Who are the best D3 college baseball programs at this time?

I have a 2022 that also just started HS. I'm not even sure he can handle the load of HS ball and school work. He got a small taste of this in the fall because that's when our school does tryouts (sept -> Columbus Day) and it was difficult to say the least. Finished first marking period with an 80 average. Not even thinking about colleges for him until he can get his grades up. My 2020 became a machine around his sophomore year, understood that his junior year would be by far his toughest year to date with recruiting, SATs, getting his GPA a few ticks up, gym, working out, etc.

I would say, get the grades as high as possible now in the fall/winter, because depending on when your school starts to practice, you'll have less time in the spring.

BishopLeftiesDad posted:

I can tell you that was my son when he first started HS. However we all knew the potential was there, however things just did not click. Until we took him to Kent States baseball Camp thanksgiving of his Freshman year. Then Kent State Coach, Scott Stricklin, sat all the young men down before the camp started and in no uncertain words, explained how important grades were. He talked about it for a half an hour or so. 

After that it clicked for my son. His grades improved. He wanted to play in college and he knew there would be more options open to him if he was a good student. He also started taking a challenging schedule, instead of an easy one. He actually enjoyed school more and met some new friends, with a more academic bent. 

I suggest if you have concerns, that you continue to try and motivate him and find what makes it click for him, so he does not become the kid in this thread. 

I  know this is easier said than done. 

A HS teammate of my son's who had a cavalier attitude towards schoolwork happened to share a plane ride, and conversation, with the RC from LSU, which was one of his dream schools for playing BB at. The (15yo at the time) had to hear that school marks were important from someone like that, rather than his parents, counsellors, or teachers. The kid, while not brilliant, devoted himself to  school as he now understood that it was as important to his BB success as off season workouts were.

  He is now pitching in D1 ball, for a prestigious (academically) program. Not a genius, but he pulled up his academic socks high enough so as to allow him to be admitted in to most D1 schools.

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

2019&21 Dad posted:

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

My son will also (fingers crossed) will be playing in the SCIAC.  He had options for some lower end east coast D1's and was in the running at an Ivy but ultimately chose to 1) stay somewhere warm & 2) attend a high academic school.  Although, if the Ivy was offered he would have absolutely braved the cold and gone there.

I have a neighbor who used to coach girls basketball at Caltech.  She told us she had to completely change her perspective and re-define what success meant.  As an example, she had a girl who for the life of her could not figure out how to play a 2-3 zone, HOWEVER, this same girl actually discovered a BRAND NEW PLANET!  So yeah, thats winning.

SoCal OG posted:

2019&21 Dad posted:

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

My son will also (fingers crossed) will be playing in the SCIAC.  He had options for some lower end east coast D1's and was in the running at an Ivy but ultimately chose to 1) stay somewhere warm & 2) attend a high academic school.  Although, if the Ivy was offered he would have absolutely braved the cold and gone there.

I have a neighbor who used to coach girls basketball at Caltech.  She told us she had to completely change her perspective and re-define what success meant.  As an example, she had a girl who for the life of her could not figure out how to play a 2-3 zone, HOWEVER, this same girl actually discovered a BRAND NEW PLANET!  So yeah, thats winning.

I hear you about the cold. We're in Pennsylvania and with each passing freeze SoCal looks better to him! We visited last summer and I gotta say, it has it's draw. He's also still holding out hope for MIT and would only go north and brave worse cold, for a school like that or, like your son, an Ivy. 

When I look back on his youth playing days at how much I worried, I wish I had just enjoyed it more. I did enjoy it, gradually learned along the way, and wouldn't trade the whole experience with him and the family for anything. I just wish I didn't stress over every little thing as much. I did get better at letting go however as time wore on and this site was a good part of that learning process, so I thank all who contribute to the collective wisdom. At least we did always put academics first and that will serve him well the rest of his life, as will all of the intangibles learned on the athletic side. 

Best of luck to all on your individual journeys.

SoCal OG posted:

2019&21 Dad posted:

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

My son will also (fingers crossed) will be playing in the SCIAC.  He had options for some lower end east coast D1's and was in the running at an Ivy but ultimately chose to 1) stay somewhere warm & 2) attend a high academic school.  Although, if the Ivy was offered he would have absolutely braved the cold and gone there.

I have a neighbor who used to coach girls basketball at Caltech.  She told us she had to completely change her perspective and re-define what success meant.  As an example, she had a girl who for the life of her could not figure out how to play a 2-3 zone, HOWEVER, this same girl actually discovered a BRAND NEW PLANET!  So yeah, thats winning.

I don’t believe this post discovering a planet can be topped.

Dont knock Cal Tech Baseball. They have some momentum. They’ve won twelve games over the past two seasons. It’s not the noteriety of losing 310 straight. But wining a few is more fun.

