The APR: Five Years Later

Woody Wingfield: Your Link to the Colleges

A while back, we did a blog entry on the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and its effect on college baseball. With the APR hitting the five-year mark, I thought it would be a good time to rehash what the APR means for college baseball.

As a recap, the NCAA installed the APR five years ago as an “academic audit” of all Division I sports. More specifically, it was established to measure the ability of universities to move their student-athletes closer to graduation every semester. If a team’s score fell below 925, or a 60% graduation rate, they would be subject to various penalties, including reduction of schedule or scholarships. Of all intercollegiate sports, only men’s baseball, football and basketball scored below the minimum during the first year. So, naturally the pressure fell on baseball coaches to clean up their sport.

How are they doing? Currently, the sport holds a single-year APR of 963, and its four-year average is up 31 points to 946, the largest jump of any sport.

Of course, this kind of change happens not just in the college classroom, but on the recruiting trail, too. Nowadays, college coaches are much less likely to take a chance on a player that may struggle to stay eligible at his university. For older players with poor grades, this means that the JuCo option may be the best route to Division I, given the “clean slate” you get as a transfer student. There are also several strong Division II, Division III and NAIA programs out there that don't fall under the scope of the APR.

For younger players, this means that your academics can never take a backseat to your work on the field. They can’t ride shotgun, either. One of the first things any college coach will look at is your academic record, so that needs to pass muster before they spend any time coming to watch you play. It’s always a shame to see a great player get passed over because he didn’t take care of business during geometry class.

Remember, there’s a reason the Baseball Factory logo includes not only a baseball, but a book, too.


Woody serves as the Director of College Recruiting Operations, working with players and parents in the ACR, Exclusive and Exclusive BATS Programs. His role is to assist all families with questions they may have throughout the recruiting process. Woody is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he worked as an intern with the Cavalier Baseball Team.