Coaches, players face unique recruiting challenges
Lacrosse players around the state have been stuck in recruiting limbo in the wake of precautions due to COVID- 19.
From spring high school sports being shut down to NCAA dead periods, athletes have not been able to take the field or get in front of college coaches since March.
“There are a lot of variables that have changed the dynamics for college recruiting,” Darien boys lacrosse coach Jeff Brameier said. “The first is the extra year that has been given to the kids who are in college. That goes without saying that the schools that are bringing those guys back will have less of a need for guys from the classes of 2021 and 2022. I feel bad for the young kids that are just being brought in because they are going to be affected by it.”
The NCAA has granted an extra year of eligibility for spring sport athletes who lost their season, and has given a one- year period in which scholarships will not be limited.
“This year the NCAA has said that the kids on can stay at their universities and their scholarships won’t count against the school’s equivalency,” Fairfield men’s coach Andrew Baxter said. “But starting next year that money is going to count against the equivalency, so what we are doing is starting to have conversations with the rising seniors right now about if they are thinking about staying because it will affect the scholarship money and the financial side of things.”
With less space to fill on collegiate rosters, the recruiting process is likely to become at least slightly more selective. But with the dead period factored in, the process has become extremely difficult.
“Our organization as far as on the women’s side has canceled all of our big recruiting tournaments,” New Haven women’s coach Jen Fallon said. “Once they made that decision, people started to panic. When I say people it is really the
similar trend in 2017. My research has found hitters in the majors reach their peak, in terms of wins above replacement, between ages 24 and 27.
In 2020, 134 hitters expected to be on the major league roster — either as every- day regulars, bench players or members of a platoon — will lose a season of their primes. No team will feel the effects more than the Baltimore Orioles, who have the most hitters — nine — between ages 24 and 27 penciled into their lineup. The New York Mets and Seattle Mariners are near the top, with eight hitters each in that age group. The Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers each have just one player set to lose out on a full season during a peak year.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso dominated the NL Rookie of the Year voting last year ( 29 of possible 30 first- place votes) after batting .260 with a rookie record 53 home runs plus 120 RBIs. He will be 25 on opening day yet won’t have a full season to play what could be the second year of his prime.
Other players affected in a similar way include Trea Turner, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger.
Turner missed 40 games last season for the Washington Nationals and will now have just 60 to help bolster his free agency, set for 2023. The soon- to- be 27- year- old shortstop led the league in stolen bases in 2018 ( 43) and was the second- fastest position player of 2019 ( average sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second), a skill that declines with age.
Lindor, 26, agreed with the
Cleveland Indians on a oneyear, $ 17.5 million deal to avoid arbitration in 2020 and is eligible for his last year of arbitration in 2021 before earning an opportunity to explore the free- agent market. Cleveland’s two- time Gold Glove switch- hitting shortstop has hit 32 or more home runs in each of the past three seasons and hit .400 ( 12 for 30) with three home runs, three doubles and 10 RBIs in 10 spring training games before baseball was suspended due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Chapman, 27, finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in each of the past two seasons for the Oakland Athletics, setting a career high for isolated power — a metric which measures a player’s ability to hit for extra- base hits — at .257 to rank ninth in the American League last season.
Since entering the league in 2014, only Mike Trout has produced more wins above replacement than Betts, now of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betts, 27, is one year away from free agency and will miss most of what effectively could be the final season in his prime.
The Dodgers’ Bellinger, the reigning NL MVP and a former Rookie of the Year, has improved each season in a major league uniform. In 2019 he batted .305 with a 1.035 OPS, leading the league in total bases ( 351 with 47 home runs) and intentional walks ( 21). His 7.8 wins above replacement tied for the league lead last year and is among the top 50 hitter performances since 2006. Per FanGraphs, a conservative estimate of 6.5 wins above replacement ( the most in the NL) was established for him if the 2020 season had been played in its entirety.