lifetime earning potential than their baseball skills.  As many on this site have advised, pick a college you’d want to attend even without baseball.

JCG posted:

Great post, Chico.  

One quibble, I would edit this sentence: "And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted."  to say And if your son is a pitcher who is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  There are always a few drafted, and this year there is talk, at least,  of 2 from 1 conference being drafted in the top 5 rounds.

On the other hand, this: "...students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want. "

...is one of the truest things ever said on this website.

About a dozen D3 players are drafted each year with the overwhelming majority being late blooming pitchers. I would say pitchers are more likely to do be drafted but either way the odds are almost certain. 

PABaseball posted:

JCG posted:

Great post, Chico.  

One quibble, I would edit this sentence: "And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted."  to say And if your son is a pitcher who is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  There are always a few drafted, and this year there is talk, at least,  of 2 from 1 conference being drafted in the top 5 rounds.

On the other hand, this: "...students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want. "

...is one of the truest things ever said on this website.

About a dozen D3 players are drafted each year with the overwhelming majority being late blooming pitchers. I would say pitchers are more likely to do be drafted but either way the odds are almost certain. 

And remember:  Getting drafted (while a great accomplishment) usually means going in a later round with a signing bonus that won't pay three months' rent on a small apartment.  For most guys, that is followed by earning less than minimum wage for a few years of long bus rides in the minors--and that's it.  Don't get me wrong--anyone who plays baseball professionally has earned some serious bragging rights, and if my kid ever got the chance after college I would encourage him to go take his shot in MiLB instead of heading directly into life as an office worker.  But "getting drafted" by no means equals big money, or even a living wage.  Very, very few players ought to even consider planning their college careers around baseball, rather than vice versa.

Gov posted:

57special posted:

Gov posted:

The Middlebury Field House is sweet, and definitely one of the better facility's. They expect to convert to a turf field this summer.  The campus is beautiful...the team has steadily improved over the last few years.  HC Leonard is a solid, fair, competitive coach, and a blue blooded baseball guy with a lot of playing experience.

Besides that, no opinion here.   Check it out...

(Smoke has a ton of experience with his two boys with the HA recruiting journey)

Gov, a local kid has committed to Mid for next year. Great kid, really good player. You guys have got a good one!

Good to hear.  What position and strengths?

Just about anywhere but C and MIF. Probably best at OF. Can flat out hit, and looks to have put on height and muscle (now about 6'3"). Pretty good P, too. Not sophisticated, but gets people out.

 He doesn't look like a baseball player...has a  short little, "nothing" swing, but when he hits the ball it goes places. Can run, also. An all round athlete...he made the highly competitive Varsity hockey team here as a SO, which usually means you have a chance to go D1, but quit to play baseball (and study, I guess).

Chico Escuela posted:

I'm coming to this a little late, but my 2020 recently went through the HA recruiting mill (including at multiple NESCAC and Centennial schools), so I wanted to weigh in with a couple of general thoughts:  

Cast a wide net.  I agree that playing baseball in Maine has its drawbacks; but Colby, Bowdoin and Bates are terrific schools and your son may or may not end up with better options.  A kid who is targeting the NESCAC presumably is a very good student; but very good students have a 10-15% chance of admission at these institutions without a baseball 'tip' from a coach.  Coaches at these institutions typically only have a few tips available each year.  And if your son is thinking HA D3, then let's face it: he is almost certainly not getting drafted.  What goes on in the classroom/science lab means a lot more to his future than what happens on the baseball field.

The process is unpredictable.  There were coaches who seemed very interested in my son who suddenly ghosted him late in the process.  Some coaches never answered repeated emails, even though other schools in their conference that have much stronger baseball programs and academics made him an offer.  Your son may have the entire NESCAC calling him, or maybe only a couple of schools--and you'll never really know why.

Focusing on just a few school is a high-risk strategy.  Maybe your kid falls in love with a particular school but the coach won't support him with admissions.  He can apply as a non-athlete, but even for great students, that is a roll of the dice (unless there is a building on campus named for your son's grandparents). If his first-choice school says "no," then getting near-certain admission as an athlete in a colder climate, or at a school that was 3rd on his list for other reasons, can look very appealing.  If Bowdoin isn't a good fit, don't pursue it.  But I don't think ruling it out because you think it's colder in Brunswick in March than in western Massachusetts, upstate NY or Vermont is a good strategy.

Finally, HS students don't really know what college is like, and don't necessarily have a good grasp of what they want.  My son was focused on very small colleges (mainly because my wife and I encouraged that).  Then, late in the process he announced that he only wanted to attend a larger university.  When my son had this epiphany, there were only two schools that met his new criterion where he had been talking with coaches, and he essentially eliminated a bunch of others from consideration.  Luckily things worked out and my son is going to what emerged as his first choice. But that was not a given. And it was possible partly because he had thought broadly about potential schools.

Absolutely true re. trying to get into NESCAC without a preferred slot from the coach.  These schools have a ton of sports rosters to fill and only have a total student population of about 2,000.  When you start factoring in legacies, kids with deep pocketed parents, diversity students, there are not many spots left for the regular student (no matter how high the SAT or GPA).