Where have the Black baseball players gone in today’s NCAA?

By Lamar Brooks, NDG Special Contributor

“Roe, you gotta see this kid! He’s been selected to play on the Miami Marlins 17-year-old scout team this summer.”

When I put the phone back in its cradle after the call from my boy (my friend) in Alabama, I thought, well I guess I better see what all the hurrah is about.

The late spring 2014 hurrah was about Chad Hardy, a 6-foot, wiry, 17-year-old junior (at the time) baseball prospect at Prosper High School. Indeed, if Hardy’s prowess extended beyond the Texas borders into Alabama, with guys gushing about his abilities, sure, I would have definitely wanted to see him. And I could have slap myself and my network of boys who keep me posted here in Texas for not informing me sooner.

You see, young black men playing baseball at the highest level youth baseball is a thing of beauty. If for no other reason, then because compared to their black counterparts in football and basketball, it is somewhat of a rarity. If you had a dollar for every time I have heard a black parent of a gifted youth baseball player say “he’s the only one,” (a.k.a. the only black player on his predominantly white team) well that dollar would stretch across Texas. But, still, that would not give hopeful acknowledgement to the rise of the dwindling black baseball player.

Let’s fast forward a few months later to October 2014 at the annual Chick-fil-a Texas vs. The World International Baseball Championships. Prior to the championships, Hardy, Prosper’s starting right-fielder and lead-off hitter, had helped lead the Prosper team four-rounds deep into the Texas High School 4A playoffs; finish as one of the area’s top hitters (according to The Dallas Morning News); win All– District honors in one of the top districts in Dallas/Fort Worth; guided the Miami Marlins Travel Team to the Gold Medal Championship of the widely held USA Baseball 17U National Championship; run a 6.5 in the 60-yard dash at the Complete Showcase; and earn a score of 9 (of 10) at the Perfect Game South Top Showcase (currently listed on the PG Top Uncommitted List).

This tournament features up to 120 players all vying for the attention of Major League Baseball scouts, who put on the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau Pro Workout during the Texas vs. The World event.

Each of those charged with evaluating talent including former major leaguers. The scouts who run the event, in the end, settle on two players including Hardy.

Hardy and another black player who attended the tournament are considered “toolsy,” a term indicative of MLB’s vaunted 5-tool rating system, of which only the rarest of players possess all five tools (think Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton,. etc.): 1) hit for power, 2) hit for average, 3) field, 4) speed, and 5) arm strength.

One thing about the MLB Scouting Bureau ratings is that it’s not necessarily designed to carve up players in nice little compartments. The ratings are the same whether you are a 15 year old or a 25 year old. The ratings are based on a major league level player.

So, in essence, both players, by virtue of their showing, graded out to Major League level talent and in the process, may have earned a tryout to the prestigious Area Code Games which feature some of the nation’s top high school players.

Hardy, by now a senior at Prosper, has been identified as draft eligible. He possesses speed to burn along with a strong arm that was recently clocked at 94 miles an hour.

Well let’s review. So far so good; Hardy has acclaim beyond the borders of Texas, has received recognition from even Major League Baseball for his athletic prowess, is a team player who has proved a pivotal cog on his teams and could perhaps become a draft pick for some lucky MLB team.

What about college though? What if he has a parent who has raised him to not get lost in the glitz and glamour of pro sports (not shunning it altogether but always weighing options properly)? What if Hardy grew up in a culture that stressed education above all else?

It would appear that Hardy – who possesses a 3.4 grade-point average, an SAT score of 1520, and an ACT score of 22 – would fit the bill of most any NCAA college or university in the nation, whether he plays sports or not.

As you may know, the NCAA penalizes programs whose Academic Progress Rate (APR), a measure of eligibility and retention and indicator of eventual graduation rates, consistently fails to achieve a score of 925 (equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate; 1,000 score is perfect). Possible sanctions await those programs and include possible loss of scholarships. For this reason and others, it is imperative that NCAA sports programs ensure that their incoming players “make the grade” on the front end, so as not to allow the school to fall into the grasp of NCAA violation investigators.

We’re glad that Hardy will be attending Paris Junior College. Texas JUCO’s (junior colleges) rank with the tops in the nation and kids routinely move on from these two-year schools to four-year schools or the pros.

But the question begs: why Paris Junior College? Where are all the choices that are enjoyed in other sports that black players play? Why not University of Arizona? Why not Notre Dame? Why not University of Texas or TCU or Texas A&M? Why is it that in Hardy’s case, the MLB has identified Hardy as a prospect, but there are no serious takers within the NCAA hierarchy of Division 1 schools?

Stay tuned for part two of this story.