Where are they now

Reasons to leave a program are a personal decision.  It's safe to say a player leaves a program because it does not fit what they want or need (and same for the program).  Rather than hypothesize about it on a message board, I can give you Connor's number and you can ask him yourself.

Selfishly, I wished he would have been able to come back to a local college in the HR area so I could see him work. He'll figure it out.

Let me think on the call.

But are you saying he left because the fit was not there from him or coaches. UVA loses kids left & right. Is there something missed during the recruiting process?

thank you for your knowledge. I mean that in a good way.

This isn't that complicated.  The funnel at a perennial Top 10 power is very difficult.  UVA is recruiting the upper echelon players not only from VA but throughout the East and to an expanding degree nationally.

When a player chooses to take that challenge on they are accepting a very difficult task.  Many will find out that they just aren't good enough, others will struggle with the classroom obligations at a school like UVA and others might just struggle with being away from home or any number of other things.

In the end with 15 recruits +/- per year probably only a few will become contributors at any point during the 4 or 5 year cycle.  Even fewer will become significant factors as freshmen or sophomores.  That means there are probably about 10 players from every class that enters UVA that might want to leave for any or all of the reasons mentioned.  They are almost certainly going to be welcomed with open arms at hundreds of schools that play baseball. 

If they are unhappy or it isn't working out - leaving is a very viable option for these kids.

Agreed lots of reasons kids transfer. Son's girlfriend just asked for her release from a D1 volleyball program literally two hours ago. 

800 miles from home, parents just divorced, didn't feel she fit in at school outside of volleyball. Volleyball wasn't ideal but was not a top factor in why she left just wasn't important enough for her to want to stay. 

Sometimes it's a poor fir and you can't know until you are there. 

luv baseball posted:

This isn't that complicated.  The funnel at a perennial Top 10 power is very difficult.  UVA is recruiting the upper echelon players not only from VA but throughout the East and to an expanding degree nationally.

When a player chooses to take that challenge on they are accepting a very difficult task.  Many will find out that they just aren't good enough, others will struggle with the classroom obligations at a school like UVA and others might just struggle with being away from home or any number of other things.

In the end with 15 recruits +/- per year probably only a few will become contributors at any point during the 4 or 5 year cycle.  Even fewer will become significant factors as freshmen or sophomores.  That means there are probably about 10 players from every class that enters UVA that might want to leave for any or all of the reasons mentioned.  They are almost certainly going to be welcomed with open arms at hundreds of schools that play baseball. 

If they are unhappy or it isn't working out - leaving is a very viable option for these kids.

Most have no clue what its like to play at a school like UVA.

No clue.  Not even close.

Infiekd posted:

 Yeah that makes sense I just wonder what it is  with UVA losing so many good players.

 

 

I'll use a board correct version of the phrase. Have you ever heard of trying to put ten pounds of dirt in a five pound bag? It's what major conference (and similar) baseball programs do. They recruit the best. They can end up with thirty-five extremely talented players. Only half will receive adequate playing time between starting, top subs and the mound.

Even though all the recruits are extremely talented there is a pecking order the first day of fall ball. Players play their way up and down the order. My son watched Gatorade POY's underachieve or fail and transfer. He saw sons of MLBers underachieve or fail and transfer. At the end of freshman year players have to take a hard look at themselves. They have to ask themselves if they genuinely see a future where they are. They may have lied to themselves when committing. But now there isn't time to get it wrong. 

TPM posted:

luv baseball posted:

This isn't that complicated.  The funnel at a perennial Top 10 power is very difficult.  UVA is recruiting the upper echelon players not only from VA but throughout the East and to an expanding degree nationally.

When a player chooses to take that challenge on they are accepting a very difficult task.  Many will find out that they just aren't good enough, others will struggle with the classroom obligations at a school like UVA and others might just struggle with being away from home or any number of other things.

In the end with 15 recruits +/- per year probably only a few will become contributors at any point during the 4 or 5 year cycle.  Even fewer will become significant factors as freshmen or sophomores.  That means there are probably about 10 players from every class that enters UVA that might want to leave for any or all of the reasons mentioned.  They are almost certainly going to be welcomed with open arms at hundreds of schools that play baseball. 

