High School Baseball Div. 1 vs JUCO

High School Baseball

Both high school baseball players as well as their parents share the same mentality, thinking that reaching to play division 1 baseball (NCAA) is the main goal for any student. However the paradox is that the same players that think this end up being extremely unhappy about the choice they have made, Division 1 not being the best choice.

When Junior College might be the better choice:

1. You are not one of the top brains in high school. Most of 2.5-3.0 GPA high school students believe that to be the easiest way is to attend a junior college.

2. You might be a draft pick, not picked out of high school, wanting to get the benefits of two-year draft eligibility.

3. You’re one of the chosen players but you’re not good enough to sign a contract and still you would love to play professional baseball. Junior college way gives you the opportunity to either sign or be re-drafted when both seasons-freshman and senior seasons end.

4. You dream of conquering Arizona or Clemson State while you’re being offered from only lesser division 1 schools. If you go to a junior college and show them what your abilities are, you will get the opportunity at the college you really wanted to play at.

There is only one thing both players as well as their parents have to keep in mind: finishing 2 years in a junior college and then being transferred to a division 1 college will lead in one direction: receiving a degree that says “Clemson” or “Arizona State”, but says absolutely nothing about the junior college.

Let’s talk about money now. Almost every division 1 schools (who have 11.7 scholarships for baseball) have to share this money equally with 30-35 players, the player having left a large sum of money to pay. With lower tuition costs and more scholarships (24) many times a junior college can offer 2 free years.

You can save money this simple way: you attend a division 1 school 2 years for free and the next 2 at 50 %, which equals to four years at 75 % savings. All these lead you to a $20,000 save from that 25 % left of every year.

You can also choose a JUCO because of the additional playing opportunities, being able to play against those who are your own age.

Although Junior College sounds good for some of the young players it isn’t the right option for all of them. It’s almost impossible for a 3.5- 4.0 student, who could attend some of the best colleges as Notre Dame or Duke to even take a junior college in consideration since all these top academic schools don’t even consider JUCO transfers.

No matter what the choice is, it’s yours and has got to be the right one. Good luck!

Author: wbdoyle

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1113128_32.html
About the Author: Retired US Navy. Married 20+ years. Home Inchon, Korea. Work Seoul, Korea.

As much as I would really enjoy taking credit for this information I can't, however, I do have some input and additional information.

I want to bring up the idea of smaller NAIA schools as an option for high school baseball players.

There are roughly 1200 players in the major leagues and there are only 5400 players in the minor leagues. This means that about 18% of minor league players make it to the big leagues. That doesn't include college players. To make it simple, the odds are not good that any given player will play professional ball. So what can you get out of playing baseball? A free education. And if it isn't free then the school will pay for a portion of it with scholarships.

NAIA schools are often smaller schools that have strong academic programs. A lot of the schools are liberal arts based or they have a direct affiliation with a christian denomination. The great thing about these schools is that the student to teacher ratio is great. The school I attended was 6:1 student to teacher ratio. This allows the student to be able to concentrate and have a more developed relationship with the professor. The ingredients calls for a higher GPA.

The point is that few people play D1 baseball and even fewer people play in the minor and major leagues. With that said, get out of baseball what you can. Have fun and don't be rule out NAIA schools.