Dan Cevette

We're seeing a lot of decommitments in college baseball. I think it's important to understand WHY.

This didn't happen overnight.

Follow the dominoes. 👇

2020: COVID.

The NCAA grants spring athletes an additional year of eligibility. Players stay in college longer. Rosters get older. Opportunities for incoming freshmen become more competitive.

Then the professional pipeline changes.

MLB cuts its draft from 40 rounds to 20.

Affiliated minor league teams shrink from 162 to 120.

Fewer traditional opportunities to enter professional baseball.

Now look at the roster math.

Before COVID, D1 baseball operated with a 35-man roster limit.

During the eligibility crunch, temporary allowances eventually expanded rosters to 40 players.

Beginning in 2025-26, programs participating in the House settlement moved to a 34-man roster limit, with exceptions for certain players.

That's SIX fewer standard roster spots compared to the temporary 40-man allowance.

Now add the transfer portal.

Nearly 2,700 D1 baseball players entered the portal during the June 2026 window alone.

Programs have access to thousands of experienced college players competing for opportunities.

Throw in NIL, revenue sharing, and the shift from the old 11.7-scholarship model to the possibility of funding scholarships across all 34 roster spots at participating programs.

And now the NCAA's new age-based eligibility model can allow qualifying athletes up to FIVE years of competition within a continuous five-year window, replacing the traditional four-seasons-in-five-years model.

Think about what all of this means.

A college coach can genuinely believe in a high school prospect when he commits. But by the time that player arrives on campus, the roster, budget, available transfer talent, and immediate needs of the program could look completely different.

College baseball has become an increasingly competitive roster-management business.

And the pressure to WIN NOW is real.

Does that excuse every decommitment? Absolutely not.

But I also don't believe every decommitment represents a lack of loyalty.

Here's what concerns me most.

We're asking teenagers and their families to make decisions about their futures in a system that can change dramatically before they ever step foot on campus.

The rules changed. The economics changed. The roster math changed.

But the hopes and dreams of those kids haven't.

And somewhere in the middle of all this change, we cannot lose sight of the people affected by it.

@prepbaseball

One of the cruelest things about SPORTS?

You never know when you're making a memory you'll spend the rest of your life wishing you could relive.

Think about that.

One day, you put on your high school uniform for the LAST TIME.

You take your LAST bus ride.

You hear your name announced over the speakers for the LAST time.

You walk onto a field with guys you've played alongside since you were LITTLE KIDS.

And you have absolutely NO IDEA how much you're going to miss it.

For most athletes, there's no retirement ceremony.

No standing ovation.

No farewell speech.

Just a final out. A final whistle. A final buzzer.

And just like that, a chapter of your life you thought would last forever is OVER.

Here's what nobody tells you...

Twenty years later, you won't care nearly as much about the stats, the wins and losses, or the trophies.

You'll miss the PEOPLE.

The bus rides. The locker room. The laughs. The practices. The friendships.

You'll miss being 17 years old, surrounded by your best friends, with absolutely NO IDEA how good you had it.

And if someone offered you ONE MORE GAME with those same guys?

You wouldn't care who won.

You'd just want to be there.

To every young athlete still playing...

Put the phone down once in a while. Look around that locker room. Appreciate those teammates.

Because one day, you'll realize something that hits harder than any loss you ever experienced.

You weren't just playing a game.

You were living the GOOD OLD DAYS.

College coaches ⚾️👇

The GRAND DADDY of them all 🔥⚾️👇

Two experienced baseball scouts can watch the EXACT SAME PLAYER and walk away with two completely different evaluations.

Think about that.

Same player. Same tools. Same performance.

Two completely different opinions about his FUTURE.

That's SCOUTING.

I spent 11 years playing professional baseball. I was the player being evaluated. I experienced firsthand how scouts and organizations viewed talent, projection, and development differently.

In 2013, I moved to the other side.

Building Prep Baseball across PA and NY gave me an entirely different appreciation for evaluating players, identifying talent, and projecting what young athletes could become.

Today, I oversee our @prepbaseball operations across 10 Northeast states, and I can tell you firsthand...

The amount of TIME, DISCUSSION, and THOUGHT our scouting staffs put into evaluating and ranking high school baseball players is something most people never see.

People see the RANKINGS.

They don't see the hours of scouting, crosschecking, film study, data analysis, and conversations behind them.

And here's where it gets interesting...

How much weight should we place on POSITIONAL VALUE?

Is a legitimate shortstop more valuable than a corner infielder? What about a projectable starting pitcher?

How much does SIZE matter?

Would you take the 5'8" middle infielder who can flat-out PLAY over the 6'3" athlete with tremendous physical projection?

What about PRESENT ABILITY versus FUTURE CEILING?

The kid dominating at 16 isn't necessarily the player who will be dominating at 21.

And that's what makes this so difficult.

We have more technology, more measurable data, and more information about baseball players than at ANY point in the history of this game.

But here's something I firmly believe...

MEASURING A PLAYER'S TOOLS AND PROJECTING HIS FUTURE ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS.

A radar gun can tell you how hard he throws.

Lasers can tell you how fast he runs.

TrackMan can tell you how a baseball moves.

But none of them can tell you with certainty what that 16-year-old will become at 21.

That's where experience, evaluation, and conviction come into play.

And it's one of the things I appreciate most about what's been built at Prep Baseball.

Our evaluation philosophy goes well beyond one look, one event, or one set of numbers.

It's built around boots-on-the-ground scouting, technology, historical data, and continued evaluation as players develop.

And opinions WILL change.

Players grow. Bodies mature. Tools develop. Performance changes.

That's why the evaluation process NEVER STOPS.

Because scouting isn't an exact science.

It's the challenge of identifying what a player IS, understanding what he COULD BE, and determining how likely he is to GET THERE.

And after experiencing this game as a player, an evaluator, and now someone overseeing scouting and event operations across an entire region...

I have more appreciation for the ART OF SCOUTING than ever before. @ShooterHunt 🙌

And that's why I love it. ⚾️