OREGON STATE RECRUITING BEGINS AT HOME

Where is Oregon State recruiting their baseball players? Where are the Beavers finding so many talented student-athletes that can run like the wind, throw 100 mph fastballs and knock it out of the yard? Let’s take a look at that and see what we find.

For the purpose of comparison, I looked at the 7 classes from 2014 through 2020 recruited by the Casey-Bailey-Yeskie coaching staff. I then looked at the 42 verbal commitments OSU has spread over the future classes of 2021 through 2024. Here’s the data.

GEOGRAPHIC CLASS BREAKDOWN
2014: (Signed 14) Oregon (7), Washington (2), Hawaii (2), California (1), Nevada (1), Montana (1)
2015: (Signed 14) California (6), Oregon (4), Washington (3), Nevada (1)
2016: (Signed 12) Oregon (6), Washington (3), California (2), Utah (1)
2017: (Signed 12) Oregon (3), Washington (3), California (2), Wisconsin (2), Nevada (1), Georgia (1)
2018: (Signed 12) Washington (5), California (4), Oregon (1), Arizona (1), Idaho (1)
2019: (Signed 17) Oregon (4), Arizona (3), California (2), Minnesota (2), Alberta (2), Washington (1), Colorado (1), Texas (1), Wisconsin (1)
2020: (Signed 14) Oregon (4), California (4), Washington (1), Nevada (1), Hawaii (1), Texas (1), Alberta (1), British Columbia (1)

In the seven recruiting classes beginning with 2014 and finishing in 2020, Oregon State signed 95 players from 14 states and 2 Canadian Provinces.

GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN / TOTALS OF THOSE 7 CLASSES
Oregon (29), California (21), Washington (18), Arizona (4), Nevada (4), Hawaii (3), Wisconsin (3), Alberta (3), Minnesota (2), Texas (2), Colorado (1), Utah (1), Idaho (1), Montana (1), British Columbia (1), and Georgia (1)

FUTURE OUTLOOK
Looking at the current recruits in the classes beginning with 2021 though 2024, some small, subtle change may be beginning to appear. These are primarily the future classes recruited by the Canham-Dorman-Gipson coaching staff. The class of 2021 will sign their LOI’s in less than a month from now and barring any last minute changes, it will include 18 players. The remaining 3 classes (2022, ’23 and ’24) are verbal commitments only, but for the purpose of study offer some useful data.

A few of the signees in these classes may be preferred walk-ons but since we have no way of knowing that now, all players committed will be treated equally. It may result in the official signing class being smaller than the actual class total.

2021: (18 committed) California (6), Washington (4), Oregon (2), Arizona (1), Idaho (1), New Mexico (1), Missouri (1), British Columbia (1), NSW-Australia (1)
2022: (13 committed) Oregon (4), California (4), Washington (1), Arizona (1), Idaho (1), Colorado (1), Alberta (1)
2023: (9 committed) Oregon (3), Washington (3), Arizona (2), California (1)
2024: (2 committed) Oregon (1), California (1)

To date, Oregon State has commitments from 42 student-athletes from eight states and 2 foreign countries. Looking at the breakdown by state –the profile for those 4 classes would be: California (12), Oregon (10), Washington (8), Arizona (3), Idaho (2), Colorado (1), New Mexico (1), Missouri (1), Alberta (1), British Columbia (1), New South Wales-Australia (1)

OBSERVATIONS: (from the cheap seats)   
1) From 2014-2020, OSU’s average signing class size was 13.5 players per year. I would expect a modest increase in that number going forward.

2) OSU has expanded their recruiting reach in the western region of the U.S. The class of 2019 following the NC Season, came from 8 states and Canada. The 2020 class came from 5 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. That trend continues with the 2021 class including 8 states and Canada. The 2022 class has 13 commits from 8 different states. More states represented, and fewer players from each state. OSU’s eggs are in many baskets.

3) Oregon State has extended their recruiting reach nationally when the opportunity has presented itself. To wit, the Beavs have invaded the heartland to sign players from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Georgia. Recently, Junior College players from Florida, Texas and Idaho have committed to OSU.

4) The NCAA’s proposed one-time transfer rule is now out of committee and is expected to be approved in the January vote. Roster movement will increase and larger recruiting classes will result.

5) OSU signed 17 in-state recruits from 2014-2016, only 12 in last 4 years of the period analyzed – 2017-2020.

6) Signing 4 quality players from Canada has opened doors for OSU in British Columbia and Alberta. The Beavers will sign touted Canadian pitching prospects in both 2021 and 2022 bringing the total to six Canadians in the last 4 recruiting cycles. Canada is trending nicely.

7) In the classes of 2017 through 2024 (8 year sample) California has committed 24 players to the Beavers, Oregon 22. Look for California to increase their 19.4% contribution to OSU Baseball to something around 25% in the coming years.

8) From 2014-2020, OSU recruited 4 players from Nevada. From 2021-2024, we show no commitments. With the population boom in Las Vegas, D-1 programs are working the large high schools hard, and the Ducks are living there. Nevada appears to be trending down for the Beavers.

9) There is no substitute for home cooking. Oregon State’s entrenched
recruiting base continues to be Oregon, Washington and northern
California. It starts and ends there with a few long road trips in
between. From 2014 through 2024, 136 athletes have committed to the Beaver Baseball Program, 98 of those athletes are from the the core area of our recruiting. A whopping 72.7% are from that 3-state base.