CBC Innerview: The State of College Baseball

By Mark Garland

While the landscape of college athletics remains ever tumultuous, I for one feel the college baseball segment is in a pretty good place. Yes, there are some adjustments I’d like to see made, and we could absolutely look at the game as a whole for changes.

But, the model used in the post-season for baseball is the best of any intercollegiate competition, for my money. There are 307 Division 1 schools which all have an opportunity to make it to the cathedral known as Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. In our world, a trip to Omaha has always meant the exact same thing the past 75 years, a chance to be one of the final eight teams competing for a National Championship. 

First, let’s discuss some things that could benefit from some adjustment. Top of my list, I really want to see the Transfer Portal be adjusted to each sport, versus a universal time frame for all Fall/Winter/Spring sports grouped together.

Baseball is the final championship of the Spring sports, and the portal can open before some conference tournaments even commence. I’d like to see a baseball-specific portal start date coincide with the last day of the Men’s College World Series. Currently, teams still competing are having to allocate far too much time in their schedules just to field phone calls on transfer athletes to stay competitive in the sport.

A packed house at the MCWS in Omaha (NCAA photo)

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 the term "student-athlete," 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 1. I understand wanting to limit roster spots with all the chaos that comes with the transfer portal, but 34 seems tight. A few preseason 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 with which to begin the year 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 are 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 the season could start any earlier, since 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 announcement on Selection Monday, you see the exact path 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 the committee being more transparent about what they are looking for in the Regional Host selections would help all of us understand the process more. And, I believe that change is coming sooner rather than later.   

Again, this is just one humble man's opinion on the sport we all love and want to continue thriving. 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 nearly 70 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 in this game; be that as a fan, parent, journalist, coach, or administrator.

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