Correction: Men’s basketball lost 310 straight. Baseball only lost 228 in a row.

"You may be beating us now. But you will be working for us later!”

2019&21 Dad posted:

SoCal OG posted:

2019&21 Dad posted:

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

My son will also (fingers crossed) will be playing in the SCIAC.  He had options for some lower end east coast D1's and was in the running at an Ivy but ultimately chose to 1) stay somewhere warm & 2) attend a high academic school.  Although, if the Ivy was offered he would have absolutely braved the cold and gone there.

I have a neighbor who used to coach girls basketball at Caltech.  She told us she had to completely change her perspective and re-define what success meant.  As an example, she had a girl who for the life of her could not figure out how to play a 2-3 zone, HOWEVER, this same girl actually discovered a BRAND NEW PLANET!  So yeah, thats winning.

I hear you about the cold. We're in Pennsylvania and with each passing freeze SoCal looks better to him! We visited last summer and I gotta say, it has it's draw. He's also still holding out hope for MIT and would only go north and brave worse cold, for a school like that or, like your son, an Ivy. 

When I look back on his youth playing days at how much I worried, I wish I had just enjoyed it more. I did enjoy it, gradually learned along the way, and wouldn't trade the whole experience with him and the family for anything. I just wish I didn't stress over every little thing as much. I did get better at letting go however as time wore on and this site was a good part of that learning process, so I thank all who contribute to the collective wisdom. At least we did always put academics first and that will serve him well the rest of his life, as will all of the intangibles learned on the athletic side. 

Best of luck to all on your individual journeys.

 

This +100%.  Enjoy the ride, enjoy the time spent with son/daughter/family.  Now that my guy is older, one of the things I miss the most are just the simple car rides.  The time we used to have together, just us, just talking about anything and everything.  Luckily, he's in the 3% of kids who get to continue to play the game, at an amazing school, and added bonus he's close enough where I get to watch the last 4 years of him playing baseball.  So lucky.

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

That list is handy.  There are plenty of schools in the top half of that list that I would be  happy if my son attended!  He's in the "let baseball open college doors" camp rather than the "let college open baseball doors" camp.  He has made it clear he has no interest in playing baseball for a safety school (or worse).  If it came to that, he has said he would hang up his cleats and go to the best college he could get into based solely on his academics.

2019&21 Dad posted:

I can tell you my son's preference is in line with this suggestion and he (and I) is anxiously awaiting Caltech's EA admission decision--hopefully this Saturday. He may not win many games playing at Caltech, but I think his career prospects in Physics would work out just fine going there! He's supported by both the departing coach, Matthew Mark and newly hired Kevin Whitehead. He has excellent academic credentials competitive with anyone to apply there, but he's hoping that baseball can be the differentiator from the thousands of other similarly qualified candidates. Ultimately, my advice to anyone in HS would be to focus more on academics because the potential opportunities there (now and future) far outweigh the athletic ones. But keep developing athletically because that might help be a "hook" in a competitive admissions situation.

Good Luck!  CalTech is fantastic!  Hope it works out for him!

LuckyCat posted:

JCG posted:

RJM is dead on. Look at it this way, would you rather see your kid go to one of the top 10 schools on that list, or would you rather seem him go to a school like Caltech, which I know without looking is near the bottom?

But you can try to have both, to a certain extent.  We have a user who, before his kid's baseball career came to an end, tried to aggregate baseball quality and academic quality on one list.  It's pretty good.

 

https://community.hsbaseballwe...ball-college-ranking

That list is handy.  There are plenty of schools in the top half of that list that I would be  happy if my son attended!  He's in the "let baseball open college doors" camp rather than the "let college open baseball doors" camp.  He has made it clear he has no interest in playing baseball for a safety school (or worse).  If it came to that, he has said he would hang up his cleats and go to the best college he could get into based solely on his academics.

Good approach. My son may end up playing club baseball somewhere based on the right academic fit being the priority over the ability to play somewhere. Club ball can be alot of fun and great experience too, and would allow a greater focus on a rigorous major like engineering at a high academic school. 

Good luck to your boys, SoCalOG and 2019&21.  Let us know how it turns out!  This is an exciting time for ED applicants!

RJM posted:

SoCal OG posted:

2019&21 Dad posted:

JCG posted:

 

 

 

 

Correction: Men’s basketball lost 310 straight. Baseball only lost 228 in a row.

"You may be beating us now. But you will be working for us later!”

When I read this as an entrepreneur who employs several PE's it smells of arrogance - you best get your ass to work before you start stepping on people. You may well employ a tremendous amount of people but it won't be solely because your degree is from XYZ - HA school. 

Full disclosure none of my PE are from Caltech...or any other HA - LOL those types who are actually good are very expensive and the ones who aren't great want to be expensive! 

