I’m going to come right out and say it. . .the desire to play professional baseball is not the best reason to play baseball. (Plus, playing professional baseball might not be all that appealing anyway.) You’ve probably seen these before, but I’m going to share with you some statistics:
In 2017-18, 487,097 high school boys participated in baseball in the United States.
In the same year, 34,980 young men played NCAA baseball. Of those, 2.1% played in Division 1 and 2.2% played in Division 2. 2.8% played in Division 3. Among all divisions, the squads averaged almost 35 guys per squad.
That means that in Division 1, 35 guys were eligible for a share of the 11.7 scholarships available to each team. In Division 2, those 35 guys share 9 scholarships. There are no athletic scholarships available to the 61.9% of all NCAA baseball players in Division 3.
I’ll do the math, which you’ve probably seen before:
If you play high school baseball, there is about a 7% chance that you’d play any baseball the following year in the NCAA. (Not taking into account students that come to the United States from other countries and play baseball – Canada, Japan and Mexico chief among them, and I know that I'm ignoring NAIA and JUCOs to keep this simpler.)
Dreaming of a college scholarship? If you played ball in high school, you have a 4% chance to play the next year at a Division 1 or 2 school. However, as you’ve probably already realized, if you have 35 guys on the roster of your typical college team, but only about 10 scholarships. . .you’re not getting much of your education paid for. . .that is assuming the program that you’re going to is fully funded. (If you want a complete breakdown including NAIA and NJCAA schools, you can find that here.)
Your chances do get slightly better though when you consider the 0.5% of high school players who choose to forgo college and jump right to the pros! Although if you stick it out in college, you’ll have about a 10% chance of getting drafted, although that number is significantly skewed toward Division 1. (11 players were drafted from Division 3 in 2018, nearly all of them were pitchers)
All this competition for a job in the Minor Leagues that pays about $1,100 a month. . .for 5 months. (Did I mention that players don't get paid during spring training?) Plus, there are the working conditions.
But there’s a huge payoff if you get to the Majors! Absolutely. If you make it, and stick around. Once you get to the Minors there’s a 10% chance to make it to the Majors. The average Minor Leaguer gets to the Majors when they're 27, if they make it. That'd be about 5 years of banging around the minors, getting paid virtually nothing. (The Blue Jays are the first club to announce that they’re going to pay players 50% better than virtually nothing.) During the first several years, you're entirely under club control and will likely make the league minimum. Major League minimum salary is $535,000 while median income for young adults is $50,000. There is no guarantee that when you make it to the Majors that you stick around.
I’m not trying to chase you away from your dream, but I want you to go in with eyes wide open.
It’s great to dream, but it’s more important to have goals. That’s where taking learning from quality folks can make a huge difference for students, not just on the field, but away from it.
People do lessons for different reasons, and it’s lessons in anything, not just baseball. You get many of the same benefits from taking music classes, art, computer programming, or sports.
By taking any lessons you learn how to:
Invest in your kids and who we want them to be, not what we want them to be. The payoff will be worth it.
In 2017-18, 487,097 high school boys participated in baseball in the United States.
In the same year, 34,980 young men played NCAA baseball. Of those, 2.1% played in Division 1 and 2.2% played in Division 2. 2.8% played in Division 3. Among all divisions, the squads averaged almost 35 guys per squad.
That means that in Division 1, 35 guys were eligible for a share of the 11.7 scholarships available to each team. In Division 2, those 35 guys share 9 scholarships. There are no athletic scholarships available to the 61.9% of all NCAA baseball players in Division 3.
I’ll do the math, which you’ve probably seen before:
If you play high school baseball, there is about a 7% chance that you’d play any baseball the following year in the NCAA. (Not taking into account students that come to the United States from other countries and play baseball – Canada, Japan and Mexico chief among them, and I know that I'm ignoring NAIA and JUCOs to keep this simpler.)
Dreaming of a college scholarship? If you played ball in high school, you have a 4% chance to play the next year at a Division 1 or 2 school. However, as you’ve probably already realized, if you have 35 guys on the roster of your typical college team, but only about 10 scholarships. . .you’re not getting much of your education paid for. . .that is assuming the program that you’re going to is fully funded. (If you want a complete breakdown including NAIA and NJCAA schools, you can find that here.)
Your chances do get slightly better though when you consider the 0.5% of high school players who choose to forgo college and jump right to the pros! Although if you stick it out in college, you’ll have about a 10% chance of getting drafted, although that number is significantly skewed toward Division 1. (11 players were drafted from Division 3 in 2018, nearly all of them were pitchers)
All this competition for a job in the Minor Leagues that pays about $1,100 a month. . .for 5 months. (Did I mention that players don't get paid during spring training?) Plus, there are the working conditions.
But there’s a huge payoff if you get to the Majors! Absolutely. If you make it, and stick around. Once you get to the Minors there’s a 10% chance to make it to the Majors. The average Minor Leaguer gets to the Majors when they're 27, if they make it. That'd be about 5 years of banging around the minors, getting paid virtually nothing. (The Blue Jays are the first club to announce that they’re going to pay players 50% better than virtually nothing.) During the first several years, you're entirely under club control and will likely make the league minimum. Major League minimum salary is $535,000 while median income for young adults is $50,000. There is no guarantee that when you make it to the Majors that you stick around.
I’m not trying to chase you away from your dream, but I want you to go in with eyes wide open.
It’s great to dream, but it’s more important to have goals. That’s where taking learning from quality folks can make a huge difference for students, not just on the field, but away from it.
People do lessons for different reasons, and it’s lessons in anything, not just baseball. You get many of the same benefits from taking music classes, art, computer programming, or sports.
By taking any lessons you learn how to:
- handle adversity
- deal with pressure
- organize your time
- prioritize
- practice with a goal in mind
- be patient
- develop self-esteem
- build discipline
- become comfortable with challenge
- concentrate
- body awareness
- physical fitness
- hand-eye coordination
- sport-specific skills
- awesomeness
Invest in your kids and who we want them to be, not what we want them to be. The payoff will be worth it.
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