Page 14 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, May 29, 2020 Mass. college baseball coaches have great advice for prospects Despite missing H.S. season, parts of summer, opportunities still exist for recruitment By Steve Freker H igh school baseball players looking for a ticket to a potential college roster in their future still have plenty of opportunities to achieve their goal, according to a panel of college coaches who recently participated in an informative virtual discussion on recruiting. Many high school baseball prospects, particularly Class of 2021 juniors, who consider themselves “next up,” were devastated when the coronavirus pandemic erased the spring sports season for all high schools nationwide. Though many state officials nationally, as well as those here in Massachusetts, now say the surge in virus cases is behind us, the impact has already cut into the summer season. The spring school season, combined with the summer baseball months, was considered prime time for recruiting 2021 juniors along with top prospects from the Class of 2022 sophomore class of baseball prospects. A group of well-known, Massachusetts-based college baseball coaches all said that far from the “all is lost” feeling experienced by some disappointed high school players, they instead should sharpen their focus and keep pursuing their dreams. Looking for players who are “a good fit” for the program Assumption College Coach Mike Rocco “We are still recruiting, we are still looking for good baseball players,” said Division 1 Merrimack University head baseball coach Nick Barese, “but most importantly we are looking for good baseball players who are a good fit for our program. That will never change.” Coach Barese was joined on a three-coach panel which included Mike Rocco, head baseball coach at Assumption College, a Division 2 school located in Worcester, which plays in the NE-10 Conference, and Amherst College head baseball coach J.P. Pyne, a Division 3 school which is a member of the high-end academic New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The three coaches combined to deliver a tremendous, nearly four-hour virtual “Zoom” session coordinated by the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 57 Years! “Same name, phone number & address for family since 1958 • 62 over half a century. 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Namely, all collegiate baseball players have been granted an additional full year of athletic eligibility, since the college seasons were ended about three weeks after they began in the spring, due to the pandemic. That means that seniors who played this past spring can come back for anAmherst College Coach J.P. Pyne other year to replace the season they missed, if they wish. “Naturally, that’s going to tighten up rosters and reduce spots, depending on how many seniors come back,” Coach Rocco said, “but we are honoring any and all commitments we have made; that includes committed players from the 2020 and 2021 classes.” “Some seniors will come back, others will just go out into the working world, not wanting to be full-time students an extra year just to play a last year of college baseball,” Barese said. “Obviously, there’s a cost involved with a decision like that, and parents and players will have a big decision to make on that value of another year, especially in … uncertain financial times.” Coach Pyne said the “senior return” factor did not affect his program as much for a lot of reasons, particularly since his brand of student-athletes at Amherst College were “strongly on the four-year track to graduation and seldom waver from that.” Coach Pyne agreed with his colleagues that the recruiting calendar was indeed thrown a nasty curveball by the coronavirus pandemic, but it did not mean a great deal to the process overall. “We use a lot of factors in determining whether a prospect is right for our program,” Pyne said, echoing what Coaches Barese and Rocco had said. “The right fit is what has the most value as far as intangibles, when you have already considered academic achievement, athletic and baseball skills and ability.” Be proactive: Research colleges you are interested in All three coaches urged baseball prospects to be proactive when it comes to pursuing a college baseball future. Researching the colleges they have on their radar and being prepared when an opportunity does arise for interaction between player and recruiting coach goes a long way. “Anyone in our field can identify a good baseball player. It’s what happens afterward which creates a path to that player becoming a valued recruit to our program,” said Merrimack’s Barese, whose WarSPORTS | SEE PAGE 17 Spring!
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