Alex Swenson, a former D1 coach and recruiter, breaks down what college baseball programs actually want at each division level. He gives specific benchmarks: velocity ranges for pitchers, 60-yard dash times for outfielders, catcher pop times, and exit velocities, plus position-by-position priorities from corner infielders to middle infielders.
Left-handed pitchers typically sit about 2 mph lower than the right-handed ranges listed.
D1 (Power 5): 6.68s or less (aim ~6.9s and below for mid-major); D1 mid-major: ~6.9s and below; D2: 7.0s and below; D3: 7.1s and below.
Power-5 D1: high 1.8s to low 1.9s (often listed as '18 pops' meaning ~1.8s); D1 mid-major: ~1.9s; D2: ~2.0s; D3: ~2.0–2.1s.
Chapters
Hey Alex here, thanks for joining me. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the skill sets and athletic standards college coaches are looking for in a high school baseball player at every position, whether they're recruiting them for the Division 1 level, Division 2 level or Division 3 level. I get questions all the time about how hard should I be throwing to play at this level, what 60 times should I be shooting for, what's the extra velocity I should be at or a pop time. We're going to be covering all of that today and that is coming from a former Division 1 college coach, scout and a recruiter with 11 years of experience. I was fortunate where I played at the Division 1 level and then went on and coached at a Division 1 mid major, a high academic Division 1 school and then in the SEC at Ole Miss. And I talk to these college coaches on a weekly basis about what their needs are, what they're looking for, etc. So this comes from a very good place that lives in the baseball world of college baseball and recruiting. And now what I do is help high school baseball players and their parents navigate this college recruiting process and put them in the best possible position to play at the next level and help them be seen, get interest and eventually offers going through this and helping them through the exposure process that's really the name of the game is got to be able to market yourself. I help with that and then the right communication going through this recruiting process to a good highlight video. We'll put all that together going through this into the premier athletes profile which is exclusive to college baseball coaches. If you're interested in want more personal help going through this, going to visit my website right down here. It'll be down in the description as well and you can set up a call with me to see if this is a good fit moving forward. But with that said, let's dive into the skill sets and athletic standards and college coaches are looking for before we get into each position like pitchers, middle infielders, outfielders, corners and catchers. I want to talk about the important qualities it is to have as a player that these college coaches genuinely look at and ask people like me about the athletes that they are recruiting and other coaches around. And you'll see the first one is strong mindset and dealing with adversity. Can this athlete deal with adversity? Whether they're going through a slump or they're not playing right away, they have an all American in front of them or an older junior or senior because this happens all the time at the college level. And it's important to know when you go, whether it's D3, D2 or D1, everybody is just as good or better than you at that level. So hey, being able to compete and get punched in the mouth if you will and get back up and keep moving forward is huge. And these college coaches want to know that you're able to deal with that adversity and not just jump ship. The next one. Obviously being physical, being strong, college coaches love that. And you see this on TV all the time right now as far as these physical players, they want big physical players and this is on a position by position basis. So center fielders are not expecting you to be massive, right? But maybe corner guys or catchers need to be physical back there. Shortstops, you need to be dynamic, not like a football player, but super athletic. You'll see the next one athletic being showing good feet, showing good hands. Pitchers, they love to see you being athletic out there as well, especially you left handed pitchers. Be athletic, playing fast, playing aggressive. Don't be afraid to make a mistake because when you're that you play slow. All right? Don't be afraid to make college coaches love aggressive players. Being a leader on and off the field, are you a good teammate? Are you coachable? Do you care about the team and do you care about winning? That is really, really important. And putting the team first and you second going forward. Now with that said, let's get into pitchers as far as skill sets and standards college coaches are looking for. So I know everybody's wondering velocity, okay, now the velocity we've run all this data as far as typically, where are guys sitting when they commit to a D1 school or D2 school, D3 school. And this is usually around as far as when we're pulling these numbers by the time they're a senior, whether whatever level they are, they're a senior and they're going into the spring or going into college, this is the numbers that they're sitting at. So typically high school commits that are in their senior year and that have committed to D1 Power 5 school or Power 4 school now are typically sitting, this is not topping out sitting 88 to 90 miles an hour for D1 mid majors. Okay? Those are schools not in the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12 typically sitting around 86 to 88 plus. And these are like averages and ranges. There's of course guys that are below this and of course guys that are above this. D2s, we're seeing 85 