I live in a world where I’m constantly comparing the game of baseball between the high school and college level. Over the years, I’ve learned my perspective is unique to many. Players, families, coaches, and fans alike are typically too busy on their own side of the fence to know much about what’s happening on the other side.
This blog takes a look at several aspects of the game and breaks down the similarities and differences between the two levels from my personal viewpoint.
*IMPORTANT NOTE* To make these comparisons, I focused my thoughts on the top levels of both high school and college baseball. This is just a general analysis and does not reflect any specific team or organization.
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METRICS:
What’s the SAME?
When you take out the 90% of college kids who won’t play pro ball, the metrics on this group of players aren’t outlandishly different than what we see from top high schoolers. A human can only throw a baseball so hard or run so fast. It’s not like they throw 85 MPH in high school and then 101 MPH two years later in college. The kid who started the ACC Championship this year was working 86-88 MPH. His counterpart lost seven MPH on his fastball over the course of his outing. This is just one example, but the point applies across all areas of the game. Exit velos don’t go from 93 to 115, and 60-times don’t lose a half-second just because a kid puts on a Power 5 uniform.
What’s the DIFFERENCE?
Consistency and stamina. Let’s stick with the ACC Championship game example from above. One pitcher sat 93 for three innings. Rarely did he go above or below that mark the first time through the lineup. In the fourth, he was working at 91 before dropping into the 86-88 range in the sixth inning. At the high school level, not many arms stay consistent with velos. It’s more the norm to see younger athletes ranging 3-5 MPH on any given pitch (for example, one fastball comes in at 89 and the next at 85, or a curveball at 70 and the next at 73). Furthermore, high-school level pitchers start losing velocity within an inning or two. A guy might come out throwing 90 but is then working 83-86 by the third. Looking at catcher’s pop times illustrates the same point. The college backstop throwing a 2.0 in the first inning will throw a 2.0 in the ninth whereas the high school kid is more likely to wear down towards the end. College guys are able to consistently hit these “PR’s” that high schoolers post on social media, and they’re able to carry those metrics late into games.
HITTING:
What’s the SAME?
In some ways, hitters get worse when they make the jump to college. The level of competition is way better than it was when these kids were mashing .435 in their local high school district. Finding barrel three or four times a game isn’t the norm. Weak groundouts and shallow fly balls are an everyday occurrence at the college level just like they are in high school. Additionally, it can be brutal watching collegiate hitters try to lay down a bunt. Most of these guys hit in the heart of their high school lineup and bunting wasn’t part of their game. It’s not easy to teach a kid to bunt when that guy has been doing nothing but hammering gap shots and home runs for his entire life. The small ball game is equally as frustrating for fans to watch in high school as it is in college.
What’s the DIFFERENCE?
Plate discipline and approach at the college level are a major improvement over high school ball. College coaches have the luxury of spending a lot of time in the classroom with their athletes. Much of that time is spent reviewing advanced scouting reports and videos that give the hitters a good idea of what to expect from the opposing pitcher. It becomes easier to lay off the 0-2 slider when you know it’s coming. This classroom time is also a valuable tool for teaching college players what it means to have a real approach every time they step in the box. Learning this is a must when making the transition from high school to college, so it’s something college teams spend a lot of time working on with their underclassmen. Fastballs are not the problem for these top-level hitters. The problem is when they realize there’s a lot of pitchers who can get them out without ever throwing a fastball. Baserunning is an area of the game much better at the collegiate level. Sure, there are boneheaded mistakes on the bags from time to time, but you won’t see a bunch of blunders or guys getting picked off every time a LHP toes the rubber. You’ll also notice runners at the college level get better reads of the ball off the bat and are way more aggressive trying to move two bases at a time.
PITCHING & DEFENSE:
What’s the SAME?
Pitchers miss spots, catchers allow passed balls, infielders boot grounders, and outfielders miscommunicate. These things are all just part of the game. Expecting college athletes to play error-free baseball is unrealistic. It’s really that simple.
What’s the DIFFERENCE?
As mentioned in the metrics section above, pitchers are much more consistent with velos, and their stamina is much greater. Outside of that, the one thing you’ll notice from college arms – that we don’t see with many high school kids – is their ability to dominate with off-speed pitches. Throwing 88-91 at the D1 level is just another day at the office. It’s what these college pitches can do with the other stuff that is the difference-maker. (The kid who started this year’s ACC Championship is a perfect example, he was mixing in 86-88 MPH fastballs while carving through the lineup with multiple off-speed pitches that he could throw for strikes whenever he wanted.) On the defensive side, obviously there aren’t as many errors made in college baseball as in high school. It’s day and night in that regard. When a ball is rolled over to short, fans can look away without worrying that something terrible is about to happen. What’s more noteworthy is how a college defense won’t completely unravel at the first sign of trouble, whereas high school errors always seem to snowball into a disastrous inning. Arguably my favorite difference is that the defenders in college are good enough to where we don’t have to watch some dumb ass first-and-third play every time the offense has runners on the corners.
DUGOUT:
What’s the SAME?
Players don’t just talk about baseball. I hear a lot of high school coaches nagging their players to keep discussions focused on the game. The idea that “you should only be talking about the game in the dugout” doesn’t apply at the collegiate level in the same way it will never apply for even less mature kids. First off, college coaches have more to worry about than what the bottom of the depth chart is discussing at the other end of the dugout. Secondly, part of a good dugout atmosphere is having some fun and – breaking news – analyzing every pitch sequence is not nearly as fun for a 19-year-old as rating hot moms in the stands and laughing about the drunk guy who just fell over trying to catch a foul ball. Plus, half the dugout will never see the field anyway, so what do you expect? Dugout talk will never change, and in my opinion, we shouldn’t try to change it. There’s nothing like hanging out in a dugout with your boys.
What’s the DIFFERENCE?
College players watch the game. Although that senior is using a towel to play the air guitar between innings, when the ball is in play, he is paying attention to what’s happening. He can tell you how many outs there are if you ask. Collegiate players are really good at watching what’s happening on the field. They’re also really good at taking constructive criticism from each other and brainstorming in the dugout. Practice is for coaches; games are for players. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice college players doing more in-game coaching of each other than the actual coaches who are more focused on defensive alignments, pitch calling, roster moves, and more. Making mid-game adjustments at the high school level always comes from the coaches, but at the college level it’s often players working with players to share advice. The baseball IQ of a college dugout is insanely superior to their high school counterparts.
COACHING:
What’s the SAME?
Coaches are family men with other priorities and have to deal with helicopter parents. When you see college coaches on the road scouting, they look like a line of Terminators – sunglasses, earpieces, and Army-ranger backpacks. But in real life, they’re normal people. They are somebody’s husband, father, brother, son, and grandchild. And aside from their own family obligations, college coaches deal with player’s families in a lot of the same ways that high school coaches do. Everybody talks about how “parents won’t be able to get away with that in college,” and to some extent that’s true because parents live hundreds of miles away. But on the other hand, these college coaches made promises to take care of these kids when committing them. And with the lack of financial aid, many families are going into major debt to have their son play for the coach. So, unlike many may think, college coaches aren’t completely free from having to answer questions or deal with complaints from their player’s parents.
What’s the DIFFERENCE?
There’s a lot of differences between high school and college coaching. The most noteworthy one is the weight of the job and the pressure on college coaches to win. High school coaches don’t rely on their stipend to pay the bills and feed their family. College coaches live in an entirely different world in this regard. In terms of the on-field stuff, it’s not fair to compare the two. This is a full-time job for college coaches, and they spend 24/7/365 working on their player development and program plans.