The Baseball Observer Jan-Feb 2016 vol 6 | Page 36

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: What was your biggest challenge
during your college search while in
high school?
A: My biggest challenge was finding a
school with a good balance between
having a successful baseball program
and a great engineering degree.
Q: Your freshman year you played at
Florida Atlantic University (NCAA DI).
Why did you leave?
A: I was in a situation where two of the
three infield positions I was fighting for
were played by freshmen who put up
great numbers. This left me with the
decision to wait for the other junior
infielder to either get drafted or graduate
in order to play, or play somewhere
else. Since he didn't end up getting
drafted to play professionally, this
would've caused another year of waiting
for injury or graduation to play. So, I
finally made the decision to transfer
somewhere I could be an impact player.
Q: Follow up to the previous question
- why did you choose Florida Tech?
A: My father pitched and played second
base for Florida Tech in the late 80's
and he would always tell me stories
about the great times he had there when
I was growing up. Not only is it a 30minute drive from where I grew up,
Florida Tech also has a world class
engineering program and plays in the
most competitive DII baseball
conference in the nation. It was an easy
choice for me to make.
Q: Now that you are playing college
baseball, what is the biggest
difference for you between high
school ball and college ball?
A: The biggest difference between high
school and college ball was figuring out
what kind of player I was and
committing to my style of play. Although
I had some power in high school, I am