NCAA Baseball vs. MLB

Differences in NCAA and MLB Baseball

Recently I attended a Boston College baseball game against Florida State, in which they were crushed, and I started making connections between high school baseball and college ball.  Then I made an immediate leap to the differences in college and the Majors.  Last season I attended two Red Sox games, one of them was a walk-off double by Coco Crisp, and the other was the best game possible.  I attended Clay Buckholtz’s no hitter, which happened to be on my birthday.  My seats were less than stellar but Buckholtz’s performance was just the opposite.  Back to my point, there are many noticeable differences in NCAA baseball and the MLB.

          While watching the Red Sox, you notice many players lackadaisically walking out to their positions where the just a little warming up and also walk back to the dugout following a strikeout.  Well in college, players sprint to their positions where they throw laser beams to each other and warm up the way they should.  Major league ball players get paid millions of dollars to look good in their uniforms and keep fans taking out a second mortgage to go to a game.  On the contrary, college players go out to fight for a spot on the team, their starting position, and in many cases, the future occupations.  In the MLB, ten year veteran players show up every day and go through the actions as the do in spring training as well.  College ball players do not get paid and are hoping to get drafted so they’ll have the chance to play in the big leagues.

          The style of game that the two leagues play is completely different.  In the majors, pitchers work slowly and at whatever pace they would like.  In college, pitchers keep the game moving along making most close games only two and a half hours at most.  Pitchers also go more innings and pitch on a regular basis.  The use of relievers is slim to none in most games, no matter the circumstances.  Hitting is the highlight of all differences in the two leagues.  The majors use wooden bats where the college teams use metal.  In high school we use metal and have played other divisional teams that use wood.  The ball definitely seems to come harder off the bat and in fact it has been proven that the use of metal makes the ball go farther.   In last years College World Series games I recall there being a substantial increase in the number of players that were hit by pitches.  It almost seemed as though players were leaning into balls to get on base.  Last years CWS average was 3.7 HBP’s per game!  3.7 per game! In last seasons MLB World Series, only five players were hit in four games.  That’s a remarkable difference.  The other major difference from the two is the ability to bunt and the commonness of giving yourself up.  In the MLB, players hit for the bettering of their stats.  In college the bunt is used much more often and the advancements of runners by groundballs is much more common.  I enjoy watching the sport of baseball, but get much more satisfaction of watching real baseball, college, instead of MLB where it is a power serge.