I played D2 college baseball as a two-way player. Over my career I started games at third base, second base, shortstop, DH, and pitcher.
I never pitched in high school. Got to college and had to figure out managing a pitching workload on the fly while also playing the field. That forced me to understand the game from angles most players never have to think about.
What I learned is that the most versatile players aren't just more valuable — they see the game differently. You start understanding what a pitcher is thinking from the mound because you've been there. You understand what a hitter is looking for because you face them too.
Now that I've started coaching, that perspective has changed even more. Seeing the game from a coach's eyes makes everything I thought I knew more complex.
Anyone else play multiple positions or both ways? How did it change how you see the game?

Everyone talks about velocity, bat speed, and athleticism. But some of the best players I played with in college had skills that never showed up on a radar gun or a stat sheet.
Things like reading a pitcher's release point before the ball left his hand. Knowing exactly where to be on a cutoff before the play developed. Communicating constantly in a way that made everyone around them better.
The stuff that doesn't get highlighted but separates players at every level.
What do you think is the most underrated skill in baseball?

Curious what this community thinks about the recruiting email process. Most players either never reach out at all or send generic copy paste messages that coaches can spot immediately.
The ones that stood out from what I heard were short, specific, and showed the player actually knew something about the program they were contacting.
Has anyone been through this process — either as a player or a coach? What actually works?

These are subject to Baseball Playing Rules Oversight Committee approval on 8/24

The Quick Version, if I am reading this right:
ABS will be allowed.
In D1, teams are limited to 30 seconds between batters, for offensive timeouts, and for mound visits.
In D1, the bench can no longer have electronic contact with the batter or runners.
Teams will be allowed 6 offensive conferences per game, of which up to 3 can include a coach; an additional coach-included one is added in extra innings.
The double first base is now mandatory.
18" bases will be allowed. (It is not clear if, if an 18" base is used at first base, it has to be double. Note that there is a new high school rule for 2027 that says either a double 15" or a single 18" base must be used at first base.)
A foul ball that might have been fair, and any tag play, can now be challenged.
(apparently, I didn't read that right)
Correction: a fair ball can be challenged to see if it was actually foul; also, all tag plays can be challenged, even if the tag is not "in the immediate vicinity of the base"
Bats can have data-gathering sensors in them.

There are also two experimental rules, which appear to require conferences to ask for approval from the NCAA:
It is a balk if a pitcher disengages the rubber more than twice against the same batter, unless it results in a successful pickoff.
A relief pitcher must pitch either to at least three batters, or to the end of the half-inning.

The recruiting process is one of the most confusing and stressful things a young player and their family can go through.
Looking back there's so much I wish I understood earlier — how coaches actually evaluate players, what grades mean for your options, how to actually reach out to programs the right way.
Most players focus entirely on showcases and stats when there's so much more to it than that.
What's one thing you wish you knew about recruiting before going through it?

Very, very interesting timing.

Collegiate ball fans in the USA! It has been a great year all over our sport and now the exclamation point and epilogue has been set: the USA having fought to win silver in the first ever WBSC Collegiates in Taiwan. Because for the very first time ever, the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, away from its traditional friendship tours and the many years of apperances in Haarlem in the Netherlands, have for the first time since 2022 competed internationally as one of the 4 charter teams in this brand new event.

We congratulate our brothers and sisters in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea for celebrating this great event, recognizing the international nature of the sport and hoping that this will expand to even more countries and territories, especially in the varsity side.

Thus ends the first chapter of this brand new era in collegiate sports, for finally, we now have a dedicated international championship punched in as part of the WBSC calendar, one that serves as the official epilogue and postscript of the 6 month long varsity season in the USA and Western Canada.

Once more congrats to the boys in red, white and blue for the silver medal! And thanks to all of you here in this sub for folllowing along the story of their journey.

Coverage of the USABCNT returns here in 2027 for Season 76 of the oldest national collegiate team program in the Americas. If this event becomes permanent and yearly, the hope is that it will be a permanent part of the collegiate year and the epilogue following the finale of the season in Omaha.

For Glory

John

Location: Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, Taichung

Watch: MLB.com

Edit: Corrected link to stream

Spent years training the wrong way before I figured this out.
I was focused on getting bigger. More muscle, more weight on the bar, more size. What I eventually realized is that baseball doesn't reward the biggest guy — it rewards the most athletic one.
The best players I played with in college weren't the strongest in the weight room. They were the most explosive. The fastest. The most mobile. They trained like athletes, not bodybuilders.
Biggest shift I made was adding sprint work, rotational exercises, and daily mobility instead of just chasing size.
What training mistakes did you make early in your career that you wish you could go back and fix?

Is a Baseball America subscription worth it for the offseason reports? I’m a D1 subscriber and love their content but curious if BA offers anything different?

Clearly had a number which he told teams he would not go after in the draft. Glad he's back, absolute weapon.

Baseball weight changes

HS baseball rules have changed regarded bat weights for a given length. Bats now are not allowed to have more than a -6 in drop. Meaning a 33 inch bat can weigh 27 oz up to 30 oz. -3 was the old rule. Parents are worried that their children are going to get hurt when the ball will be hit harder. BUT
according to my figuring using the formula for kinetic energy:
KE = 1/2•m•v•v
If you swing the same bat length but reduce the weight, your bat swing speed will increase. But if you drop the mass (weight) the force will decrease and even tho the bat speed is squared biomechanics say that you can’t swing faster enough to offset the drop in mass. Things like coefficient of friction and momentum formulas come into play. There are some figures from bat manufacturers that say there is a %2-3 increase in exit velocity but that would have to be figured from a robotic pitching machine and a robotic hit simulator which would not take biomechanics into play. I say there won’t be much difference. Strong players will use the 33/30 bat and the weaker player who was pigeon holed to swing a 33/30 32/29 31/28 etc. 33 is an ideal length for reach to cover the strike zone but weaker players can’t swing as hard so they will make contact better because they will have more time to react and to square up the sweet spot to the pitch but it will not increase the force do to loss of mass and biomechanics interfering with a corresponding increase bat speed to offset mass. Parents are looking at it like they would a 4 cylinder 100hp car. It would be the same thinking that if you removed a
Spark plug expecting the car to
put out 75hp. But other factors
Come into play and that wouldn’t happen. I’m not a physicist but an old time pharmacist who loves physics. Keep in mind too that the regulatory bodies in the 90’s or 00’s the manufacturers where required to govern the force of a bat by putting in a metallic disc inside the bat which deadens the exit
Velocity.
Is my thinking valid or am I missing something and exit velocity will increase significantly?????

Played college baseball and one of the biggest things I wish someone had told me earlier was how to actually take care of my arm — not just ice it after games.
Most young players spend all their time throwing and zero time recovering. No arm care routine, no mobility work, no understanding of the difference between normal fatigue and actual pain.
The guys I saw get hurt weren't always the ones throwing the hardest. They were the ones who never learned to recover properly.
What do you think is the most overlooked part of arm care for young players?

Location: Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, Taichung

Watch: MLB.com