Update: 2019 got accepted at Caltech on Saturday. Very happy for him after all his hard work and sacrifice, although not sure if he will end up going there or not. If it wasn't clear across the country it would be a slam dunk for him. But it's one of his top 2 schools, MIT is the other and he'll hear from them this coming Saturday.

I can say that baseball was most probably the differentiator that got him into Caltech, which beyond the love of the game, was his primary goal for his post HS playing. Grades, test scores, awards, honors, STEM extracurriculars are all pretty much table stakes there. I think the coach's support on his app probably made a difference. Hopefully the same with MIT. He and I know you dont' go to Caltech to win ball games and that's fine. If he can play ball to balance out the stress of all night problem sets in college and hopefully graduate from a place like that he'll be happy and hopefully well on his way to standing on his own 2 feet and not in my basement!!! 

Congratulations to your son. Goegraphy aside, if kids get into CalTech and MIT which school do they typically select?  I’m guessing if NASA is the goal it would be CalTech due to JPL’s location. But otherwise? 

MIT is decent in baseball. They were 19-14 in 2018. They played 15 games (4-11) against ranked or strong, typically ranked teams. They were 11-6 in conference. 

RJM posted:

Congratulations to your son. Goegraphy aside, if kids get into CalTech and MIT which school do they typically select?  I’m guessing if NASA is the goal it would be CalTech due to JPL’s location. But otherwise? 

MIT is decent in baseball. They were 19-14 in 2018. They played 15 games (4-11) against ranked or strong, typically ranked teams. They were 11-6 in conference. 

Thanks RJM. I don't know if there's a pattern or preference between the 2 necessarily. Lots of factors at play. I know JPL is a lure for my son who wants to study physics. He would probably play more baseball at Caltech, but not be nearly as competitive as MIT I'm sure. He loves the LA climate, but a little apprehensive about being so far from home. Another kid from his HS actually is playing baseball at MIT (Soph) and he would know him. He's toured both schools already, and a nerdy physics major like him can't go wrong at either one. He may not have a decision between the two as he isn't as strongly supported for baseball at MIT - we'll know Saturday. 

2019&21 Dad posted:

Update: 2019 got accepted at Caltech on Saturday. Very happy for him after all his hard work and sacrifice, although not sure if he will end up going there or not. If it wasn't clear across the country it would be a slam dunk for him. But it's one of his top 2 schools, MIT is the other and he'll hear from them this coming Saturday.

I can say that baseball was most probably the differentiator that got him into Caltech, which beyond the love of the game, was his primary goal for his post HS playing. Grades, test scores, awards, honors, STEM extracurriculars are all pretty much table stakes there. I think the coach's support on his app probably made a difference. Hopefully the same with MIT. He and I know you dont' go to Caltech to win ball games and that's fine. If he can play ball to balance out the stress of all night problem sets in college and hopefully graduate from a place like that he'll be happy and hopefully well on his way to standing on his own 2 feet and not in my basement!!! 

I'm  surprised to hear that you thought baseball had an impact when it came to Caltech admits. I thought it was one of the few schools that gave no weight to sports.

57special posted:

2019&21 Dad posted:

Update: 2019 got accepted at Caltech on Saturday. Very happy for him after all his hard work and sacrifice, although not sure if he will end up going there or not. If it wasn't clear across the country it would be a slam dunk for him. But it's one of his top 2 schools, MIT is the other and he'll hear from them this coming Saturday.

I can say that baseball was most probably the differentiator that got him into Caltech, which beyond the love of the game, was his primary goal for his post HS playing. Grades, test scores, awards, honors, STEM extracurriculars are all pretty much table stakes there. I think the coach's support on his app probably made a difference. Hopefully the same with MIT. He and I know you dont' go to Caltech to win ball games and that's fine. If he can play ball to balance out the stress of all night problem sets in college and hopefully graduate from a place like that he'll be happy and hopefully well on his way to standing on his own 2 feet and not in my basement!!! 

I'm actually surprised to hear that you thought baseball had an impact when it came to Caltech admits. I thought it was one of the few schools that gave no weight to sports.

Just my 2 cents - I don't know for sure. Of course the grades and test scores all have to be there first and they have to be at a level that could get anyone admitted--there's no compromising on that. Then the EC's that demonstrate interest and aptitude in STEM are also absolutely required, as are some of the holistic rounding out factors. Then, all things being equal, I think athletics can make a difference.

For example, my son said that at Headfirst this summer he approached the Caltech coach to express his interest. The coach was receptive, but first question he asked was what were his SAT's and GPA like. When son told him, demonstrating he could potentially get in on his own, then the conversation shifted into recruiting gear. I know for a fact the new coach advocated for him, and in my opinion, the fact that he is a new coach just coming on board may have influenced admissions to try to give him some support in admitting a recruit. Again, just my opinion.