In this episode we will be talking about taking the JUCO route as a baseball player, & if holds the same value that it used to hold.
The ProSource Pod
JUCO
- It's going on guys. Welcome back to the Pro Source Pod. I'm Eric Znek. Today, we're gonna be talking about the JUCO route. If you don't know what JUCO is, it's junior college. - JUCO or not to JUCO? - To JUCO or to not to JUCO. That was a word salad. To JUCO or to not JUCO coming from two former JUCO bandits. You go ahead and start it off here, big fella. And so you think that might take a little bit cold, but knowing what we know now, we would have been better, I don't know about free. - Well, actually you're kind of walking it back. - No, no, no, I'm saying like, I don't know about free U 'cause like I forget what your situation was. You almost went to the Southern Charleston, right? - Yeah, Charleston Southern. - Charleston Southern? - Yeah. - D1. - Are they mid-major? - Yeah, they're mid-major. - Okay. - Well, either way. So like they're better now than when I was committed there. So for you, right, was that like at that time, I'm gonna walk you through your situation and then like a little bit of my situation in terms of like what could have been to it, knowing what we know now. So obviously you know, Kev, you know, Kevin A.C. He was my boy in high school. Josh Hood, not only the dudes with the high school with all graduated together, they both went to Penn. At one point, Nick was talking to Penn. The whole thing went jukeo, not important. But what I will say in terms of what's going on with all that, Josh ended up after sophomore year, especially with the COVID and everything. Things got wild and the rules changed. And that's when the transfer portal became a giant thing. So before there used to be like rules lending what you can do with transferring, where it was like you'd have to wait out or like if you were gonna transfer and you wanted to play immediately, you would transfer like for a fall season to a jukeo. And then from there you would transfer to the four year for this first semester. So like things used to be a lot different. Now you can really nearly just enter the portal and go wherever you want. So Josh went to NC State and he got drafted in the fifth round of NC State. So he did really well at Penn, went to NC State. His dream was I was good at ACC. Kev had the same chance to go kind of wherever he wanted for his grad year after he was done being the Ivy League pitcher of the year. He went to UNC and was like their closer. So it's like knowing all of that stuff, like you could go to a lower tier D one or you could even go to like a D two, not saying if you went D two or like a D three that you if you like dominate, oh you're gonna go to like an ACC school, but through the transfer portal and the way it is now, you'd at least be able to go to like a competitive like mid major or like somewhere that you didn't have a chance to before. So like if you're at a high school was like Charles in Southern, right? Let's say like you go to UMass Lowell, they stink. That's the, not the point though. You go dominating break records there for your like third year, you could probably transfer power five school. Yeah, pretty easily. Yeah, go anywhere pretty easily. Yeah, like you can pretty much go wherever you want like in power five schools, excluding a couple. Like there's some limitations, but that I agree with. So it's like, you can do that at a JUCO too. But it's, it depends, it depends on what you go you go to. It really does. You're better off going to a four year now. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think it would depend on the four year too. JUCO, the way JUCO is if you go JUCO you're not leaving after one year, you're gonna be there for two years. That's not always true. More than likely, you're not likely to be the two years. More than likely. It's the way it really is. It's very rare that someone's going in one after you leave after. You're not really, like some people get draft after one. Like what at Cumberland, Joe, Joe got drafted. He was a sophomore, some people were two years old. Yeah, some people will just go to JUCO to get drafted 'cause they know they're good. But it's, it's rare now. Like it's not as common now. 'Cause they changed the draft eligibility rules now too. So, if you go to the limited, half the rounds. Yeah, so it's either what like. So even, so if you actually look at the drafts like numbers from divisions, like it's skewed to D1 now because all of them are like 27. Yeah. Like you're gonna red shirt, you're probably not gonna play right away. Like go somewhere, you're gonna play instead of sitting. Right? You go JUCO. Your options likely are certain schools. Like Campbell, for instance. They beast off of JUCO. Yes. Talked Campbell a little bit. Kid on our team with Campbell, Dylan Scuranda. He doesn't believe in there. It's a whole thing. But they feast, like there's certain schools that beast off of JUCO, 'cause it's coastal. Like, like. R.C. like R.C.G's feeder program for coasting. Yeah, exactly. So they're like. But like, you don't see as many kids from JUCO going to the biggest, like, like in the best. But that makes sense. But you'll see a kid go to Stony Brook and then transfer to Wake. So yeah, it's more so. So that, like what I'm saying, like. Now. It's Stony Brook isn't like the cream of the crop. Stony Brook's good. Stony Brook's good. Stony Brook's good. Well now your take is a little bit warmer. Yeah, now makes more sense, right? Yeah. Now when you describe it this way, like going from a JUCO and then going to like a mid major school. And then going to that ACC school, that SEC school, your power five for that grad year. That's more. Yeah, that's more what you see now. But a couple of years ago it was like, it was like. Yeah. You can go to a JUCO for two years and go to a fucking, well Vanderbilt doesn't really recruit a JUCO. But you can go to like, I don't know, due to a Stet, no, not Stetson. There's no change to kind of UNC. Now UNC, there's like. Probably not going to wake. Like an Ohio State. Like an Ohio State. That's a power five. No, that's fair. Penn State. