Baller,
Did your son have an opportunity to play a higher level of age during Summer baseball? Do you know Pro scouts in Florida?
Maybe you can organize Freshman College baseball.
At MSU there was 100 on the Freshman team, 4 years later only 5 played as Seniors in the College WS .
Prepare by playing at the highest level at age 15-16.
Bob
My son's D3 has gotten more transfers in the past few years, mostly dropdowns from D1, but not all of them get much playing time. Freshman do play if they deserve it, hasn't changed much in that respect.
Here is what I wonder. Knowledgable people tell us that JUCO coaches are good at developing players, but that many D1 (and especially P5) coaches tend to have time to work only with players who are playing. So if that's not you, you are not being developed.
With no transfer limits now, there will be more moving around, but how many of those players will be better than they were the previous year?
And what will that do to baseball overall?
@Baller1010 posted:To add to my thought and what I said at the beginning - When I put it together
@CollegebaseballInsights might be able to tell you how many players were in each class for all of D1 this season. That might give you an idea whether or not your theory holds water.
@adbono posted:I just read thru most of the comments in this thread from a year ago. Some of them are spot on one year later. Some didn’t age so well. Here is what I am seeing….the glut of players has not thinned out. A tremendous over supply still remains - and it’s affecting every level of college baseball. The 2024 HS grad class will be negatively impacted as much as any prior class - if not more. Most D1 schools are using the transfer portal as their highest priority in recruiting. Followed by JuCo players. HS players are a distant 3rd and only the absolute best are authentically being recruited by competitive D1/D2 programs. Bottom line is that it’s absolutely brutal for HS players - and there is nothing they can do about other than adjust their sights. IMO HS players should open their mind to any level of college baseball that gets them on the field. It doesn’t matter if it’s JuCo or D3 or whatever. HS is no longer a proving ground for college recruiters the way it used to be. HS players are not developed at 4 year schools anymore (some will contend that they never were). If a player can’t help the program from day 1 he is shown the door. HS players need to check their ego and accept that what they have done so far doesn’t mean what it used to. To get to the desired destination they will have to prove themselves at the college level. For most of them that means starting at a lower level than they planned on, playing well there, and then moving on (or not). I tell every player I advise that they need to be in the top half of the roster on any team they are on in college. You are totally expendable if you aren’t. If you are a pitcher you need to be in the top 8 on the staff. If you are a position player you need to be no less than a trusted backup at multiple positions. Being a starter is preferred. If you aren’t valuable to the program you won’t be retained year to year. As a player, this is the time you have to under promise and over deliver. Nothing matters other than your production as a player. This is the business side of college baseball. It’s cold. It’s hard. It’s brutal. And most 18 year old college freshman are not ready for it. And by most I mean almost all.
I find Adbono is correct 97+% of the time. I still remember him telling all of us early during COVID we were all going to get it, vax'd or not. Just read this post to my 17 year old.
Remember, going JUCO is not all rainbows and unicorns leading to a 6 figure NIL deal from a P5 on the other side.
https://x.com/TheNoto24/status/1801011341538296239
This echos what I've seen from several of my son's old summer ball teammates who went to a JUCO.
Of course there are many kids that go the JUCO route that have great outcomes, they probably had a plan going in and leading up to going the JUCO route.
@nycdad posted:Remember, going JUCO is not all rainbows and unicorns leading to a 6 figure NIL deal from a P5 on the other side.
Juco and rainbows; there’s two words I’d not heard in the same sentence before…
For my son, juco was learning to really grind – not the HS grind, but real world grinding without a safety net. Where pretty much everything was suboptimal except the time on and off the field spent with his teammates.
