Every year approximately 487,000 student athletes participate in high school football. Many of these young athletes are hopeful of one day receiving a college baseball scholarship!
Receiving an athletic scholarship and participating in the exciting world of college baseball is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The competition is fierce among high school athletes as tens of thousands of student athletes are vying for a limited number of scholarship opportunities on the collegiate level.
Annually, there are approximately 8,000 new opportunities for entering college freshmen to make it onto a 4-year or 2-year college roster. That means less than 7% of graduating high school senior baseball players will make it to the next level.
Division I is the highest level of college baseball and are comprised of schools that include the major collegiate powers in the U.S. To be eligible as an NCAA D-1 baseball program the university must sponsor a minimum of 14 different NCAA championship sports. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with larger budgets, more elaborate facilities, and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
Currently there are 1,673 college baseball programs on the Division I, II, III, NAIA, NJCAA, USCAA, and CCCAA levels. There are 299 NCAA Division I programs, 269 Division II programs, 384 Division III programs, 184 NAIA programs and 540 JUCO programs.
Division I baseball programs have a limitation of 11.7 scholarships per team. These scholarships can be divided up between multiple players in order to meet the 11.7 scholarship total. Division II baseball programs have a limitation of 9 scholarships per team. These scholarships can be divided up between multiple players in order to meet the 9 full-ride scholarship total.
Division III programs do not offer athletic scholarship but may offer financial aid based on academic merit and financial need basis. NAIA schools may offer a total of 12 full-ride scholarship per team and these scholarship may be divided up between multiple players in order to meet the 12 scholarship total.
If your goal is to play college baseball, win an athletic scholarship and receive a rewarding college degree, then it is of vital importance that you create a winning game plan to make this dream a reality! Here are some steps you need to be taking during your high school career:
The first and foremost area of importance is academics. Without the proper academic qualifications you will not be recruited for a college football scholarship. Here is a quick review of Division I Academic Standards...
To be eligible to practice, compete and receive athletics scholarships in your first full-time year at a Division I school, you must graduate from high school and meet ALL the following requirements:
1. Complete a total of 16 NCAA core courses in the following areas:
- 4 years of English.
- 3 years of math (Algebra 1 or higher).
- 2 years of natural/physical science (including one year of lab science if offered).
- 2 years of social science.
- 1 additional year of English, math or natural/physical science.
- 4 additional years of English, math, natural/physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy.
2. Complete 10 of your 16 core courses, including seven in English, math or natural/physical science, before the start of your seventh semester. Once you begin your seventh semester, you must have more than 10 core courses completed to be able to repeat or replace any of the 10 courses used to meet the 10/7 requirement. Students whose academic credentials are solely international (including Canada) are not required to meet the 10/7 requirement.
3. Earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score that matches your core-course GPA (minimum 2.300) on the Division I sliding scale. SAT scores earned on or after March 2016 will be evaluated based on concordance tables established by the College Board.
In one of our earlier blogs we talked about steps you need to take to receive an athletic scholarship for college. Here is a quick review of our 4-C's toward success...
- Character
- Courage
- Commitment
- Championship Mindset
CHARACTER: Make sure you maintain the highest level of CHARACTER and citizenship at all times, not just when people are watching.
COURAGE: Don't be a crowd follower but instead be a leader with impeccable character and the COURAGE when you have to make the hard decision amongst your peers when you know it is the right decision for you!
COMMITMENT: To be successful in anything you do in life you will need to have the proper COMMITMENT and determination to succeed at what you are doing. Most great athletes have an unwavering commitment and determination to go past fear and doubt, propelling you toward your determined goal.
CHAMPIONSHIP: This leads us into having a CHAMPIONSHIP mindset. Champions aren't born they are made! Set your goals high and if you put into action your action the proper commitment, courage and character you will be well on your way to high school and collegiate success.
Now that you have created your game plan for the next-level, there is one vital and necessary step you need to take to ensure you reach your college goals of obtaining an athletic scholarship. That step is EXPOSURE! Many great and highly qualified and deserving student-athletes go unnoticed in the recruiting process every year due to a lack of exposure. With the digital age upon us, social media outlets, online profiles, videos and much more, are a necessary part of the recruiting game.
There are companies in the world hyper space that will offer student-athletes web platforms to self promote themselves to college coaches nationwide. These types of services can be helpful but more times than not college coaches find these types of services that you may be familiar with, cluttered with non-prospects who have no chance of playing beyond the high school level. Many of these sites even promote themselves are being the best because they are the biggest, with tens of thousands of athlete profiles.
PrepStar offers a much different solution than these other companies by focusing on qualified, verified next-level prospects. Because PrepStar works with a select group of no more than 360 athletes per year, we can choose the very best that have the academic and athletic qualifications for college. As a result of this much more refined and "rifle" approach to college recruiting, PrepStar delivers the result families are looking for by helping their athletes reach their college goals. If you would like to see if you qualify as an elite PrepStar 360 prospect, please take a moment of your time to create your athletic resume by clicking on the link below.
After we receive your personal information you will be contacted by a PrepStar Scouting Coordinator to setup a personal scholarship evaluation with one of our national Scouting Directors!
Mar 10, 2018
Jeff Duva - President