to 86 but there's plenty of D2s and D3 guys that are 88 to 90. But these are good ranges up here. D3 84 to 85. Right? These are a lot of these numbers are right handed pitchers. You can see for left handed pitchers two miles an hour less than these typically on these range that we see on average. So D1 power 5 schools. Typically guys can be like 86 to 88 sitting left handed pitchers. All right. And again, this is not them by their junior year in college. This is still in high school. All right. And other things that they're looking at. Good arm action, all right. That shows projectability. Strike thrower massive. All right. You want to shoot for around 70% strike range. All right. Where you're not walking guys, repeatable delivery, a good breaking ball. Swing and miss. Breaking ball is massive. Pay attention to your whip as well. All right. That's really important going through this. All right. So let's dive into outfielders can hit for average and some power speed. Very important. Making sure especially my center fielders, you got to be able to go get the ball. Arm strength is not the most important thing from a center fielder perspective. It's great to have. You should continue to work on it. But the goal for center fielder is you got to go track down balls and have good range. Corner guys still want speed, but you're going to be looked at as far as when I say corner guys, corner outfield that hit for power, have a good arm to be able to throw guys out at third or home. So for division one a speed for 66, eight or less for like typically your center fielders and even corner outfielders, we want to be in that 69 range. D1 mid major 69 and below. D2, 70 and below. D3 71 and below. Good baserunners, quick action. All right. In being super athletic out of there catchers. All right. The name of the position is catcher. All right. You got to be able to receive well especially with high velocity guys that have movements. All right. I have a classic guy at Ole Miss when I was coaching there and a guy that was absolute stud catch and throw like was consistently one eights and some high one sevens his unbelievable pop time but didn't catch that well so he didn't see time. All right. You got to be able to receive well and you got to be able to block well. And then yes, you need to be able to throw accurately and D1 Power 5 as far as pop times that we're seeing at showcases. All right. This Is not at game because showcases get crazy. And this is some of the crazy numbers. 18 pops is typically on the power fives high. 1 eights, 1 nines, D1 mid majors. 1 nines in there. D2, catchers around 2 0. D3s, 20 to 21 quick action, good body, can hit for average. Not expecting big power out of the catchers. But if that is the case, fantastic. All right, but you got defense comes first, then hitting comes second. Receive be the best receiver. And the best compliment a catcher can have is a pitcher and a pitching staff saying, I want to throw to that guy because he makes me look better. He gets me strikes. I can throw a breaking ball for the third strike with a guy on third and I trust him that he will block it. And he throws well as well. Corners, all right, Power hitters, we are expecting corners. So first base and third base. College coaches want power high doubles and home runs. So power hitters and hits for average. D3, Power 5. All right, exit velocity, this is off the tee. This is not off like a BP or a machine. But let me have this caveat. As far as exit velocity, this is probably the most overrated metric in all these metrics and stuff, because you could have 100 eggs of Velocity, but if I come watch you play and you go oh, for seven and with, you know, one pop out, you know, in two games, and you just can't hit a breaking ball or you're just not consistent, it doesn't really matter. I much rather have a guy that has a 90 exit velocity, consistently hits the ball hard. All right, so those are the ranges from the exit velocity standpoint. Yeah, you want to hit the ball hard, but you want to make sure you're just hitting it consistent. Consistently has good hands. All right, around the back, third base, Good first step. All right, not expecting you to have big range, but a good first step in the hot corner at first base, around the bag. Being athletic, good plate discipline, running helps. If you could be a good runner as a corner, they're not expecting a massive 60 or as far as 6, 9 or below, but the average 60 for high school players around 7, 4, 5. You want to be below that or around that and mash. You want to mash. Now, my middle infielders, all right, the most athletic guys on the field, my shortstops, you know, quick action, good range, got to be able to go get the ball. Second baseman, same type of thing. Good hands, good feet, Just makes the game look easy. You're super reliable. You make the routine plays and then every once in a while you make a fantastic play arm above average you got to be able to get it through. Don't be so worried about what your arm velocity is across across the diamond at these certain showcases. It doesn't matter nobody's radaring guys in game but you know at the same time we got to get the ball over there right. It doesn't really matter though if you throw 95 across the because nobody's throwing 95 across the diamond in game all right so just having good accurate throws with yeah some zip is awesome can hit for average and some power and speed is important as far as having that range and being on the basis. All right hopefully this helps you with some direction and some goals to shoot for especially if you're younger in high school going through this and if you have any questions please reach out to me or comment down below and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.
