Skill Sets NEEDED for D1, D2, D3 Baseball

Hey, how you doing? Alex here. Thanks for joining me. And in today's video, we're going to be talking about the skill sets that college coaches look for and evaluate at the Division 1 level, the Division 2 level, and the Division 3 level at all the positions in baseball. So we're going to cover all of those, plus the qualities that you want to have as a player and the metrics. I know a lot of people talk about metrics and ask, how hard do I need to throw? What is my exit velocity to be? What? What does my 60 time need to be? What does my pop time need to be? All of those things we are going to cover today. And this is coming from a former Division 1 college coach, scout and recruiter with 11 years of experience. I was also a Division 1 player as well, and honestly, I was just an average Division 1 player. But I've been around a lot of good players. I played with a lot of players that went on to play at the highest level in the MLB and also coached and recruited players that were outstanding. And these are the things and takeaways that I've gotten. And I talked to a lot of coaches and I've kind of brought all of this in, hopefully again, into this short video. So if you get anything from this video, please smash that thumbs up that like, button down here and subscribe to my channel. I put out a weekly video on recruiting and just how to get better on and off the field. Let's dive in. All right, team, we're going to start off with the important qualities to have as a player. Going through this recruiting process, going through high school, and that is going to be very, very attractive to college coaches and going to be boxes that they check off. The first one is strong mindset huge here. The sooner you can work on your mindset and this is something that you're going to have to continue to work on and catch yourself with. But this is so critical from going through this process, going through the game of baseball, which is all about failure and adversity. And you'll see my comments here. Dealing with adversity, dealing with adversity through the games, when you have bad games, deal dealing with competition, when you have players that are better than you, because by the way, the higher you go, there's always going to be just somebody just as good as you or better that you're going to have to compete with on your team. And then of course, on the other side of the field, being physical and being strong. College coaches want physical players. You look at college Players these days, they're super physical. They've been in the weight room, they're very strong, they're flexible, flexible, all these things. They're focused on the right muscle groups to the legs, to the core, to the back, shoulders, even chest. These days, too, as well, being super athletic. Athleticism shows projectability. These college coaches look at projectability. Playing fast, playing aggressive, that's going to catch the eye of these college scouts. And I used to love players. And most scouts, you love players that just play fast and play aggressive. They're not afraid to make mistakes. Be a leader on and off the field, be coachable, trying to improve. You know, how are you with being coachable? How are you with your high school coach? How are you with your travel ball coach? How are you with coaches that you might not really like? Okay, you still need to be coachable. You still need to understand which is the last one. Care about the team. And what ultimately matters is winning, right? Winning and helping your team win. Because again, you know, you're not going to have always to have coaches or teammates or players or people when you get to the business world or life where you're going to like everybody. But you need to learn how to navigate that and not burn bridges, if you will, as you go through this process. So let's get into the first position, which is going to be pitchers here. And the first thing we're going to talk about is velocity, because I know that most people, I want to talk about velocity. And it is part of the picture is one piece of the puzzle that these college coaches look for. And you'll see all the metrics here. And these are averages. And if you're a freshman or sophomore or even junior right now and you're not at these numbers, hey, that's okay. But these are averages at these levels, okay? And of course, there's going to be guys above this and guys a little bit below this, but most guys are sitting here at these levels. And we're going to start with the Division 1 Power 5 schools. Most guys are sitting 88 to 90, and I'm emphasizing cities. This is not topping out. They're sitting there 88 to 90 and topping out 91, 92, 93. I mean, there's guys topping out at 105. It's insane. And then, you know, mid to high 90s college baseball has never been better. It's unbelievable what these pitchers are throwing these days. So this is on average 88 to 90 power fives and then topping out, you know, low to mid-90s as we go. Division one, mid majors, 86 to 88. I should have the caveat of it. This is right handed pitcher, right handed pitchers sitting usually mid majors, 86 to 88. Plus plenty of guys mid majors that are throwing 90s and mid 90s. Campbell, I don't know if you guys saw this on tv, but they had two guys, two pretty much first rounders. I'm not sure I know one went first rounder. No, I don't know about the other guy but we're sitting 94 to 96 topping out 97, 98. And Campbell's a mid major program in the southeast. So again just really, really good pitchers. All around the country the tide rises, all boats. Meaning college baseball has just gotten better and better at all of the levels, not only Division 1. And from a left handed spot pitcher standpoint, take about 2 miles and 2 miles an hour off of this and that's usually on average where guys are sitting. So for the Division 1 Power 5 schools it's like usually 86, 88, they're sitting and they're topping out 90, 91. You saw the Ole Miss guy, Elliot, he's sitting 87, 88, 89, hit 90 every once in a while. Pretty common for Power 5 schools. And again taking two miles an