State of College Baseball

While the landscape of college athletics remains ever tumultuous, I for one feel like College Baseball is in a pretty good place. Yes there are some adjustments I’d like to see made, and absolutely we could look at the game as a whole for changes. But the model used in the post-season for baseball is the best of any Collegiate Competition for my money. 307 Division 1 schools all have an opportunity to make it to the Cathedral known as Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. A trip to Omaha always has meant the same exact thing for the past 75 years, a chance to be one of the final 8 teams competing for a National Championship. 

First let’s discuss some of the things that need adjustment. First off I really want to see the Transfer Portal be adjusted to each sport versus. Universal time frame for Fall/Winter/Spring sports grouped together. Baseball is the final championship of the Spring sports and the portal opens before Conference tournaments even commence. I’d like to see a Portal Open Date of the last day of the Men’s College World Series. Currently teams still competing are having to allocate far to much time in their schedules just to field phone calls on transfer athletes to stay competitive in the sport. 

Secondly I’d like to see a minimum amount of scholarships available to athletes at schools across the country. Fifteen doesn’t feel like much of a stretch for schools while a maximum of thirty-four will be available at quite a few schools. If we are putting a premium on the Student part of Student-Athletes then we need to start making a concerted effort in addressing that need. With the roster maximums currently looking like 34 for the upcoming year this seems like the correct line at minimums and maximums. 

Tertiary lets discuss the 34 roster spots that must be determined by December 1st. I understand wanting to limit roster spots with all the chaos that comes with the transfer portal, but 34 seems tight. A few arm injuries could really end a school’s season. I believe a better number is 40. The 40 man roster would give you 34 active to begin the year with and 6 Redshirt/IR spots. I believe you should be able to pull anyone up from the 6 Redshirt/IR slots at any point in the season as long as the active player roster is at a 34 man maximum. This would alleviate too much pressure on college arms if a team did have a plethora of injuries. If you take a person off the 6 man list they are active and will no longer be eligible for redshirt or medical redshirt status. 

Fourth, some folks wanting to expand this tournament and change the selection process. Listen I am all ears for ways making a tournament better, but bigger isn’t always the better option in athletics. I think it would be really difficult to add more teams to a tournament that already goes later into the year than any other Spring sport. I do not think it could start any earlier as we already begin the second weekend in February. To those that would like a re-seed after each round of the tournament, I say kick rocks. One thing I love about this format is, as soon as you hear your team on Selection Monday, you see the exact line it takes for you to get to Omaha. A re-seeding would only benefit the teams who have had RPI boosted and big time favorites. I do think that the committee being more transparent about what they are looking for in the Regional Hosts would help all of us understand more the process. I believe that change is coming sooner rather than later.   

Again this is just one humble mans opinion on the sport that we all love. I’m proud of the way teams have competed to get to this championship and that we have a whole new set of eight teams for the first time in seventy plus years. Overall I believe the sport is in good shape and has a lot of folks who care about College Baseball helping with input and making decisions. I am open to other people’s opinions and look forward to hearing from all of you involved this game; whether as a fan, parent, journalist, coach, or administrator.