D3 baseball

My son is a freshman pitcher for a D3 school. As a freshman, he does not expect to get much time on the mound since he is trying to get stronger and gain more experience but would still like to get some innings in the summer at a college summer league. How do get an opportunity to play for one of these teams? We tried contacting 2 teams in the Coastal Plain League and got no response. Thanks.

 

College Summer Leagues

Well I don't know much about a lot of things but here's my 11 cents.

There must be a lot of oppurtunities for this kind of endeavor. There are a lot of leagues out there.

I would say to you: Bring your A game and let it ride! See how you stack up and go from there. Have no fear. Or at least control it. Or try to control it.

Walk on if not invited. Just don't quit.

Maybe you won't even play. But hang out, practice and play and see where it goes.

A player can learn a lot even if he/she doesn't even play.

 

Suggest to your son that he talk with his college head coach about it. Spots on the better summer league teams are often arranged through the networking that takes place between team officials and college coaches. Summer league team officials prefer this approach in large part because of the trust they have in the coach's determination that a player is ready to play in their league.

Keep in mind that it's not unusual for rising sophomores to play in a league considered a notch below the league they play in as rising juniors. A standout performance the first summer can be an important validation point from the better league's perspective.

Best of luck to your son!

 

His college coach is his first, best avenue, but it can be done yourself. Go to collegesummerball.blogspot.com and there is a list on the right side of the page of all the collegiate summer leagues. This needs to be done asap as many teams are already completing their rosters for the "09 season.

 

The reality of college summer ball is humbling to players and coaches at the small college level. I have spent the past five years trying to get players in summer ball and have figured out a few things.

1, most likely he will never play in the CPL. That league is ran by GM's sitting in their towns and waiting for Div 1 schools to call them. There are plenty of small college names scattered through their rosters but it is usually a coach who has developed a relationship with their GM. I have always said these GM's would rather have a red shirt from clemson than an all conference performer from most smaller schools. The one exception, which is not a good gamble, is waiting to see if their roster is unexpectedly low in may.

2, There are three leagues in NC that are excellent and more opened minded to smaller named schools. SCBL, Mountain valley CSL, and a league that was new last year in the charlotte area that tarheel csl. These are the places you should be looking into locally. The one thing I will say is they are much more local kid orientated. Most do not have host family finances. This could work in your favor you live close enough to where these teams play their home games.

3, there are two leagues that I can think of off the top of my head that have open rosters that charge about 500-1000 for the summer. These costs are for host families and to pay for the teams to stay in existence. One league is the KIT-kentucky, illinois, and tenn CSL. The other is the boise CSL. Both have very good players and are certainly worth the investment is you can spare the change. Great experiences in another part of the country.

4, Although everyone has good advice and has best intentions I would consider your sons head coach and what type of relationship your son has with them before asking this kind of question. At this point, most coaches are only considered with getting ready for the spring. Also, they may have already tried and not been able to do anything for all their players. It's probably a conversation they want to ask about once, let their coach know they want to play, and then go get ready for the spring while you do some research and make some calls.

Good luck. This is one of the hardest things a coach has to do every fall at the small college level but there are options out there.

 

Prepster,
good insight. Will have him contact his coach as soon as he comes out from break and see what he can arrange. Thanks for the encouraging words.

 

College sumemr league

Gman13'sdad,
great insight. We'll do just that after the xmas break. I spoke to my son and he says another sophmore pitcher from his team will be playing for the Wilson Tobbs this summer, so we'll try that avenue. Thanks.

 

Olefty,
great info...I did not know stuff like that happen specially in the CPL. It's a shame because we are in Norfolk, VA and the CPL is the closest league to us. He would need no family assistance and could stay home and play. We heard of the Mountain Valley CSL and we did some research showing a lot of small school players. Asa matter fact I saw many of our schools from the USA South being represented there. That may be the way to go. How is the coaching staff in these leagues?

 

I think the coaching in all summer ball is about all the same. In fact, the cape cod league and valley league are both considered top level leagues and there are several high school coaches in both. I guess my point is summer ball is not instructional based.

I coached two summers in the alaskan baseball league and my job was to coordinate innings amongst the staff mainly. I spent a lot of time working with guys that asked for it but it is not a summer coaches job to change a player. He may in fact be undermining the school coaches instructions.

I want you to take this as a very non personal observation..
Your son is at a d3 school and not going to get a lot of innings this first season. You are going to have to do a little extra work. There are teams out there for him but you may not get your first choice. Don't worry about whether it is you or the coach doing the leg work. Most small college coaches only have a few summer ball contacts anyways and them cold calling a GM won't make that much difference than you calling.

 

Some good advice here.