Summer Collegiate Baseball Leagues

Does anyone know anything about the different summer wood bat leagues for college players? I know that the Coastal Plain League around here is strong, but what about the Great Lakes Summer League, how does it compare? Also I have seen two others listed on the internet, the Southern Collegiate Baseball League and the Valley League (Virginia area). Does anyone know anything about either of these leagues. Thanks for any help with this question.

 

Most people think the top 2 summer leagues are the Cape Code League and the Northwoods League.

Not in any particular order, the other top leagues are:

Alaska League: Mostly west coast D1's (Pac-10 +)
Atlantic Collegiate League: Northeast colleges with broad player base
Central Illinois Collegiate League: Big-10 and some SEC's + smaller D1's
Clark Griffith League: Mid-sized D1's
Coastal Plain League: Broad based ... lots of D2's, some D3's and some ACC
Florida Collegiate Summer League: Basically Florida schools including Juco's
Great Lakes League: Upper central, includes some D2/D3 players
Jayhawk League: Central US, includes lots of JUCO players
New England Collegiate League: Broad mix nationally, mainly D1
Pacific International League: Mostly D1/Pac-10
Texas Collegiate League: Heavy Texas influence including D1's/Juco's
Valley League: Lots of SEC/Big-10 plus others including Juco's

The SCBL (Southern Collegiate Baseball League) is very young, only a couple of years old, so it doesn't have the history/tradition of some of the older, more established leagues. It takes time. The college coaches assist a player in getting situated in one of the summer leagues. That will normally happen after fall workouts are completed. The coaches will usually know which league is a good fit for you.

 

Summer League may (or may not) receive monitary support from MLB in their on-going operations. If they do, they must be sanctioned by the NCAA or else players who participate in those leagues risk loosing eligibilibity.

Here is the list of the currently sanctioned summer baseball leagues by the NCAA. Other leagues may be Ok, but will need to be checked out carefully. If a summer league does NOT receive any funding from MLB, it doesn't need to be sanctioned.

ATLANTIC COLLEGIATE BASEBALL LEAGUE
CAPE COD BASEBALL LEAGUE
CENTRAL ILLINOIS COLLEGIATE LEAGUE
COASTAL PLAIN LEAGUE
GREAT LAKES SUMMER COLLEGIATE LEAGUE
NEW ENGLAND COLLEGIATE BASEBALL LEAGUE
NEW YORK COLLEGIATE BASEBALL LEAGUE
SOUTHERN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL LEAGUE
VALLEY BASEBALL LEAGUE

These leagues are only allowed to bring in students of junior and senior colleges who still have some eligibility. No high school students or non-NCAA students (like graduated players) are allowed. This may limit participation by students at NAIA schools, but I'm not sure (and who can tell with the NCAA).
You are not required to play in a sanctioned league. You can participate in non-sanctioned leagues, but they have to follow the NCAA rules.

 

My son has played in the SCBL for the past two summers. Like NCB said, I think his college coach thought this league might be a good fit for him. First summer, mostly D2's and jucos with a few D1s who were mostly position players. There were a couple of D1 pitchers, but seemed like maybe they hadn't thrown a lot of innings in the spring or were redshirts. That was my perception because they struggled and didn't throw a lot of strikes. This past summer, again mostly D2's and some good D1 position players and pitchers. D1 players from Citadel, Davidson, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida International, Charlotte, UNCW. Seemed to be fewer jucos. This summer, the pitchers could all throw strikes. I thought the level of player and competition in the SCBL grew tremendously from summer 03 to summer 04, and may be a trend toward the league being more selective on players in the future, now that they've been around a few years. But the league is still young and growing.
They play about 50 games in a two month period, including the playoffs. It's a lot of baseball after just having finished playing that many games in the spring. And good baseball, too. These guys aren't future major leaguers like many of the players in the more established summer leagues, but I think you may see players from this league get the opportunity to play at the next level.
The league commissioner says the SCBL is another option for players from this region who want to stay close to home and play baseball, work a summer job, and be with their girlfriend, family, etc.