Why is Nebraska So Good at Producing D1 Baseball/Softball Talent?

[MonagHusker]

I remember that Aaron Semm was on Sharp & Benning at the time and said something along the lines the state gets a lot of attention for producing D1 volleyball players, but they may be even better at softball. Then I go on this forum from time-to-time and I see how good we are on the baseball side as well.

Where the football side of it is always a matter of not having enough top level talent to offer scholarships too, it seems like the issue with baseball comes down to them finding other places to play whether at 4-year or JUCO.

As someone that grew up in Omaha, but only played a little bit of baseball, where does this come from?

 

[Skerfan]

I remember that Aaron Semm was on Sharp & Benning at the time and said something along the lines the state gets a lot of attention for producing D1 volleyball players, but they may be even better at softball. Then I go on this forum from time-to-time and I see how good we are on the baseball side as well.

Where the football side of it is always a matter of not having enough top level talent to offer scholarships too, it seems like the issue with baseball comes down to them finding other places to play whether at 4-year or JUCO.

As someone that grew up in Omaha, but only played a little bit of baseball, where does this come from?

I think baseball more then other sports is about developing a skill and less about raw talent. Raw talent obviously helps but baseball players more then any of the major sport athletes can be developed through hard work and repetition and I think the work ethic of our state lends itself to that type of thing. We don't have a bunch of 6'4" kids that can run 4.4 forties or have verticals of 40 inches but we do have a ton of kids that will spend hours in a cage or taking ground balls.

 

[MonagHusker]

I think baseball more then other sports is about developing a skill and less about raw talent. Raw talent obviously helps but baseball players more then any of the major sport athletes can be developed through hard work and repetition and I think the work ethic of our state lends itself to that type of thing. We don't have a bunch of 6'4" kids that can run 4.4 forties or have verticals of 40 inches but we do have a ton of kids that will spend hours in a cage or taking ground balls.

That sounds very reasonable and I could see that as a valid way of looking at it! It doesn't matter how fast you can run if you can't get on base. Size doesn't matter too much compared to other sports.

Maybe I was thinking in terms of being such a football centered place and not necessarily having the opportunity for year round baseball, but perhaps that isn't a hindrance as much as it might seem.

 

[Skerfan]

That sounds very reasonable and I could see that as a valid way of looking at it! It doesn't matter how fast you can run if you can't get on base. Size doesn't matter too much compared to other sports.

Maybe I was thinking in terms of being such a football centered place and not necessarily having the opportunity for year round baseball, but perhaps that isn't a hindrance as much as it might seem.

The year round thing does hurt a lot of the state but the Omaha area has several indoor places that you can work on your game year round.

 

[BW22SM]

It all starts and ends with the development of youth baseball in the state. The Frozen Ropes Tigers completely changed the game circa 2010 & all but a few others have followed since.

 

[huskrthill]

I remember that Aaron Semm was on Sharp & Benning at the time and said something along the lines the state gets a lot of attention for producing D1 volleyball players, but they may be even better at softball. Then I go on this forum from time-to-time and I see how good we are on the baseball side as well.

Where the football side of it is always a matter of not having enough top level talent to offer scholarships too, it seems like the issue with baseball comes down to them finding other places to play whether at 4-year or JUCO.

As someone that grew up in Omaha, but only played a little bit of baseball, where does this come from?

Baseball is promoted and played year round in Nebraska. Outside of the regular high school season, teams play American Legion baseball in the summer as well as a fall ball season. Then in the winter they have indoor facilities to work on skills.

Football, by comparison, is extremely limited. Pretty much all you can do are conditioning sessions. They do not allow football-specific drills to be performed in the offseason. They do allow summer camps, but it is very tightly controlled. You can't even use a blocking sled. An outside organization could theoretically promote football activities during the offseason, but it doesn't happen often. Nebraska's rules really hurt the development of football players.

 

[Rainbow Dash]

Baseball is promoted and played year round in Nebraska. Outside of the regular high school season, teams play American Legion baseball in the summer as well as a fall ball season. Then in the winter they have indoor facilities to work on skills.

Football, by comparison, is extremely limited. Pretty much all you can do are conditioning sessions. They do not allow football-specific drills to be performed in the offseason. They do allow summer camps, but it is very tightly controlled. You can't even use a blocking sled. An outside organization could theoretically promote football activities during the offseason, but it doesn't happen often. Nebraska's rules really hurt the development of football players.