There was theft, drugs, PED’s, a suicide (different sport, same dorm complex), expulsions, quitting, doing team laundry, outrageous but funny infraction punishments, constant browned out power (10 minutes to heat water for a cup of hot water in the microwave), something died in the AC/heat vents, not enough seats on the team bus (if you’re late you sit on the floor) and plenty of stuff I never heard about. I’m sure in this PC pointed world, it’s better than it was in ’15-’16, but it’s a grind and you need to embrace the suck to succeed – my son loved it, excluding the tragedies of course, but that’s life.
I feel the suck of juco is pretty good at removing entitlement and is great preparation for reality. It sure seemed to help my son’s readiness for a P5 and MiLB grind (a little less suck, but a lot more business focused). Entering juco without a credit transfer plan and a plan “B” beyond baseball is being ill prepared. My son needed his AA and it took summer school to accomplish his transfer goal and he was looking at the coast guard if he didn’t get drafted or D1 opportunity. For most juco should be the springboard to something else, not the goal - and that springboard needs a plan...
I think juco is a great option for many (your mileage my vary), but it’s a grind and you need to be sure the after juco plans are defined, managed and executed.
@JucoDad posted:Juco and rainbows; there’s two words I’d not heard in the same sentence before…
For my son, juco was learning to really grind – not the HS grind, but real world grinding without a safety net. Where pretty much everything was suboptimal except the time on and off the field spent with his teammates.
There was theft, drugs, PED’s, a suicide (different sport, same dorm complex), expulsions, quitting, doing team laundry, outrageous but funny infraction punishments, constant browned out power (10 minutes to heat water for a cup of hot water in the microwave), something died in the AC/heat vents, not enough seats on the team bus (if you’re late you sit on the floor) and plenty of stuff I never heard about. I’m sure in this PC pointed world, it’s better than it was in ’15-’16, but it’s a grind and you need to embrace the suck to succeed – my son loved it, excluding the tragedies of course, but that’s life.
I feel the suck of juco is pretty good at removing entitlement and is great preparation for reality. It sure seemed to help my son’s readiness for a P5 and MiLB grind (a little less suck, but a lot more business focused). Entering juco without a credit transfer plan and a plan “B” beyond baseball is being ill prepared. My son needed his AA and it took summer school to accomplish his transfer goal and he was looking at the coast guard if he didn’t get drafted or D1 opportunity. For most juco should be the springboard to something else, not the goal - and that springboard needs a plan...
I think juco is a great option for many (your mileage my vary), but it’s a grind and you need to be sure the after juco plans are defined, managed and executed.
This is an excellent and very well written post. And its 100% accurate. In Texas. And in other areas where Juco baseball is strong. That’s why I am a strong advocate for Junior College baseball. But, and I have said this many times, regional differences are huge when it comes to this topic. The fact is that there just isn’t the same caliber of Juco baseball in NY/New England as there is in TX/Fla/Ca. Almost 40 million people live in NY/NE and their frame of reference is probably local. Based on comments I have heard and read from people in that part of the US it’s clear that most of them haven’t seen high end Juco baseball. They haven’t seen Juco benefit kids in their area to the extent that me and @JucoDad have seen in Texas. That’s why the range in comments about the #JucoExperience are all over the place. It depends entirely on where you live. At least that is my perception.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:@CollegebaseballInsights might be able to tell you how many players were in each class for all of D1 this season. That might give you an idea whether or not your theory holds water.
This Incoming Recruiting Summary Guide will show the trends since 2022 season, otherwise the information in the system in other forms.
Adbono and JucoDad;
You are both "on target". In addition the quality of "creative" Coaches similar to Jerry Weinstein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Weinstein.
When I coached the Chicago Cubs Scout team with games against Jerry's Sacramento City College team, it was a 5 hour lesson in the "art" of baseball development.
Our team was HS age players + Kenny Williams "future President of the White Sox.
Bob
The eligibility issue can happen anywhere. We had a local high school that hired a new college counselor. That year several D1 recruits across all of their sports teams didn't qualify for their 4 year school. It all stemmed from an online math class she told them they could take that wasn't approved.