If they are unhappy or it isn't working out - leaving is a very viable option for these kids.

Most have no clue what its like to play at a school like UVA.

No clue.  Not even close.

 

It is not just UVA.  It is not easy to play at any school!

JABMK posted:

TPM posted:

luv baseball posted:

This isn't that complicated.  The funnel at a perennial Top 10 power is very difficult.  UVA is recruiting the upper echelon players not only from VA but throughout the East and to an expanding degree nationally.

When a player chooses to take that challenge on they are accepting a very difficult task.  Many will find out that they just aren't good enough, others will struggle with the classroom obligations at a school like UVA and others might just struggle with being away from home or any number of other things.

In the end with 15 recruits +/- per year probably only a few will become contributors at any point during the 4 or 5 year cycle.  Even fewer will become significant factors as freshmen or sophomores.  That means there are probably about 10 players from every class that enters UVA that might want to leave for any or all of the reasons mentioned.  They are almost certainly going to be welcomed with open arms at hundreds of schools that play baseball. 

If they are unhappy or it isn't working out - leaving is a very viable option for these kids.

Most have no clue what its like to play at a school like UVA.

No clue.  Not even close.

 

It is not just UVA.  It is not easy to play at any school!

Yesssss! If that is understood why is it always a hot topic. Like folks dont get, why folks have to bring up players.

Its not in just this topic, someone mentioned a players stats and not understanding a committment, next thing ya know someone figured out who the kid was.

I dont get it.

UVA has the opportunity to recruit only the best players nationally (and even a Canadian or two )

And at any time, there will only be 9 playing.   Even the very good players have to sit.

We have said it so many times on this board, to go where you can play.  Not sure if the coaches at UVA are doing a snow job to get these top recruits to commit, or if the players have glitter in their eyes.  Probably both.  

My son has played with a good portion of the UVA players over the years and against all of them.   One player friend told him that all the players dislike the coaches there (player's opinion).   This summer on son's summer collegiate team, players from all across the country said they hated their coaches.  Don't go to a school because you like the coach.  The coach could leave before the player shows up on campus, like in keewartson's case, or you could clash with a new coach later on.  I think this happens more than you think.  

As for top programs, I think if you look at other top schools (South Carolina, Arizona, others), you will see the same thing.  This is on the Virginia Forum, so we (from VA) all know some of these guys.

Son played with Eason and Lowry several times one summer and they were top players.  I hope they both land on their feet at a D1 next year if that is what they want. 

keewart posted:

This summer on son's summer collegiate team, players from all across the country said they hated their coaches.  Don't go to a school because you like the coach.  The coach could leave before the player shows up on campus, like in keewartson's case, or you could clash with a new coach later on.  I think this happens more than you think.  

 

Also not uncommon for guys to have a newfound appreciation for their high school coaches.  

I've watched this thread with interest.  My son is a SO at a Virginia D1 and we've had some long talks about many things in the past couple of years and I'll share what he has shared with me.

First off - to reiterate what everyone says here - Playing D1 baseball is hard.  Not just at schools like UVA - at every D1.  Learning to budget time. Learning to register early for classes so you can get that 9am class instead of the 1pm class, since you are on the field by 2pm or so almost everyday.  Not to mention mandatory study halls that almost always happen later at night during the week. Then there is position specific practice.  My son is a pitcher so I would expect IF and OF and 2 way players would have even more to worry about.  That's just the "mechanics" of getting the schedule down etc.  

Next up is coach and player interactions, not to mention expectations of coaches and of course the players themselves.  My son told me I was dead on when I told him that sometimes a Coach will try to change you, simply because you aren't effective.  There is a fine line between respecting and learning from the coaching staff and still keeping the faith when you know you are doing it the right way.  Especially with pitchers...every pitcher is different and some things simply don't work for some pitchers.

I honestly think my son benefited (in the end) from having a pretty serious injury early in his HS career. It was a lower back stress fracture.  It was diagnosed correctly but inefficiently treated and even after HOURS of physical therapy there was still pain.  Pain he played through without mentioning it. Ended up seeing a new doctor who advised my son that IF he thought he had any sort of future in baseball (college etc) he would sit his ENTIRE HS Junior year and heal.  He did.  It nearly killed him sitting in the dugout every game not being able to play.  He worked his butt off to get back into playing shape and I'm happy to say right now, he's in the best shape of his life.  