True, but we have to do a better job of finding and developing them. Harrison Phillips and Drew Ott were painstakingly obvious high-major players. Identify, recruit, develop. I feel like we haven’t done this since Solich. Hoping this staff is better at it.

 

[showballcoach]

With former All American Jeff Leise being the head of the Nebraska Prospects, you’d think that Bolt and his staff of ex-Huskers would build some sort of relationship. Erstad killed off the fall tournament they used to host because he said it attracted too many Nebraska teams. I also don’t understand why they have not developed a Juco pipeline with IWCC or Hutch. Send a kid to them with the understanding that in 1-2 years you will be a Husker.

That talent is here if they are willing to take it.

2020 class alone has 17 D1 and 17 Juco commits on this list.

Nebraska Prospects

www.nebraskabaseballprospects.com

 

[BW22SM]

With former All American Jeff Leise being the head of the Nebraska Prospects, you’d think that Bolt and his staff of ex-Huskers would build some sort of relationship. Erstad killed off the fall tournament they used to host because he said it attracted too many Nebraska teams. I also don’t understand why they have not developed a Juco pipeline with IWCC or Hutch. Send a kid to them with the understanding that in 1-2 years you will be a Husker.

That talent is here if they are willing to take it.

2020 class alone has 17 D1 and 17 Juco commits on this list.

Nebraska Prospects

www.nebraskabaseballprospects.com

That's already happened and the immediate commitments from local players have been assisted by the Prospects since coach Bolt was hired. The communication channel is wide open & the staff is taking full advantage of it. Or I should say they have up to this point, we'll see if it continues.

There's more to it as to why "Erstad killed it off." It's not that simple.

This current staff is all over it with JUCO and will have no issues placing guys. It's not as easy as it sounds though & TBH, you have to be very careful doing that with local players. I'd like to see more walk-ons from the state, instead of letting them slip to JUCO. They got good W/O's in the 2020 & 2021 class, hoping it continues after that...

This staff is absolutely relentless with recruiting and their ability to close is off the charts.

 

[HuskerFed]

The lack of scholarships makes it tough. It was 10+ full rides shared by around 28 players. Partials still make school expensive. Not sure what is today but only experienced it with my son that played D1 baseball.

 

[DuckTownHusker]

I think baseball more then other sports is about developing a skill and less about raw talent. Raw talent obviously helps but baseball players more then any of the major sport athletes can be developed through hard work and repetition and I think the work ethic of our state lends itself to that type of thing. We don't have a bunch of 6'4" kids that can run 4.4 forties or have verticals of 40 inches but we do have a ton of kids that will spend hours in a cage or taking ground balls.

This rings true - and I'm not even really that big of a baseball fan. But how many times have you seen a pitcher or 1B who have a bit of a beer gut, but are barrel-chested and have arms bigger than some peoples' torsos? I'd say that overall, baseball players aren't the most purely athletic athletes (see: football WRs and DBs) but baseball requires a certain skill that can be honed.

It's VERY difficult to hit a 95mph pitch. I'd argue that skill is more difficult than making a great touchdown catch or being able to dunk a basketball on a 10ft rim. In that sense, baseball is more akin to bowling or billiards and can be learned, opposed to sports like sprinting where you're either born with Usain Bolt speed or you're not.

And if there's one thing we know about Nebraskans, it's that they're known for hard work and consistency - almost to the point of stubbornness. Just ask any Husker fan if Frost should adopt a West Coast Offense or run the Triple Option.

 

[Frosty1980]

Some of it is we live in a state that’s 90% Caucasian. Inner city and most African Americans don’t play baseball. We have a lot of upper class in this state that are willing to throw thousands and thousands of dollars at baseball. A lot of White middle class people don’t let their kids play football. I’m not really trying to make it about race but it kind of rings true. Big population based cities with lots of African Americans produce more football and basketball players. Nebraska isn’t alone in producing baseball players, a lot of the fly over states do.

 

[BleedinHuskerRed]

I think baseball more then other sports is about developing a skill and less about raw talent. Raw talent obviously helps but baseball players more then any of the major sport athletes can be developed through hard work and repetition and I think the work ethic of our state lends itself to that type of thing. We don't have a bunch of 6'4" kids that can run 4.4 forties or have verticals of 40 inches but we do have a ton of kids that will spend hours in a cage or taking ground balls.

I love this. I would also add that kids play a lot of baseball out in their backyard, with friends, etc. because it’s easy. All you really need is a ball and something to hit it. Football requires a lot of specialized equipment.