I recommend a paperback called THE ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP PLAYBOOK as it sets out the recruiting process (for any sport) very clearly.
Also, Amherst coaches strongly weight diversity, so perhaps add that school to your list?
2 Likes
Don’t disagree. They want to see their recruits sit over 85 and touch high 80’s+. There is some play if they see a kid that still has some growth left. And yes, there is a pretty clear cutoff between kids they recruit D1 vs D3, mostly in physicality.
1 Like
In normal times, both Headfirst and Showball can be good investments…but, because of covid, the D1 coaches were not in attendance last summer. Both organizations live streamed the event, but it doesn’t seem like many coaches watched those live. There were D3 coaches live in person, but they could not speak with the boys beyond a hi…there could be no recruiting conversations. Further, NESCAC coaches were not allowed to recruit in person…some still attended the events, but did not wear school identifying gear.
Basically, you are going to need to see how covid is going, and talk to the event operators to understand their plans. IMO if the coaches can’t talk to the players, it’s not worth it. Better to continue to reach out to coaches on your own.
Another tool that was effective last year, especially for pitchers, was to live stream an outing for their club team on Twitter…and before the outing, they notified coaches they would be doing this, and tried to get them to commit to view the live stream. This worked for some kids I know.
1 Like
A few more comments…because of the bolus of college baseball players in the system, which will persist for a couple of years, there isn’t a clear cut D1 or D3 type player…a number of kids who would have normally gone D1 fell thru to D3 this year, to the delight of those D3 coaches.
Some D1 programs aren’t bringing in many new 2021s because they just don’t know where they stand with their players wrt their 5th years AND there have been/are many good players in the transfer portal as programs were eliminated. Also, some players left their Ivy teams because Ivys aren’t allowing a 5th year. Lastly, last June’s MLB draft was only 5 rounds (instead of the usual 40), so some guys who might have left their college teams because they were drafted are still there.
So again…lots of guys in the system, even though rosters can be larger for the next few years it is causing a ripple effect that will last beyond even the class of 2022. Hopefully the draft is normal size this June and the pandemic lessens enough for the showcases and recruiting to commence in earnest again.
3 Likes
Forgot about how the draft affects things too! Fingers Crossed for things to settle down a bit!
Thanks for the info!
1 Like
Thanks for the inside information on how those camps went in the 'Covid situation." I like your idea of streaming an event and giving coaches a heads up! Visibility
1 Like
Cinnamon1212, Thanks for the recommendation! I will head over to Amazon and hopefully it’s there to purchase! Anything written down in a logical order that I can carry around is a good thing!
1 Like
@going4three, I wouldn’t worry about whether or not to drop the sport. As @BKSquared suggests, the process is fairly organic. As your son communicates with coaches, you will get the sense of where he is recruitable. From there, he can choose how important baseball is for him when compared with the colleges that are interested in him. In my view, no kid should play (or continue to play) a sport in college just to satisfy a parent.
Similarly, I wouldn’t worry about shooting too high. Provided that you have assembled a large group of potential colleges, the process will self-correct. In fact, I say shooting high is the way to go, provided that you are sensitive about what the coach says. For example, if the Stanford coach says that your son can try out if he gets in, chances are the coach is not too interested in your son as a recruit.
I would take a look at some of the Northern NESCACs that might be looking for a NA (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury). Also take a look at the Patriot League, which is D1 but may not be as competitive as some of the other D1 leagues (e.g., Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh). All great academic institutions.
2 Likes
Aiming high is fine, if the student has an affordable safety in the list that will be satisfying to attend if none of the other colleges produces an affordable admission.
With the ‘bolus’ of players in the bottleneck, (you sound like you are in healthcare, bolus is the giveaway), I am wondering how many decide to go JUCO to sit it out and then apply and get those ‘developing’ years in and keep their eligibility prior to attending a 4 year institution? Not sure this will work for my son, he’s a keener and may die on the vine if school is not challenging enough, he loves to be challenged and stimulated by his peers. He’s on scholarship at a rigorous HS and couldn’t wait to get into IB to be with students who took the classes and learning very seriously.
Thinking of doing research on the D1-D3 schools that have some institutional long-term goals regarding Native American Research or something, they may be willing to admit him because he fits academically and athletically and the bonus would be the developing of a future NA leading scholar for the school. Win-Win all around!
1 Like
I suggest you look at Denison in Ohio, which is a fabulous school for student athletes, offers very generous merit, has a real commitment to diversity and has a terrific record for graduates applying to law school. They are ranked #16 in the country for D3 baseball going into this next season. My son, who also completed the IB Diploma program, is a sophomore at Denison, running track, and it’s been a great experience for him. The athletic facilities and support at Denison are first-rate, and we’ve been very impressed with the academics as well as how the school has dealt with COVID. The NESCAC schools should also be of interest to your son, although a number of those schools do not offer any merit scholarships. Denison is in the NCAC conference, which we liked because the schools are not too far apart geographically and are somewhat similar academically - Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster, etc.