He was offered a roster spot late in the recruiting process with no athletic money. He took the opportunity and by the end of his FR season he led the team in appearances from the bullpen and in saves, even snagging a Conference award along the way.  He also jumped neck deep into researching his craft - pitching.  He lived in the weight room and constantly worked on improving his mechanics / delivery etc.  If something worked he kept at it, if it didn't, he moved on.  Played Summer ball in the CPL.  By the end of the Summer more than a few CPL teams they played against had already contacted his college coach about him playing with them after his SO year.  He continued to work out and get stronger.  His build, his strength, his stamina and his velocity (not coincidentally) kept improving.  He had his end of the season meeting with this Coach and came away with a good chunk of athletic money.  I think he's most proud of that.....because he earned it.

He now lives off campus (it's actually cheaper). No meal plan. On his own motivation, he goes to the grocery store once a week, makes all his meals for the week on Sunday for the rest of the week.  He views food as FUEL and nothing more 99% of the time.  He's constantly reading and talking about different workouts and other things all geared towards improving.  This Winter break he lived at the local gym.  6am every morning he was in the weight room. Then running. In bed pretty much every night b 10pm.  ALL on his own volition.  I couldn't be more proud and I've told him that.  That pride has nothing to do with how well he's performed on the field - that's just icing on the top of the cake.  Before the season started this year, he cut weight...then started bulking up for the start of the season.  He lost almost 20lbs last year during the season.  It's something most baseball people don't talk about, but it happens to almost every player. He's well in the 90's velocity wise, but more importantly he's worked even harder on developing all 4 of his pitches.  Told me that if he couldn't throw ANY pitch for a strike in any count / situation, then the pitch wasn't "there" yet.

We still talk about all the players he and I knew from Travel, HS etc - and so many of them step off the journey for a million different reasons - some willingly others not so willingly.  A player from his HS, who graduates this year, asked him what it was like - college baseball - and my son told him that if it was JUST baseball it wouldn't be so hard...but it is literally everything else on top of baseball that can make it a grind. My son summed it up best, when I mentioned that a player we both knew (several years older) had finally hung it up...he'd spent 3-4 years in the minors.  My son said "I talked to him.  He just hit the wall."

The "Wall".  The point where your desire and love for the game is overcome by a million other things..injury, ability, playing time, social life, coaches etc etc etc.

Excellent post, CTandC.  Really drives some points home.  And huge congrats to your son and your parenting.   

That was a great post. Coaches love players like your son.

It's great to hear some positive things about programs and coaching.  

Best of luck to your son this season.

this is just so impressive and inspiring -- printing it out for my son to read...

C,

Much to be proud of there, congrats.  Wishing C continued success.

Thanks for the all the replies.  Just to clarify, my son is by no means perfect.

In all honesty, I wouldn't have blamed him one bit for hanging it up after dealing with his injury and all the obstacles it caused.  The fact is that HE had to WANT it.  No one else could do it for him.  That was something he had to decide for himself.  

And R - Thanks for that. I wish the same for C and I know you are proud.  Aspiring to be a MD and having the grades to back it up - along with playing baseball - has to be ridiculously hard.

MAM posted:

this is just so impressive and inspiring -- printing it out for my son to read...

 

Here, here!

I just "copied and pasted" and emailed it to son at boarding school!!

We certainly are proud.  He chose a difficult road Pre-Med and 2 way baseball player, but I am thrilled to share that in the fall he was accepted to Medical School through an early admission program. 

Recently, I have encountered several (now) young men that Craig played with/against along the way.  To a man, I was impressed with how they have grown and matured atheletically, socially, and emotionally.   They all appear to "get it" and that seems to me to have been to biggest benefit from this path.

This thread is about where young men are now after leaving UVA recently, my 10,000 foot view (not knowing any of them personally) is that they realized the situation didn't fit and they sought something more appropriate.  Unless they did something to warrant being asked to leave (and I don't believe that to be the case), this is all part of the learning, growing, and maturing process. 