hour off each of these levels for left handed pitcher. Division 2, 85, 86, Division 3, 84 to 85. That's kind of that threshold to play at the next level from division three and up is getting to that 84, 85 range and sitting there you're going to be able to find a place to play. Just finding the right school. Arm action is what these college coaches also look at, shows projectability. So if you're a freshman or sophomore and your arm action is really clean and loose and maybe you're not at these numbers, it's showing projections and then your repeatable delivery. You throw in strikes. Super, super important that you throw strikes. You can command your fastball on both sides of the plate, you can throw a breaking ball over and you don't have to have the world's greatest changeup. But working on your changeup that helps a lot going through this. So that's the pitchers aspect of it. Let's get into the next position which is outfielders can hit for average and some power. So outfielders going to need to also run really well, go trackballs down and be able to hit, be able to hit for some average. Depending on usually the right fielders can hit for a little power or left fielders center fielders are going to be able to really, really run, be able to get on base, be that lead off guy that can again really really run. From numbers standpoint, Division 1 Power 568 on average 68 or less. Division 1 Mid majors again, these are average. There's going to be some guys that are definitely below this and some above this as we go. Division one mid major six nine, 60 or less. Division two around seven zero, 60 or less. Division three seven one, 60 or less. These are for outfielders and most like even middle infielders. This is on average right here, maybe 1/10 up for middle infielders. But good baserunners, quick actions, good reads in the outfield. Very, very important. Good first step in tracking down the ball. Can really, really go get it and play fast and play aggressive. Let's talk about catchers. So the receive super well. Got to be able to receive really, really well. This is. People overlook this or over and don't think about this. You have to be able to receive. This is an art. I'm a former catcher, former college catching coach and this is such an important trait. Especially when you got guys throwing as hard as they do with movement. You got to be able to receive really, really well. Got to be able to block and yes, throws pop times. It is sexy. It's is one aspect of it. You got to be able to throw it down there and get down there. Power five schools are like in the one eights that might be a little quick on an average but you know, low one nines. Again, these are averages here and these are accurate, accurate, accurate throws. Very, very important. Division one mid majors guys definitely one nines pop times on the bag. Division two right around that two zero. Like for example for me I was like two. I was division one mid major program. I would throw a one nine every once in a while but on average I was right around two zero. But I was super accurate. Division three pop time. It's gonna be the, the numbers. It's hard to say this but 2.1 is gonna be right, right around there. Again, nice accurate. You're not gonna be, it's not gonna be the fastest time in the world. But again accurate. Can really block and really receive quick actions. Good body, can hit for average. Okay. The cows level you still gotta. This is catching is the number one thing. But you gotta be able to really hit. Gotta be able to really, really hit. As far as when I say really hit, it helps if you really really hit at the next level and you're a catcher that Is a big, big plus. Usually you'll see catchers that can really hit and have pop times. They're at the Division 1 power fives and mid majors. That's a big aspect of it. Let's get on to the next couple positions. Corner guys, so third base, first base, power hitters. These guys are hitting for a lot of power. Hitting for average as well. Well, and this is. I have the exit velocity here. It's probably one of the most overrated. Honestly metrics it doesn't matter that much other than corner guys having some power because you could have 93, 95. I've seen guys that have 100 miles an hour exit velocity in high school but they can't hit. You get in the game and they just can't hit the ball. They're striking out all the time. They're making weak contact. So this is a big just number that has to be confirmed that you can actually put the barrel on the ball. But on average, division one power five schools 93 miles per hour exit velocity 91 mid major 90 exit velocity at the mid major programs. Division two around 87 plus. Division three around 85 plus. Good hands, quick first step over at third base or first base because it's the hot corner, especially third base. Got to be able that quick step to get to that ball in the hole or ball down the line. Good play, discipline. Running helps. You can run, man, that's. That's awesome as well. But it's not important. Let's talk about middle infielders. Quick action range, good hands, good feet. Think smooth. This is the most athletic guy on the field. Typically, okay, this is the most athletic that can kind of do it all. Shortstops that can do it all. And at the college level they usually recruit all shortstops that were in high school and then they just separate them. They'll put the guy that didn't win out at shortstop that year. They'll put him over possibly at second base or maybe even third base or maybe in the outfield. Arm above average, can hit for average and some power, speed, importance. So it's all these qualities and the ranges from, you know, the exit velocity and to the running are about as what these numbers show here as we go. But that is the skill sets that college coaches evaluate for at each position. Hopefully there is something that you took away and hopefully this can help you focus on some things at your position that you can improve or continue to improve as you go through this process. Please comment down below if any questions that you have and I'll see you in the next video.