3 Likes
LOL I did spend most of my career in healthcare!
Some kids have gone JUCO and some have re-classed (from '21 to '22). I know several 21s who did this, after a coach said I could have room for you if you re-class.
The graduating JUCO students are part of the excess players problem, as those who completed two years of JUCO need to catch on at a 4-year school next year, be it NCAA or NAIA. My sense is that of the schools on your son’s list, not many bring in JUCO kids every year, but this is how some schools build their teams…by bringing in a handful of JUCOs each year…so those incoming juniors tend to be stronger players than the incoming frosh. And given the choice of many good available JUCO players, some teams are taking these guys instead of freshman.
1 Like
@tkoparent, Never even thought of Denison, will have a look at the school, lovely to get feedback for a fellow IB Dip family (rigor is known only to us! LOL). I like the fact that the travel is not too hectic. I wonder what their baseball metrics numbers look like? Did your son do an academic pre-read? Also, if you and son don’t mind sharing, what were is final IB scores, right now it’s looking half 5’s (HLs) and the other 6 (SL) maybe a 7 in Math by the end of the year. TOK/EE, too early in the game to have a clue. Great academics? Now we are talking; he has a deep love of Baseball that somewhat wins over academics right now but he doesn’t want his efforts and resulting rewards blown too. He thinks that with his grades, he may get advanced standing and have some more choices to adjust to the team training and baseball schedule. What was your son’s experience in regards to this? How was the recruiting process for him at Denison?
Going to a JUCO doesn’t preserve eligibility. Once he starts ANY post high school college or university, his eligibility clock starts and he has 5 years to play 4 seasons. Some schools restrict that to 4 years (don’t allow redshirting).
There are some extensions right now because the NCAA gave an extra year to those who couldn’t play in 2020, but for OP’s son, who won’t enter college until 2022, it will be 5 years to play 4.
1 Like
@Mwfan1921 Now I am going to show my ignorance here about the process however coaches say there are no dumb questions, so here goes: How exactly does this work? Doing a year or two at JUCO and then going to a 4 year academic, don’t you come in as a Junior? Where do the other two years go? Are they allowed to play while they move onto graduate courses? I am a bit hazy about ‘eligibility’ issues.
@twoinanddone Thanks, you just answered my questions I just posted before your post! Next question, so if a freshman goes to a college and then doesn’t play at all his first year, will he get an extra year?
The NCAA doesn’t care what level classes the student is taking (except remedial), but it is the time in college. Yes, some red shirt in athletics for a year while still moving ahead academically, so they can play a year while they are in grad school. That will be the case for many athletes this year as they got an extra year of eligibility due to covid cancelling seasons last spring. Three seniors returned to school as grad students on my daughter’s former team for this season.
The year my daughter graduated, there were 2 students who hadn’t finished their academic work and needed to return to finish their degrees. They had no more eligibility, so they couldn’t play.
1 Like
So there are Athletic and Academic Red-shirts? That is good to know, are those who are not playing their first year due to the strength of those higher on the food chain, allowed to play on a local team somewhere to get some innings in like the club team or is that not allowed?
My kid was also full IB, from a public, urban high school, recruited athlete at Denison. We know baseball is a really close group at Denison. Denison (like all selective LACs) focuses on fit and looks for active, engaged students who value living and contributing to a diverse community. My kid had met with coaching staff as a junior, went to recruiting camp, came back for campus visit with team, and knew at that point he would accept a roster spot if offered. He applied ED, got significant merit, and had a fantastic experience. My kid had shared his stats with the coaching staff and, while there wasn’t a formal pre-read, we knew he was a likely admit without recruiting. Nowadays though, with the increase in apps (over 9000 last year), we probably would be more focused on understanding admission, though I suspect a recruited athlete who has had a successful pre-read is in fine shape. At the time, our concern was more merit money estimate than admissions. I second @tkoparent’s thoughts on the NCAC conference – intense rivalries, reasonable travel.
4 Likes
@Midwestmomofboys, thanks for the information, that really helps. My next question has to do with how diversity policies work with recruiting, ad-coms and coaches. I looked up Denison’s admissions page and DS is within range GPAs, community engagement (Native American work) and his baseball metrics seem to satisfy thresholds. So if a NA has access to some scholarship funds and is recruited academically, will the coach say, you are a likely academic admit but save his slot/support for someone else or does that not matter?