<p>Are there colleges known for their strong baseball programs? A friend’s son is interested in this and I couldn’t think of one.</p>
<p>Division I NCAA teams will have the most funding, better coaches, better players etc…</p>
<p>[Baseball</a> Division I - NCAA.com](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.com/sports/baseball/d1]Baseball”>http://www.ncaa.com/sports/baseball/d1)</p>
<p>If of course if he is good enough to be scouted for those teams.</p>
<p>Oregon State, Stanford, Arizona, Cal State Longbeach, etc.</p>
<p>This might get you started
[NCAA</a> Division I Baseball Championship Bracket - NCAA.com](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/baseball/d1]NCAA”>http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/baseball/d1)</p>
<p>I think baseball is like most team sports. If you are not a star on a club team in a competitive league that gets attention from college and pro scouts, you don’t have much of a chance of getting recruited, even at Division III schools. If you ARE a star on one of those teams, your mom doesn’t have to ask her friends what the strong college programs are. The strong programs are really competing with the pros for players – most of the starters on Pac-10 or SEC teams (and other strong teams in the Southwest and the Southeast) will have been drafted by a major league team.</p>
<p>Thanks–very helpful. I didn’t know where to start. This student is a sophomore, I don’t know how good he is and i don’t think his Mom knows either, but I said I’d help him look around next year. Of course, his Mom would like to see him at a small LAC. I do know one kid who played at Middlebury and is now playing for a European team.</p>
<p>JHS–I’m sure you are right, but I just wanted a look at some of the schools. I wouldn’t be the one advising about baseball, but other issues of fit.</p>
<p>Rice, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Oregon. I love Vanderbilt’s program. A number of the players go pro, so you need to be pretty darn good.</p>
<p>A lot of college baseball players start out at junior colleges. They’re places that only baseball people have heard of. From there, kids either go pro or go on to a 4 year school.</p>
<p>We just went through this with our oldest. Except for wrestling, baseball is the hardest sport to get a spot in college. Only 1 in 10 HS players gets a chance to continue to play.</p>
<p>Even the JC kids were all-district and all-state players in HS. The difference is, with the rapid turnover of rosters and low tuition, JC coaches are more willing to risk on borderline prospects. The best resource for aspiring college baseball players is HSbaseballweb discussion boards.</p>
<p>He will need the skill level to get noticed. He will need the grades to get admitted. He will need to travel and play in front of scouts and coaches. The first step is to get a realistic evaluation of his future level of play, then start targeting those school’s coaches. Best of luck to the boy.</p>
<p>What type of school is the kid leaning towards? SDSU has Tony Gwynn as the coach and produced Stephen Strasburg.</p>
<p>I think he is open-minded about type of school. I think he has some mild LDs, but I can tell he’s very smart. Don’t yet know grades or test scores. I see Stony Brook has Div I. He is a New Yorker and African American. Mom is an MD. Great kid! It’s really premature for me to be looking around, but isn’t that what we like to do?</p>
<p>Have your friend visit this site - its the baseball eqivalent of CC. Baseball stars will be found wherever they play - doesn’t matter whether they play in a competitive league. While it appears to be a team game, for recruiting purposes it is very much an individual sport. But, make no mistake, to make it to a college team at the D1 level requires a pretty amazing skill set.</p>
<p>[High</a> School Baseball Web](<a href=“http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/]High”>http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/)</p>
<p>Refer to the baseball website above. It has a wealth of information. Use the search/FIND feature if you need to.</p>
<p>[High</a> School Baseball Web](<a href=“http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums]High”>http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums) </p>
<p>FWIW, being a sophomore is NOT too early to start the recruiting process. Although D1 coaches recruit you (not you recruiting them), you do need to reach out to coaches to tell them about yourself, the player. And include your summer/fall travel baseball schedule. A good sophomore is not too young to start the process. keewartson was recruited during his sophomore spring season and verbally comitted the summer between sophomore and junior year. I have read about several 2015s that have already verbally comitted. It is early for D3 schools to recruit a 2014, but not too early to reach out and send coaches an email. They can’t call you or email you back…but you need get your name out there! Being on the best travel team you can play for is key, and going to events where the college coaches attend will get a good player noticed (ie: Perfect Game events).</p>
<p>Have the parent go to hsbaseballweb. It is the best site handsdown.</p>
<p>When you find the schools that hold interest, go to their athletic web site. Most of them will have links for submitting prospective player info and stats. They will want a lot of info including club and summer teams along with links to videos. Some parent use recruiting services for the videos and the player web sites. Other go it alone and make hundreds of individual contacts. Be sure to check and be aware of the NCAA recruiting guidelines and rules. He will need to get registered with NCAA as there is a process to prove eligibility for college play.</p>
<p>In our town the players who are good but not phenomenal end up at non-flagship state u’s or small privates. Some play for community colleges. The two most talented baseball players from our town in recent history both went to UNC- Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Chico State, Yavapai Comm. College, Vandy, Rice, UCLA, ASU, Oregon, OSU. . .</p>
<p>I’ve only spoken to this young man once about college things. I don’t think he has much of an idea what he wants except to play baseball. His Mom says he intends to really work on academic too this year, so that’s a good sign.</p>
<p>Tulane might be an option. They have a good baseball program and are focused on academics. Our local HS has an excellent baseball team, and many of the kids go on to play for Tulane or even LSU, though the latter recruits from all over the country. African American athletes from our local HS have also been getting recruited for athletics at Ivies and Division III LACs, so those may be options as well.</p>
<p>CC has a Recruited Athletes thread. Several parents who contribute there are sons who are baseball players…they will be helpful.</p>
<p>If he isn’t already on the Varsity as a star and leader of the team, forget any strong baseball program. There are too many players better than him. In addition, if he isn’t already on the Varsity as a sophomore, even DII schools and many DIII schools will be full of players better than him.</p>