Best baseball programs at New England Preps

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>This fall is our school search/visit time for my son. His main sport is baseball and it's hugely important that he'll have professional training and proper management (he pitches) to avoid injury. His move to a boarding school means he will give up his private coach.</p>

<p>HS Baseball is not hugely popular in New England as compared to football, hockey, basketball or lacrosse, so it's difficult to compare schools other than to compare wins/losses or see who won the league championship last year.</p>

<p>So, what's the level of baseball (coaching, field conditions, pre-season training) at your school? We're primarily interested in New England boarding schools of ALL levels, not just the elites.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I can only speak for the school that my older son attended and my younger son will be attending, Northfield Mount Hermon. They had a good season the year my older son graduated, and had several kids go on to collegiate play. Last year was very rough, a "building year" according to their new coach (who seems very good). My husband, who is a coach himself, spoke at length with him and was quite impressed. The field is very well kept and has a grass infield. The varsity team travels to Florida for spring training. They continue to have many post-grads, so making varsity can be tough.
That said, I am sure you realize that your son needs to play more than just the hs season if he expects to go somewhere with his sport. I am assuming he plays Babe Ruth All Star and possibly Legion ball in the summer. I understand that you are looking for an "all-around" experience if you are sending your child to boarding school, but there is of course a draw-back for certain sports. Your son will, for example, not be able to play on an AAU team or specialize in his sport on a more year-round basis.
Check out the NMH website; there is a link to the baseball page under the "athletics" tab.</p>

3

<p>Baseballmom,</p>

<p>You are in a situation similar to what we faced when placing goaliedaughter a year ago - pitchers and goalies being very specialized, every team needing a small but limited number.</p>

<p>I can tell you that walking by the diamond at my D's school there is a very long list of championships listed in recent years on the sign. You can PM me for specifics as I don't post my D's school name on public boards. I know they have a couple of players (not pitchers IIRC) in the majors right now. I'm not sure if these were PG types or multi-year students. I also don't know the coaches personally, so I cannot give you a specific recommendation as to whether they have what your son wants.</p>

<p>That being said, I'm struggling a bit to find your order of priorities here. It would seem that your primary concern is pitching coaching, followed by success of team with a broad spectrum of academic alternatives to be considered. From this, I'm gathering that your son wants to play college baseball (and probably not Ivy League - from the willingness to consider a broad range of schools) and wants a school where he can boost his academic opportunities reasonably while developing the skills college coaches will recruit.</p>

<p>If that is your order of priorities, it shouldn't be too hard to get a list of several successful teams and find out where their recent pitchers (who have played more than 1 year - not PGs) have gone onto play. This will tell you if they are developing pitching talent in general. Obviously, this only counts if the pitching coach is a stable member of their faculty (been there a while and going to stay as well).</p>

<p>Another thing to consider is playing time. I know with my D, JV was never an option for 9th grade, with getting varsity playing time being critical (goalies don't develop on the bench). She was lucky enough to step into a single goalie situation, mind you on a lesser team, but for a 9th grader, that is as good as it gets.</p>

<p>I'm not sure how it is handled with pitchers, but I'm pretty sure that sitting on the bench is also not beneficial to a pitchers development as well. So there may be some tradeoff between how much game time vs. quality of team you son is on.</p>

<p>Being open to a broad range of academic situation is probably a good thing as even though baseball is not a top sport in NE, the competition at the top boarding schools is still quite intense as many kids want to pitch for Ivy League Schools and see top prep schools as one method of getting there.</p>

<p>I hope this is helpful and of course you are welcome to PM if you would like.</p>

<p>GD</p>