Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Term-in-Ology: Declaring Your Baseball Squad
In the sport of baseball, Division I rules require an institution to declare a varsity squad of no more than 35 student-athletes by the day prior to its first scheduled contest in the championship segment of the playing and practice season.
Only those student-athletes who are declared as varsity squad members at that time shall be eligible to participate in countable athletically-related activities with the varsity squad during the remainder of the championship segment. Declared varsity squad members shall not participate in countable athletically-related activities with an institution's subvarsity team (e.g., freshman, junior varsity). A student-athlete who is a scholarship counter under Division I financial aid rules must be included in the varsity squad limit.
Baseball is the only sport that has such a prescriptive squad limit under NCAA playing and practice season rules.
The reason the baseball squad limit was put in place in 2007 was due to disconcerting trends of Division I baseball programs carrying an excessive number of student-athletes on meager scholarship amounts to bolster the bullpen or the bench, only to find many of those extra players opt to transfer because they rarely saw any playing time and/or were “ran off” by the coaching staff in favor of new recruits. That revolving door roster led to concerning academic performance and retention numbers.
With Division I baseball championship seasons beginning in earnest in the middle of this month, Division I baseball head coaches across the country are mulling difficult decisions in the coming days as they whittle down a large roster carried over from the fall down to no more than 35 names.
On a related baseball squad size topic, the NCAA Division I Committee for Legislative Relief approved a blanket waiver in baseball, for the 2022-23 academic year, to permit institutions to increase the varsity squad size from 35 to 40 and annual counter limit from 27 to 32 provided the additional five student-athletes/counters would have exhausted eligibility during the 2021-22 academic year, but for the application of the 2020 spring COVID-19 season-of-competition and extension-of-eligibility blanket waivers, and return to the same institution during the 2022-23 academic year where the student-athlete participated during the 2021-22 academic year.
In granting this request, the Committee for Legislative Relief noted the combination of unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances resulting in a significant number of student-athletes returning to Division I baseball, a sport that carries a rigid roster and financial aid limits.
The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) indicated general support for a permanent legislative change to the overall roster and counter limits and the minimum equivalency value legislation which may be introduced in a future legislative cycle
The uncertainly surrounding the structure and timing of the 2022 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft due to ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the MLB and MLB Players Association which may result in additional student-athletes returning to their institutions during the 2022-23 academic year.
The waiver criteria noted the additional counters (up to five) must be included in the maximum team scholarship equivalency limit (11.7) and must be provided the minimum individual scholarship equivalency value (25%).
The Division I Baseball Committee supported the waiver request. The NCAA noted this is a one-time waiver request for the 2022-23 academic year and the Committee for Legislative Relief encouraged the ABCA to consider recommending legislative proposals for the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Experience Committee to review.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