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. But like you see what I'm saying with. We're like a Maryland. But like if you also look now since they cut the rounds, right, it's like the bulk of it. Like over like 70% is mainly like D1. Like then it's like fraction like high school. And then it goes like D2, D3. Very, very limited. Very limited. And then JUCO is very limited now too. And it was 40 rounds. It was like pretty like across the board eyes. It was still D1, but like. It's always going to be sued D1. But it's like now it's like, it's like primarily like ACC, ACC. It's like getting drafted too. You might get like one or two D3 kids now. You get drafted and that's crazy. And then it, if you look at the tier of what JUCO it is too, before it didn't really matter. Now it's like, it's like specific JUCOs too. Yeah. So it's like, don't go to the place that's like your max of you going. Like go somewhere. This is a sense of messed up. Go somewhere where you actually have a chance to compete. Like not just like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Like no, like realistically look at it. Like when can you play right away? And do you agree with the program? Like are you gonna have a chance to do what you need to develop where it's like, okay, I might be here for two years. And I can dominate. And if I do what I need to, I can get out and go somewhere really cool. Yeah. If that's what you want. Or honestly at that point, if you really just want to dominate there, you can. And then like you probably are still gonna be in the mix to get drafted. Probably not as high. So like your draft sucks in a change 'cause if you go to ACC or SEC, I don't even know if it's like power five. But like ACC, SEC, if you go there, your stocks are gonna go up dramatically 'cause you're facing all the top talent. 'Cause those two conferences have it all. Absolutely. And like that's where that bulk of the high ground picks are coming from. They're all coming from those. So it's like you go from a dude who is absolutely dominating in like, say this person usually you mess well, you're over at UMass Lowell and you're breaking school records. No one thinks you're serious 'cause who you're facing. Transfer to ACC. You don't dominate but you hang like, you carry your own. Like you compete. And that's just compete like you do well. Like, are you the best? No, but like you're above average there. Well now instead of becoming like a dude who's gonna be like the later on flyer or signing, now it's like, okay, no, he can play like, maybe you're a mid round pick. So it's like, that's what the game becomes. It depends what you're trying to do. So it's like to me, I think Juco at this point, it's like, if that's like your only option, don't go Juco. And then there's the financial side of everything. Like, I don't know what's going on but like everyone's financials and stuff like that. There's not a lot of money in baseball. And that's what no one really talks about. So it's like there's not a lot of baseball. Like, if I looked back, I probably would have gone to Lehigh. And there wasn't much money coming up. You probably would have got academic money though, right? Yeah, like your high GPA guy. Yeah, so like I would have done that and probably would have been way more about, no, it definitely would have been. But it was like, it's a whole thing. It's like, you don't know until you know. And also the transfer portal didn't really exist like it did today. I didn't even know what the transfer portal was in my school. So people know too, like once COVID hit, everything changed. Like, not just in the, like, yeah, no, in the world. It changed everything. Everything. Like now, like bless his soul, Jerry Peacock. Love him. Jerry, if you listen to this, I'm sorry. Not throwing it on the bus but he might be like 27 and still playing. Well, he's been under the knife a couple of times, right? Yeah, but like the fact that he's had that many like, the red shirt's available. Yeah, and it's like, so it used to be, you only get one red shirt and like at most you'd get five years. Now it's changed where there's a COVID shirt, there's a gray shirt, there's a red shirt. You can get every shirt, medical shirt, grad year. They just, they sort of willingly throwing things out. They're like, hey, you get a year, you get a year. And it's like, but like colleges are gonna feast on it 'cause like, who do you want a shrimp dick who's 17 years old? Or do you want a fucking 28-year-old man trying to bat? And like the way Kev kind of like talked about it when he like, 'cause there was him and another kid that took their grad year at UNC together. And it was like, he was at the point where I was like, like, am I gonna let this 18-year-old kid like get it hit off me? No. Like you go and you just dominate him. 