You’re interested in playing college baseball, but what are your chances of making it to the next level? While many tout national probability as gospel, it turns out your odds of playing at the next level vary greatly depending on where you live.
If you live in Colorado and are wondering what percentage of high school graduates from your state play at each college level and where they are playing, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we team up with our friends at College Baseball Insights to provide you with state-level overview of your chances to play at the next level.
You can see an overview of our resources, methodology, and limitations on our College Baseball Participation Overview Main Page, as well find overviews on other states and regions.
Colorado by the Numbers
In the table below, you’ll see how many high school players from Colorado are playing at each level of college baseball, the probability of playing at each college level, and how Colorado compares nationally and to other states in the Southwest Region. You can see the complete Southwest breakdown HERE.
Where Are They Playing?
Colorado Players by Division (1050)
Image and data credit: College Baseball Insights
The Breakdown
You may be surprised to find out that Colorado has more high school baseball participants than Arizona. Colorado’s 10,551 high school baseball players is good for 2nd in the Southwest behind obvious frontrunner Texas, whose participation numbers top every other state by a wide margin. Colorado is 2nd in the region in overall college baseball participation rate at 9.92% across all levels. If that seems low for a 2nd place state, it is. The national average is 12.58%. The only two levels where Colorado does well at moving players to the college ranks compared to the national average is Division 2 and NAIA. At the D2 level, Colorado’s 2.55% participation rate is above the national D2 average (2.05%) and the best of any state in the Southwest. For NAIA, Colorado’s 1.72% is above the 1.54% national average, but nothing to write home about. Still, it’s the 2nd best NAIA mark in the region behind Arizona. For all other major levels of college baseball, Colorado is below both the national and regional averages. At the D1 level, Colorado’s dismal 1.24% participation rate is 3rd in the region. At the D3 level, the 1.49% participation rate is 2nd in the Southwest but well below the national average of 3.10%. At the NAIA level, Colorado sports a 2.87% participation rate. That’s 3rd in the region and below the national mark of 3.30%. The Centennial State’s lack of success at moving players to the college level is because the college programs per capita in Colorado is one of the lowest in the nation. There are only 15 college baseball programs in-state– 2 Division 1, 8 Division 2, and 5 JUCO’s. There are no D3 or NAIA programs. With the Rockies dividing Colorado from some of the college baseball-rich states like California, it makes sense that the numbers would be low.
Want to see additional states and regional breakdowns? Find them HERE.
Limitations
This article was written with data and insights from 3rd party sources, College Baseball Insights and NFHS High School Participation Data. Data and insights are subject to revision and/or change. We’ve attempted to display as accurate a picture as possible with the information that is available. Readers should be aware that college baseball roster data is fluid and changes throughout the year. Every attempt is made to reconcile data and keep up with changes, but this article may not reflect the changes or updates from 3rd parties. Insights cannot account for gap year programs, misreported roster information, or other inaccuracies which may slightly alter the numbers and percentages used in this article. Insights are subject to change and are based on best available information.
