With draft reduced, college baseball now overcrowded
Fasten your seat belts, baseball fans, the ride is about to get bumpy.
Major League Baseball’s ruling on Friday to reduce the June amateur draft from 40 rounds to five rounds further complicates an already overcomplicated situation for college programs and high school seniors.
This decision means that around 162 college and high school players will be drafted next month, leaving college programs in a predicament.
The NCAA Division I council voted to allow seniors to retain their final year of eligibility, meaning they will still be occupying spots that were supposed to go to incoming freshman. For seniors considering declaring for the draft anyway, the reduction in the number of rounds may push them back to school for another year. Similar measures were also passed on the Division II and III levels.
Division I baseball rosters are already limited to 11.7 scholarships per year, often split among 30-plus players. Now, rosters could balloon up, leaving coaches with the tough decisions of divvying up the money further or reneging on promised scholarships.
Even if they can work out the money, divvying up playing time could cause even more headaches.
“This affects every college program one way or another,” Fairleigh Dickinson University first-year coach Rob DiToma said. “No one was planning for this situation in the preseason.”
The jolt could be felt as far down as the junior college level, a level that has several perks that more players could be interested in as opportunities dry up elsewhere.
“We have a pretty big class coming in for next year considering it’s my first real recruiting class since taking over the program,” said DiToma, who took over the program in June. “We only have two seniors on our current roster that were in their final year of eligibility. So from a numbers standpoint, we’re still in a good spot. Both seniors are trying to work out their future, but they’re planning to return for another year of eligibility next spring.”
He said he’s stayed in touch with his committed high school seniors by holding Zoom conferences and sending them workouts. He’s assured them that nothing has changed in terms of their recruitment. Division II and III programs and athletes face the same problems as their Division I counterparts.
“Some of our seniors are graduating and have other career and future plans lined up and some won’t be returning for a number of other reasons,” said Mike Lauterhahn, who is in his 13th season as coach at William Paterson University. “We’ve spoken with our seniors and they’re welcome to return if they choose to do so. But we’ve never over-recruited as a program anyway and the high school seniors that we recruited and that are committed to us will have a chance to compete for playing time next season.”
With all the changes over the last two months, DiToma said he expects to see new rules and guidelines governing both college programs and high school athletes that could carry over for years.
“In terms of recruiting high school athletes, you’re already projecting a few years out to begin with,” DiToma said. “We’re looking at holes and positions we need to fill and we’re recruiting based on that. High school sophomores and juniors are being recruited now. With college seniors opting to return for another year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, that could likely have an effect the next four to five years down the road.”
Matt Cocciadiferro was in his final year of eligibility at Division I NJIT this spring. He wasn’t expecting to stay in school past this season, but that’s become a realistic possibility.
“I’m fortunate to be in a win-win situation,” said Cocciadiferro. “I have a few MLB workouts lined up over the next few weeks. If I don’t get drafted or sign as an undrafted free agent next month, I have the opportunity to return to college next year and take advantage of an additional year of eligibility. I’ve spoken with my coaches and I have some pretty good options. We’ll see what the future holds.”
The future may look even more confusing for current high school seniors.
Jacob Gomez has been committed to Old Dominion University since early in his freshman year. Last November, the lefty officially signed a National Letter of Intent with the Norfolk, Virginia-based Division I program.
Gomez said he’s been in constant contact with the ODU coaching staff since the coronavirus outbreak and since the NCAA updated its rules and guidelines.