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Early Signing Period by the Numbers

December 7, 2014

By Jacob Gill
Philadelphia Region Director of Scouting

Yesterday we examined the position-by-position breakdown of players in our 2015 and 2016 state rankings. Today we will take a numerical look at the results of the early signing period, limiting our analysis to the Division I level. While programs at every level of college baseball continue to recruit seniors in the spring, this is especially true of non-Division I programs. It is also more difficult to track commitments to schools that don't award athletic scholarships, as binding National Letters of Intent are not a part of the process, and those schools are not allowed to formally publicize verbal commitments they receive.

We do want to note, however, that Division II schools such as Alderson Broaddus, Bloomsburg, IUP, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Millersville, Pitt-Johnstown, Seton Hill, Shippensburg, and Slippery Rock didn't simply sit on their hands during the early signing period, as each program inked at least three Pennsylvania seniors to NLIs.

The Breakdown

To date, our commitment database indicates that 117 members (not counting Charlie Fessler's commitment to Northwestern to play football) of the Pennsylvania class of 2015 have committed to 61 different Division I baseball programs.

By Conference
22 - Atlantic-10
16 - Atlantic Coast (ACC)
13 - Metro Atlantic (MAAC)
10 - Big Ten
  9 - Colonial (CAA)
  8 - Big South, Patriot
  6 - America East
  4 - American Athletic (AAC), Big East, Northeast (NEC)
  2 - Big XII, Ivy, Mid American (MAC), Ohio Valley (OVC), Southeastern (SEC)
  1 - Horizon, Independent, Pac-12

By Program
  8 - La Salle
  6 - George Mason
  5 - Lehigh, Monmouth, Penn State, Rider
  4 - Maryland, Pitt
  3 - Delaware, Mount St. Mary's, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph's, Maryland-Baltimore County, Virginia
  2 - Campbell, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Duke, Elon, Marist, North Carolina, Penn, Stony  
       Brook, Wake Forest
  1 - Akron, Alabama, Arizona State, Binghamton, Boston College, Canisius, Charleston Southern,
       Cincinnati, Connecticut, Davidson, East Carolina, Fairleigh Dickinson, Georgetown, Holy Cross, 
       James Madison, Kentucky, Lafayette, Liberty, Longwood, Memphis, Morehead State, Navy, North
       Carolina State, Nebraska, New Jersey Tech, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Radford, St. John's, Tennessee
       Tech, Towson, Virginia Commonwealth, Villanova, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Xavier, Youngstown
       State

Not surprisingly, geography reigns supreme. Every college program that received commitments from at least three Pennsylvania players is located in-state or within a three-hour drive of the Pennsylvania border. The Big Ten, a historically Midwest conference, has moved its footprint east in recent years, with Penn State and Maryland receiving the bulk of the conference's Pennsylvania commits.

For individual high schools, PIAA class AAAA semifinalist Spring-Ford and PAISAA tournament champion Malvern Prep leads the way with five Division I commitments apiece. Holy Ghost Prep has four, while Loyalsock Township and Pottsville Area each have three.

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