What makes a D1 recruit?

Oh, Yes -

I know your son well. I have heard several comparisons of our kids as being of similar build and pitching style. Good luck in the coming season. Do you know whether our schools play a home and home this year?

 

I do not know about the up coming season yet but I'm looking forward to it.
I would contact Duke and Wake with your sons SAT score , I think he would be a great fit for them and I know he can pitch at that level..I would be pro-active and see where you stand with some of the college's your son is interested in.

 

This thread has gone in several directions - I'd like to throw in my two cents. To put my comments in perspective, my son is now a sophomore position player at a mid to lower level D1 (RPI around 200) with great academics, was not heavily recruited, and has had a positive baseball experience.

To the original point about what makes a D1 recruit:
All of those "character" traits and academic traits are important, but that's ONLY if the college coaches THINK you have the tools to play at a particular level. They can be very, very picky - including all levels, there are very few college players compared to the number of high school players.

On velocity:
The college coaches love two things: velocity and size. They believe they can teach you control. I am not saying it's right or fair, it's just their mindset. The pitching coach at my son's college says you've just got more margin for error if you make a mistake on an 88 mph fastball than on an 82 mph fastball. And in college a mistake winds up not as a flyball to left, but it lands in the next county.

On "crappy" D1s:
This was indeed a concern as my son weighed the decision of a D1 vs. D3. He wanted to go somewhere he would have a chance to start and not sit on the bench, so top D1s were out of the question (though he did say he would make an exception for Carolina!).

At any level, less than 20% of the teams will advance to the postseason - so even at a top D3 like a Methodist or a Mary Washington if postseason play is your only measure of success, you may be disappointed.

We worried a lot about how well a team could handle winning less than half their games. Baseball is different than, say, football. You could go to a low end football program and win maybe 5 games in your college career and have zero chance when you played a top end D1. In baseball, except for the absolute bottom teams, you still win 1/3 of the games, and on a day when your pitcher is hot can be competitive and win occassionally against a top team. And there is a certain challenge and reward in trying to help a program go from the lower half of a conference to the upper half and contending for a conference championship. I'm not saying it's great, and losing does get frustrating at times, but very few guys wind up getting to go to Omaha. If you're not a top 100 recruit you can't have everything.

There is more to college than baseball. Because of academics, limited number of scholarships, tuition, etc., schools like Davidson, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, William and Mary and their ilk will always have an uphill struggle (though I note that Furman won the SoCon tourney and went to the NCAAs this year). Not many guys in those programs are going to make their living on the ballfield, but the degree they earn is going to carry them a long way. If you have the baseball skill and the academic chops to play at one of those schools, that kind of education and a D1 baseball experience is pretty hard to beat.

Finally, a little off track from the original thread:
We are fortunate that our son's decision turned out right for him and he is finding success and happiness. As you can tell from the opinions in this thread, others would make a far different choice. That is why a college decision is very personal, not based on what mom or dad or coach or posters to TBR think. My opinion is if you go to a college feeling you have made the right decision based on your own priorities, there is a very high liklihood that you will be happy and successful.

-jda

 

:fan_wave2 :fan_wave2 :fan_wave2 :fan_wave2 :fan_wave2

 

Personally, I don't care what direction a topic goes...as long as people are posting a reply

Posting = opinions= discussions= a good thing

I have seen thread topics begin talking about "who's the best team"....and end talking about fishing. It doesn't bother me...I'm just thankful somebody took the time to post. This is the only forum where we will have 5 posters posting and 38 guests viewing...now if we can convert the guests to posting, we could do a better job of staying on topic.

 

Please continue...

I for one appreciate all the input from those who have traveled these roads. Your knowledge and stories are a huge influence on how my son will proceed over the next two years. He is just begining this process and getting some letters of interest. While we are excited, we are cautious. While we all would like for our young player to make it in the D1 programs, I just want my son to be happy with his college experience and get a good education.

Please keep these stories & opinions coming.:229031_ha

 

JDA:

Like Intimidator Coach, I think there's a LOT of truth in your post. Thanks very much for sharing your views.

 

jda, great post,I think you nailed it.

 

Wonder if the fishin is good at the outer banks this month...
Maybe some big blues or puppy drum...spots , croakers...flounder....

 

When you find out...post the update