Perhaps the biggest issue that plagues baseball is the emergence of travel teams that meet up at tournaments and do not practice. And for older kids playing in the summer showcase circuit - this is probably fine. But these teams may start as early as the youth years where people field mercenary teams to win tournaments and then linger into high school in the name of exposure. Each coach along the way assumes that the player learned critical things with his previous coach in youth baseball or will learn critical things with his future coach in high school. “I’m not going over that, he should have learned that when he was 10.” Or “I’m not going to mess with that, they will learn that in high school.” Or “We are a showcase team. We aren’t installing bunt defenses or first and thirds. Colleges don’t want to see that.” The passing of the buck of on-field player development leaves a kid in Baseball IQ purgatory. This combined with a new wave where 99% of player development emphasis is on the hitter/pitcher showdown creates an interesting dynamic. These players end up becoming showcase players that don’t know how to contribute to winning teams. The player doesn’t know what they don’t know. So they don’t have knowledge or a voice that they are missing out over the years.

Congratulations to all 69 student-athletes, across 13 athletic programs, that earned a 3.8 or higher GPA during the spring semester and being named to the 2024 Spring Dean's List. To view the entire 2024 Spring Dean's List, please visit the link below:

Congratulations to Cheyenne Dickens for being one-of-three students named 2023-24 Student Employees of the Year! Cheyenne's commitment to a job well done has made a tremendous impact to Webster University Athletics as she is a leader in the making!

The Webster University Softball program dominated the classroom this past spring semester as 13 student-athletes achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher that earned a selection to the 2024 SLIAC Spring All-Academic Team. Congratulations to all student-athletes for achieving this honor.