Wildcat Baseball – College Recruiting Information
For those interested in playing baseball beyond High School, here are a couple tips to help you through the process:
- Make a list of 10 schools you are interested in.
- Go online and fill out each of the 10 schools’ baseball questionnaires.
- Wait to hear back.
- Plan for a visit to the campuses of those showing interest.
- Tell coach Hawkins about your list of 10 and share anycontacts you have had with the school and/or coaches.
- Ask coach Hawkins to make a call or email to a specific college baseball office in your regard.
- Work hard in the classroom, on the field, and in the weight room.
- Do your homework.
- Be a great teammate and citizen.
- Do the right thing, even when nobody else is watching.
How to Get a Baseball Scholarship
There are over 1,600 college baseball programs with almost 50,000 college baseball players. College Baseball is categorized as an equivalency sport which means scholarships can be divided up and given to multiple players. This means most baseball scholarships are not full-ride scholarships, but instead are divided up as partial scholarships. Each division level is different in the number of scholarships they can offer and how they divide them up.
NCAA D1 Baseball Scholarships
There are 298 NCAA DI baseball programs with each team being allowed to offer a maximum of 11.7 scholarships per team. These scholarships can be divided up between multiple players. In order to be in position for scholarships you need to be evaluated by the coaching staff. At the D1 level coaches are contacted by thousands of recruits each year, having an online profile with professional video makes it much easier for coaches to evaluate you. This can give you an advantage against other recruits the coach is considering.
NCAA D2 Baseball Scholarships
There are 238 NCAA DII baseball programs with each team having a maximum of 9 scholarships per team. Many of the athletes who play D2 baseball are good enough to make a team at the D1 level but choose D2 because they can get more playing time and a better scholarship package. The recruiting rules are much the same as they are for D1. You need to be proactive and make it easy for coaches to evaluate you ahead of other recruits.
NCAA D3 Baseball Scholarships
There are 365 NCAA DIII programs across the country. There are more opportunities to play college baseball at the DIII level than any other level of four year schools. DIII programs are not able to offer athletic scholarships but are able to put together financial aid packages that rival the partial athletic scholarships at other levels. With limited recruiting budgets and without the appeal of baseball scholarships many D3 programs have a difficult time finding qualified recruits. For these coaches online profiles and video to help them overcome their limited recruiting budgets. Along with contacting coaches on your own, having your profile online allows a coach to evaluate you without having to take expensive flights and road trips.
NAIA Baseball Scholarships
There are 205 NAIA baseball programs with each program being allowed to offer up to 12 scholarships per team. There are more scholarships available per team at this division level than any other college division. Generally scholarships are divided up between multiple players. Because of the large number of scholarship available many players choose to play at the NAIA level where they can get the best scholarship packages.
IMPORTANT: NAIA Rule Changes. You must now register with the NAIA Clearinghouse.
Junior College Baseball Scholarships
There are 512 junior college baseball programs with each team being allowed to offer up to 24 scholarships. However, it is very rare to find a fully funded Junior College baseball team and there are usually significantly fewer scholarships available. At the junior college level each program is run very differently. Some programs are known for developing athletes not ready to play at a four year school while other programs have players with NCAA D1 talent who are at a 2-year school to get academically eligible.
Author of this information is David Frank (http://www.athleticscholarships.net/baseballscholarships.htm)
Please know that whenever I am contacted by a college about a player, I immediately let that player/family know about the contact. If you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Hope this helps.
Coach Hawkins