Inside: A&M-Texarkana fields recruiting challenges,

TEXARKANA, Texas — The process of recruiting baseball players has been a lot different for Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana.

“The biggest effect that COVID19 had on our recruiting is that the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) is giving the players an extra year to play,” Eagles’ head coach Steve Jones said. “We were graduating 17 seniors and two graduate students. They each got a year back. We are going to lose five or six guys from that group. It has been our recruiting needs out of balance.”

Jones and his staff have been unable to get out and see players because of social distancing guidelines that were issued in response to the coronavirus. The Eagles usually recruit from the spring until July.

“Some of the junior college players that we recruited have chosen to go back to junior college for another year,” Jones said. “One of the effects will be that a lot of junior college teams will explode with good players. JC baseball will reap the benefit of that.

“We are in good shape with the guys that we have coming back. We signed the biggest freshman class that we’ve ever had along with some junior college guys. Some of the freshmen that we felt would come in and be ready to play will now have to compete with some seniors.”

Jones typically goes to see a player in action but was unable to this time. Instead, he relied on talking with the player’s coach. Jones also viewed stats, watched a lot of video and visited recruiting sites.

“A lot of players have reached out,” the Eagles’ head coach said. “I have received many emails from guys who are inquiring about open spots. I have to tell a lot of good players that we don’t have room for them on the roster. We don’t have a lot of scholarship

money either. We are searching for a really good pitcher and a catcher. For the most part, if a player is an infielder or outfielder, I do not have room for him.

“Players will choose to go to a college that will give them the best chance of getting to play. I have started working on the 2021 recruiting. I will be going to Melissa, Texas, soon to watch some players if I get the OK. The situation has put on crimp on what we normally do. It was hard to overcome. On the bright side, we get to pick up where we let off, hopefully, with all of the returning players. It will be interesting.”