I feel I would be remiss if I didn't add something - something that I see as an almost recurring theme when it comes to kids making it to the next level (College) in their journey and how many seem to transfer out.

Liking or no liking the Coach shouldn't even be in the top 5 for decisions when it comes to baseball and college.

Sure, there are 'extreme' situations that may be the exception - but picking a program where like of the coach is a BIG factor is a mistake in my lowly opinion.

Coaches in College baseball are hired to WIN. If they don't, many times they are replaced. If they DO WIN, many times they are recruited (just like good players) and they move on to what they believe to be better opportunities.

Remember - a college coach's job is to WIN.  NOT make friends.  That is their livelihood we're talking about.

That being said - kids have to have confidence in their abilities.  Sure they can and should study their craft (whether it's pitching, hitting, fielding etc) and try things, experiment - all geared towards getting better.  But when a hitter goes into a slump, a coach will instinctively try to change that hitter, because hitters need to hit.  That advice MAY be the greatest thing since sliced bread, or it could be just a basic or detailed rehash of a technique that might agree or disagree with the hitter's current methods.

This is where maturity plays a role.  I've always encouraged my son to nod his head, say "yes sir" and do whatever the coach wants AT THAT particular time.  IF he was performing well ( good players know this regardless of what stats show or don't show)  then he should do what he knows to be right for him in game situations, being SURE to keep the following in mind:

If the player is successful, many coaches will just assume that the "change" did it.  That's human nature.  But if a hitter was barreling up the ball and hitting line drives RIGHT AT players, most wouldn't change a thing.  

They ALSO have to have maturity to realize if they DO NOT succeed, they can be called out by the Coach for NOT adhering to their advice / instruction.  

Just my 2 cents.

ctandc posted:

I feel I would be remiss if I didn't add something - something that I see as an almost recurring theme when it comes to kids making it to the next level (College) in their journey and how many seem to transfer out.

Liking or no liking the Coach shouldn't even be in the top 5 for decisions when it comes to baseball and college.

Sure, there are 'extreme' situations that may be the exception - but picking a program where like of the coach is a BIG factor is a mistake in my lowly opinion.

Coaches in College baseball are hired to WIN. If they don't, many times they are replaced. If they DO WIN, many times they are recruited (just like good players) and they move on to what they believe to be better opportunities.

Remember - a college coach's job is to WIN.  NOT make friends.  That is their livelihood we're talking about.

That being said - kids have to have confidence in their abilities.  Sure they can and should study their craft (whether it's pitching, hitting, fielding etc) and try things, experiment - all geared towards getting better.  But when a hitter goes into a slump, a coach will instinctively try to change that hitter, because hitters need to hit.  That advice MAY be the greatest thing since sliced bread, or it could be just a basic or detailed rehash of a technique that might agree or disagree with the hitter's current methods.

This is where maturity plays a role.  I've always encouraged my son to nod his head, say "yes sir" and do whatever the coach wants AT THAT particular time.  IF he was performing well ( good players know this regardless of what stats show or don't show)  then he should do what he knows to be right for him in game situations, being SURE to keep the following in mind:

If the player is successful, many coaches will just assume that the "change" did it.  That's human nature.  But if a hitter was barreling up the ball and hitting line drives RIGHT AT players, most wouldn't change a thing.  

They ALSO have to have maturity to realize if they DO NOT succeed, they can be called out by the Coach for NOT adhering to their advice / instruction.  

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

Great post.

Its about winning, thats the bottom line. In every sport, thats what coaches strive for, or they are out of a job.  The player needs to make the best of the situation, move forward, and remember there is no crying in baseball!

I was curious to the OP original question and did a little research for my son's year (2014) based on Perfectgame (Virginia) rankings:

15 players are ranked 1-499, 8 more in the top 500 listing, and 16 in the top 1000 listing for 39 total 1-1000.

Of these 39:

7 were drafted out of high school.  3 signed.

5 are not playing anymore or are not rostered this year.

7+ are not playing where they originally committed. 

2 did not play baseball in college (that I could see).

My predictions:  ~11+ will go in the draft this year, or next, plus another ~6+ in the High Follow category.