D1 vs DII

It just depends. Overall, Division I guys are better, but there are exceptions. Sometimes guys have late birthdays or grow later than there teammates and end up signing with Division II teams. In college, they put on a few pounds and really develop into a good player.

A player that comes to mind is Brian Boltz. Boltz signed with Catawba College in 1987 (?) after very little fan fare in high school. He was small in stature coming out of high school but grew a lot in his freshman season. He developed a blazing left handed fastball. He had an August birthday and came back to play Legion Ball after his freshman year and had two games where he struck out 24 batters. I had a buddy older than me playing at NCSU at the time and they were trying to get him to transfer in. He stayed at Catawba. He ended up being drafted after his junior season by the Atlanta Braves where he flew through the minor in two seasons before a series of arm injuries forced his retirement.

 

Lets put it this way. If Mt. Olive (the Division 2 national champs) entered the ACC as the 13th team, they would come in 13th place.

The difference has narrowed between high D2 and low D1, but when you compare D2 programs to the ACC it's not fair. The ACC of the past few years is possibly the most dominant D1 baseball conference in the history. ACC players are simply bigger, stronger, faster, and more talented than the D2 guys.

Every player who goes on to play college ball should be commended for their efforts and nobody should quit playing the game they love if they wish to pursue their dreams, even if it means you end up in D2.

Lets just keep it all in perspective though and not pretend like D1 and D2 are one in the same.

 

D1 vs D2

Kurt Warner, arena league QB who went onto stardom in NFL and won a superbowl as well as All Pro.

maybe everyone here is trying to say any given day, but not everyday? (There are studs that can play at any level, at every level)

If I am wrong, I apologize.

 

This thread is stupid. Are you telling me that Flack couldn't hit 400 off below average D2 pitchers? There is a reason it is D2, and not D1. Flack has faced the greatest conference that you can possibly face at the collegiate level as you can see by how the tournament is going. I saw loads and loads of pitchers from the ACC get drafted, many in which Flack faced while at UNC, but I didn't see many D2 players get drafted. Flack was recruited by one of the best teams in the nation, while your buddy got recruited by a D2 college. I would bet you $1,000,000 that Flack that somebody hitting 400 in D2 would hit 279 or lower in D1 baseball, and in the ACC. This is like saying a 340 hitting minor leaguer is better than a 250 hitting Major leaguer. They play on two totally different levels, with two totally different talent levels.

 

D1 D2 D3 Juco Sandlot....Let them play in peace

Who started this thread is my question?












Ooooops it was my good buddy!

 

How many DII games did you see this past year? Who were the teams? Have you seen Mt Olive plays consistently? Tusculem? Catawba? Francis Marion?

Anyone of those clubs could battle any of the ACC teams consistently. To be honest, Clemson would have struggled this year in some of the D2 conferences.

I have watched both levels for years and there is a fine line that seperates the two. Although there are some, the DII's don't have the quantity of "blue chippers" that you will find at the major D1 level. But outside the Justin Smoak calibre player, the rest are very similar. The biggest difference is the quality in depth of pitching.

I'm not going to go into names of players and such and comparing the two, but many players given D2 schollys had D1 offers as well. Many feel the school was better fit for them academically and/or athletically

 

DI vs DII

Having just started into this process with my son, here are some of the questions we have been talking about between DI and DII...

1. Will your grades open doors to all schools?
(Some DII kids are great players but maybe smelled some perfume in high school and lost track of the books a little..)

2. Will you get to PLAY at an ACC caliber school or will you be a role player? If you are a role player, will you get to continue developing as a baseball player the way you want to?
(Some DII guys decided they could develop better at a smaller school with more playing time - and some of them were right.)

3. Are you still caught between pitching and playing in the field? Do you want to try to do both for a little longer?
(Better chance of doing this in DII...)

The Dustin Ackley's of the world do not have to answer these questions - they are ready immediately out of high school. But there are a bunch of Mike Piazza's who have to decide what is best for their situation both in baseball and in life. Not easy questions to answer, and takes some real self evaluation.

 

Anyone who honestly thinks that Francis Marion could beat Clemson on anything close to a regular basis, is crazy. If they played a 10-game series Clemson might lose once - and that's only because its baseball, the craziest sport of 'em all.

Nothing wrong with D2 baseball. It has it's place and there are some good solid programs and players within D2. The problems start when the D2 folks start acting like their teams can compete with ACC teams. Or when they start acting like hitting .400 in D2 is better than hitting .280 in the ACC.

It's the whole "big fish in a little pond" vs "little fish in a big pond" thing. Sure teams like Mt Olive dominate, put up big stats, and look impressive on the D2 level. Other teams like V-Tech, Duke, and this year Clemson, they take some licks in the ACC.

Just because Clemson struggled against (#1 nationally) Miami, (#2 nationally) UNC, and (#4 nationally) FSU... I don't think that necessarily means they would struggle against Mount Olive, Catawba, Francis Marion, and Tusculem. Big big big big difference here.

Offenses like Miami and UNC put up rather large numbers against the other top division 1 teams in the nation, with those metal bats in their hands. I can only imagine what would happen if they played in a D2 conference.

The reason that D2 schools are a better fit for players than D1 schools is because they will have an opportunity to get more playing time there. Hence, the talent level is not is great so they will get more game action than they would in any level of division 1, much less the ACC. This is great, as players should go wherever they can get an opportunity to play. But that's the truth. Nobody who would get legitimate playing time at an ACC school would voluntarily choose to play D2.

 

BTW, LCLefty and I were laughing last night at some of the comments degrading DII in a Chad Flack thread simply because LCLefty faced Flack four different times and Flack was 0-4 against him. In fact, he can still tell you where he went in the strikezone to get him out all 4 times and LCLefty went to Tusculum and wasn't even one of their starters.

There is a difference in talent levels obviously but it isn't as big as some of you imagine (though I do wonder how many of you have faced D1 and DII guys lately as I know LCLefty has).

 

Ourpasttime,
Re-read Braves post. He said they could battle ACC consistently not beat.