All About Baseball Census

Welcome to Baseball Census!

My name is Bobby DeMuro, and I started this site before the 2018 season. The year before, while working in sports journalism, I began to realize how many four-year college programs were recruiting California junior college baseball players even with there being relatively little reliable, high-level information available about those prospects. It seemed to me that providing independent, objective scouting reports to coaches would allow them to far more easily determine which players were worthy of being granted four-year opportunities beyond taking a guess based on junior college stats, or estimated level of competition in the CCCAA.

Immediately after soft-launching the idea, several major college baseball programs on the east coast took note, and I knew I was on to something. Now, several years later, Baseball Census is growing every month and I’m proud to be a trusted voice helping four-year college coaches, summer wood bat league teams, and MLB organizations more efficiently track and evaluate notable junior college baseball prospects in the Golden State.

Four-Year Beginnings

I grew up in Denver, Colorado, with just a handful of junior college baseball programs in the region, and two-year college wasn’t really on my radar when it came time to head off to school. Instead, from 2005 through 2008, I played D1 baseball at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, where I barely pitched in my first two years. Looking back now, I wonder whether my career would have been different had I first gone to junior college to get playing time and experience before eventually landing at the four-year level a more talented pitcher.

You can’t change the past, of course, but upon moving to California several years after graduation and learning about the college baseball landscape here, I was stunned at the two-year options available to student-athletes throughout the state. Junior college baseball isn’t for everybody, but very quickly I understood the value it had for so many kids coming out of high school who weren’t quite ready for the four-year level, for whatever reason. And, in turn, I immediately recognized how much of a goldmine California’s 88 JuCo baseball programs were for smart four-year recruiters at all levels seeking reliable production from experienced community college transfers.

Within the combination of those realizations, Baseball Census was born. Today, I watch junior college baseball for a living. It’s not exactly the niche I expected I’d hold in the baseball world, but it’s been a fun ride from the start, and now, I don’t want to do anything else.

Cross-Checking California

As I always tell new subscribers, Baseball Census probably isn’t going to be your only scouting resource in California, or when it comes to tracking junior college baseball prospects. Think of what I do as similar to that of a cross-checker; you’re still going to talk to a player’s JuCo coaches, get his transcripts, track his stats, talk to opposing coaches, and do whatever else you have to do as far as due diligence goes during the recruiting process. I come in to provide the much-needed context and realistic insight about various players, without the hype or bull shit. Can this kid really play at your level? Will he fit in your program? What other guys should you be considering?

My goal with Baseball Census is to help college recruiters and pro scouts make sense of the hundreds and hundreds of prospects available every year, and assist in determining who is actually good enough to play beyond JuCo ball, and in what capacity. I’m out on the road across southern and central California virtually every day of the year watching these guys play, practice, and workout. I can uniquely put into context which players are better than their stats suggest, and which are not. I see all these players in person — many of them up to a dozen times across their two-year career — and I have the video, scouting notes, and observational insights to back it up.

Save Time And Money

Since I started doing this, I’ve been amazed at the number of programs that send assistant coaches thousand of miles out to California to recruit junior college baseball players with no real rhyme or reason as to where they’re going once here, or why. I’ve seen programs at all levels of four-year ball spend thousands of dollars on airfare, hotels, rental cars, and meals, with some asking their assistants to stay out here for weeks on end. Many of the coaches who come out are unaware of where their time would best be served, and they spin their proverbial wheels following recruits that don’t match up athletically or academically with their programs, or by taking random chances on seeing JuCo teams about which they know relatively little. After a few costly weeks, they come away without significant insight into who fits their needs, and who they ought to bear down on with limited recruiting time.

I know Baseball Census can provide a far more efficient, high-level look into California’s junior college baseball landscape, because I know how well it’s been working for current subscribers. Better still, a subscription to Baseball Census doesn’t cost thousands of dollars like a scatter-shot trip out west. Subscribe to this site, get unparalleled access to thousands of high-definition game videos along with detailed scouting notes on hundreds and hundreds of players, figure out which recruits actually fit your needs, and then send a coach out to California for an in-person trip, armed with real insight into which prospects to follow up on that’ll actually fit your program.

Objective, Independent Analysis

Baseball Census is not a recruiting website, and it doesn’t exist as a promotional service, but rather a scouting one — and there’s a difference. Players and their parents have no ability to effect anything that is published on this website. I love the idea and purpose of junior college baseball, without question — but I do not specifically work on behalf of certain players, parents, or programs in any way. The scouting observations you read on this website are as objective as can possibly be, and I have no personal or professional relationships with any junior college baseball players, their parents, or their families that would lead me to favor them in any way.

I’m not here to cheerlead for certain players, or sell snake oil to college coaches by trying to convince you that every California kid can play for your four-year program. Depending on the four-year level and quality of competition, some major-college subscribers especially may find that I believe relatively few prospects are good enough to be difference-makers for them. That’s how it goes at the very top, sometimes; I’m here to publish the objective truth as accurately as I can determine it, and I’m not going to promote or push forward kids that I don’t truly believe can realistically have success at the next level.

If you’re new here, then, I look forward to having you become a subscriber. Whether your roster is filled with California JuCo recruits (like several subscribers), or you’ve never, ever recruited a junior college baseball player before (like several other subscribers!), my clients run the entire spectrum, and I’m confident the work I do here can be of service to you and your program, as well.