Most high school baseball players
hear from many different sources
of what to expect or anticipate
when they get to college to play
baseball. This will be a series of
interviews with actual players
who are there now. JUCO players
who have moved on to 4 year
schools, NCAA DI players who
have transferred, players who
have been with one school and
everything in between. This is in
their words, decisions why and
what they experienced so future
players can get a clearer picture
of what to expect.
Q: Your journey into baseball was a
little different than some. It wasn’t
your primary sport initially.
A: Football was my best sport in high
school. (Diamyn was ranked in the top 50
running backs in the country as a
freshman). Then in a high school game I
was diving for a loose fumble – got hit and I was temporarily paralyzed. I wasn’t
cleared to play again by the doctors.
From there I focused on basketball.
Again, I got an injury. So I went to
baseball exclusively my junior year. I
played baseball before then but my focus
wasn’t on that. So really I never trained
or prepared for baseball until my junior
year in high school.
Q: Your first two years were in JUCO.
What made you choose a JUCO
school over an NAIA or NCAA
school?
A: Everyone “wants” to play DI, but I
had only really started playing baseball
my junior year in High School. I thought
it would be better for me since I really
had only been playing for 2 yrs. I knew I
would play right away and get AB’s –
you need those. If I would have gone to
a four year school, I might have been
“red shirted” or rarely gotten into games
– and that’s hard to get better.
Q: How did JUCO prepare you for
playing NCAA DI?
A: I was able to learn my strengths and
weaknesses and work on those since I
was in the field playing almost every day
and getting AB’s to get better.
Q: What is the main difference you
see between playing JUCO and
NCAA DI?
A: Pitching. In JUCO you saw a few that
would throw 90-91mph with location. But
in DI all the pitchers consistently – even
out of the bullpen – have good velocity