'Cause like, there's something about like, there's definitely a man strength and a little boy. So it's like, there's a big difference. - Yeah, there's a huge, yeah, there's a huge difference. - There's a huge difference. - Physical maturity. Like knowing the game. - That's a major side, yeah. - That's a teenager and a grown man. - Yeah, I'm not gonna let some shrimp dick hit off me. - Yeah, fuck that. - I'm almost not gonna let some punk-ass get it, like, strike me out. Like, vice versa, it doesn't matter. It's like, so you get like an unseason picture out there facing grown men, those grown men are gonna rake. It's just like, it's a given. Like, so colleges are gonna want older people. - For sure. - So it's like, you go in there and you're like, - They don't have a player. - Yeah. - I don't have a player, I don't have a player. - Dude, go somewhere where you actually have a chance to compete. Look at the roster, look who's coming in going out. Like, dude, when Josh was at NC State, that was Tommy White, Tommy Tanks, freshman year. Best player in college, on NC State. Next year, gone, transfer portal. Probably got a bag going to LSU, NIL money. Like, he's still gonna be probably the top pick. - Top five pick, probably. Wait, draft happened, didn't it? Did he go this year? - I didn't watch any of the draft. - I don't know what happens in draft. He might be going back, I don't know. - Who knows? - I don't even know. - He can go back if he wants to. And he's gonna make it bag either way. - 'Cause he drops. - It doesn't matter. 'Cause that LSU, he dominates. He's getting NIL money. And a lot of people, like, it's different from baseball 'cause there's not that much money in baseball, but like, if you're in like an LSU, and like, you were dominating, you're probably getting something. Like, don't give me star. - 1000%. - That's a whole different conversation. - Yeah, but if you were playing football or something, it's like, those guys are known like, Caleb Williams. He was like, it's not like a team that I want to go to. I can just go back, I have another year of eligibility. I'm already making millions of dollars. Like, I don't need to go to the pros to get paid. - Yeah. - It's different baseball. Obviously, it's different baseball, but it's like, if you're Tommy tanks, and it's like, well, I can just, I don't know if my draft sucks, but I want to be like, I can go back. Like, I don't know what the hell happened. I mean, if you got draft, I mean, when did you know-- - You run the risk of-- - No, yeah, but it's like-- - If you play shitty, but it's like, it's just nice to have that option. - There's getting off it. - For sure. We got to tie it back into Juco. - Yeah, but it's like, it's rare to see, like the Juco route be like a real thing right now, because of how crazy the transfer portal is with college baseball. - Yeah. - Yeah, for sure. - There's more outliers in the Juco route than there is like, oh, he went Juco and he like came out and prevailed. - Yeah. I mean, it's more, what you were saying earlier, it's like, if you do go the Juco route now, it's like, okay. If your goal is to play-- - You might be dumb as bricks, you know. That's part of the game. - If you have a horrible GPA, you might be-- - You don't have an option. Like, there's literally criteria for you to go D1 or D3. - You got it, if you got like a one, three-- - Yeah, no, good luck. - Have fun at Juco, buddy. - Yeah. - But anyway, it's like what you were saying, if you want to go to ACC and you can't go out to high school, your best options either, go Juco and then mid-major and then ACC. Work out, work out like D3, D2, low D1, be an absolute fucking beast and then maybe go ACC. So it's like, dude, it's tough. - Yeah. - Juco, Juco might not be the move. - Dude, there's dudes like Jack Billings, like he went VTEC in the last three weeks. - Yeah. - And it's like he ended up going to Coastal after he went RCGC, but like once again, he was an ACC talent out of high school. My ACC didn't sniff it. Like, he went mid-major. I mean, Coastal was good too when he was there, but like, didn't sniff it. So it's like, it's just hard. It's really, it's just hard. But then there's also the kids where it's like, they'll go there out of high school and then they'll end up going to a D3 'cause they can hang. - Dude, that's so, there's the other end of this-- - Or they want to go home, so there's 100%. A lot of different sides to it where it's like, they go away, didn't like it where they got cut or it wasn't a good fit. They miss home, like a lot of different things going on. And then they go to be the big fish in a small pond. - Your local D3 or D2 might be stacked with like, ACC or SEC, or SEC kids. Bro, the PSAC, the PSAC is fucking loaded with former Power Five kids. Loaded, like the PSAC is gross. If you don't know what the PSAC is, it's Pennsylvania. What does the S stand for? - I don't know. - You're the one told by the PSAC. - It's a D2. - It's interesting to me what it stands for. - It's a D2 conference in Pennsylvania and it is legitimately one. - Is Lander in there? - Lander's in there. Nah, Lander's in South Carolina by a fuck lander. - It's legitimately one of the best, if not the best division two converters in the country. - Millersville's in there. - Millersville's in there. - Millersville's in there. - Westchester. - Westchester's good. - Yeah, I think them and Millersville have one of the tiers at some point. Like you see what I'm saying? They're fucking good. The PSAC is a fucking-- - You know who's a Millersville guy? - Chaz McCormick. - Chaz McCormick is a Millersville guy. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - The star of it for the actress. - That's very true. That's the fuck's his name, Joey Wendell. Not really a big name anymore in the majors, but he was in the majors. - He kinda sucks. - Westchester guy. - I'm gonna say, I love that. - He was in the show. - That cat could ball. - He was in the show. But anyway, we're getting off topic here. Guys, that's Juco. Bottom line, go where you're gonna play. Like if you have aspirations of going to play ACCC ball and then like going to play pros, there's a bunch of different ways to do it, whether it's Juco, low D3, D2, D1, whatever. Keep working, do your thing, and keep watching the Pro Source Pod. Peace. [BLANK_AUDIO]