Alex Swenson (former D1 coach/recruiter) explains how the NCAA Division I transfer portal is affecting high-school baseball recruiting. He presents NCAA data (Aug 1, 2022–Jul 31, 2023) and interprets the practical impacts: more incoming college transfers reduce spots for high-school signees, Power-5 and larger programs bring in more transfers, and proactive exposure/marketing is increasingly important for high-school players.
Questions this video answers
2,521 players.
21% of Division I baseball players.
49% enrolled at a new NCAA school (D1/D2/D3).
44% remained active in the portal.
7% withdrew their names.
Chapters
Hey, how you doing? Alex here. Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the Division 1 transfer portal and the impact it's having on high school baseball recruitment in college baseball, the impacts it's having there. We're going to be taking a look at all the numbers. If you are a data person, we're going to be going over a lot of data. The NCAA just put out some information on the transfer portal of guys that are moving, players that are moving or not moving, and we're going to dive into all of that. And that really, that research that they have put out, I'm going to put up images here that we're going to take a look at it. I'm also going to link that article down below, but this is going to give you a better insight of what is going on. And we're going to talk a little bit about the impacts of high school recruiting. If you're new to my channel, my name is Alex Swenson. I'm a former Division 1 college coach, scout, and a recruiter with 11 years of experience. And now what I do is help high school baseball players and their parents navigate this college recruiting process and, and put them in the best possible position to play at the next level, to commit to a school that's going to be a good fit for them overall, where they're going to get a good experience. I have a program that walks you guys step by step through that, where you'll work with me. And if you get anything from this video, please smash that, like, button that thumbs up right down here. If you're on YouTube or if you're on the podcast, please subscribe, write a review, would love that. It helps me get this information more out to people to help families go through this recruiting process. So I get this question all the time of what impacts is the transfer portal making on high school recruitment? Or, you know, I hear different things that completely wiping out high school recruiting or it's not really affecting it that much. It is making an impact, but it's definitely not wiping out high school baseball recruitment. They still need to bring guys in, but man, recruitment was already hard enough getting to the next level. About 7% success rate going through this for either division one, division two, or division three. And it's making it definitely tougher because high school athletes are competing with college athletes, if you will, that are transferring and there's other schools that are utilizing the transfer portal more than others, if you will. In general, where typically we're seeing the Power 5 schools, now that we have really a couple years into this, that the Power 5 schools are bringing in more transfer portals players than other divisions like Division 1 mid major, if you will, and lower Division 1 schools. And that kind of makes sense because bigger schools, they need to win right now. That coaching staff's gonna get let go and get fired. So they need impact players. And again, they need to win right now. So it is making it a dent for other programs out there. You know, if. For an example, if we're before this just in general, because it depends on a school by school basis and there's so much information out there and schools do different things, but just in general, this is kind of what I'm seeing as well. As far as a transfer portal impacts for like the Division 1 mid majors, you're seeing 20 to 30% of guys coming in from a transfer portal roughly. And of course that's like rough numbers you could give or take, but pretty confident giving those numbers here. So for example, if a school was bringing in players, 10 players, you know, somewhere it's. It can be. Depends on the school, but 10 players on average before the transfer portal and. And now with the transfer portal, they're bringing in. When I say 10 players, they were bringing in 10 high school players coming in. Now they're bringing seven or eight. Okay. Where they're filling that transfer portal, maybe two or three guys. And again, it can fluctuate from there, but that's. So it's making definitely a den and it's making it a little bit harder as. As we go. And we've always had a kind of juco. Juco was like kind of the transfer portal before the full transfer portal. But that is what we're seeing now with Division 1 guys going to other Division 1 schools transferring from back and forth or D2s going up to Division 1 or D3s even going up to Division 1 or D1 guys going down to get more playing time. So I wanted to explain to that where we are continue to be proactive in this recruiting process as if you're new to my channel. This is so, so important. If you making sure you get good exposure and get your name out there and getting on radars and being proactive and in this recruiting process because yeah, it's. It's gotten a little bit tougher out there for high school baseball players. And if you're interested and need more help, please visit my website or reach out to me and I'd be happy to talk to see if this is A good fit. So let's dive into some of the numbers. So how many Division 1 players entered the transfer portal last year for 2023. So 2521 players. That is the number of NCAA Division 1 players that that entered the transfer portal between August 1st of 2022 to July 31st, 2023. And we'll get the 23 to 24 numbers this next year as we go. So 2,521. That is 21% of the total number of Division 1 baseball players. That is a lot. That is a big percentage. Which man the transportal have. I have different thoughts about it. Honestly, it was like it makes sense for some guys to transfer out if. But it's also. I do not envy this at all. If I was a high school player because it's or a college player when I was in college, this wasn't really an option. You could transfer, but you would have to sit out a year. So guys wouldn't do that. It's 25% of your career, so you want to do that. But now guys are coming in and out. It's hard to create a foster relationships in a team environment and cultivate a culture there. So it's really, really tough. Now, 49% of the 25 enrolled at a new NCAA school. So that could be Division 1, Division 2 or Division 3. 44% of the 2,500 remain active in the portal. So they are. They transferred to a non NCAA school. They could have gone to a juco. Okay. Or they went to an NAI school or they remain uncommitted or stop playing. Typically we see this, the 44% remain uncommitted. So they haven't found a home or they're done playing there. So that's a big number. 7% of the 2,500 withdrew their names. And we're kind of assuming at least NCAA is assuming they to stay at their original school. So next up, of the D1 players who transferred to other NCAA schools, 76% transferred to another Division 1 school, 22% transferred to a Division 2 school, and. And 3% transferred to a Division 3 school. Of the Division 1 players who transferred to other NCAA schools, 72% were undergraduate transfers, 28% were graduate transfers. What are graduate transfers? So they graduated, they got their degree and they still have another year of eligibility. So you have four years of active eligibility to go through this. So they might have red shirted one year and then they finished out or they just accelerated. They finished their degree in three years and they still have another year of eligibility, they could transfer out. Okay, so that's where those numbers are coming from. Of players on athletic aid at their previous school, 41% remain active in the portal. Okay, remember, active just means they haven't found a home yet there or they're out. They're done. 42% transfer to another NCAA school and received athletic aid. 17% transferred to another NCAA school and did not receive athletic aid. Of players not on athletic aid at their previous school, 57% remain active in the portal. 25% transferred to another NCAA school and received athletic aid. 18% transferred to another NCAA school and did not receive athletic aid. So these are the numbers of the transfer portal. If you want to dive in more to those. There was a lot of data there. If you want to dive in. I'm again, I'm going to link that down below the NCAA and appreciate them giving that data. Also got to give some credit to Ian McDonnell, the head baseball coach over there at Indiana Wesleyan University. He did a dive about this a couple years ago and it inspired me. I need a kind of redo this for the, the, the newer data out there, which is 23, so check them out too. Indiana, Westland, man, there's a, they're an NAI program that went to the College World Series and Ian over there is a stud of a guy, stud of a coach and a really good program. But if you have any questions about anything transfer portal related or recruiting, please feel free to reach out to me and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.
