D3baseball.com Daily Dose

Our guest blogger is Jeff Taylor and he has this to say:

Much has been made on message boards about the new rules for Division I baseball schools that went into effect, primarily the roster limits and the elimination of the one-time transfer rule, where in previous years, players could transfer to a D-I school and play immediately. The rationale for these rule changes, in short, were to address the relatively low graduation rate (APR) in D-I baseball that was affected by all the team jumping in past years.

What remains to be seen is how these changes will trickle down and affect D-III baseball, in particular, what will happen at the D-I schools in the fall. With the new roster limits, will coaches still bring in large recruiting classes, in part to insure that, after the draft and other issues, that the team will be able to have the max (35) roster? That would mean, for example, if a coach brings in 40 players (with returners and recruits) in the fall, that after the rosters are set, 5 of those young men will be looking for places to play after the fall.

The logical trickle down affect would be on the D-II, D-III, and NAIA schools, where the players could transfer without having to sit.

Ultimately, we could see an increased influx of D-I players transferring mid-year to D-III schools. Does that mean that perhaps D-III schools will start cultivating relationships with the D-I coaches, meaning that D-I actually becomes a bit of a feeder program to D-III? That would certainly be a karma-like switch from past years where you would see a D-III player maybe perform well in a summer league and be “encouraged” (some coaches would call it “raiding”) to transfer to a D-I school.

Speaking purely from the baseball perspective, there could be an increase in the overall quality of players at D-III schools, and perhaps over the next 2-3 years, increase the numbers of players drafted from the D-III ranks. Ethically this could also create a bit of a dilemma for some D-III coaches and schools. Will they see schools in their conferences bulking up rosters at mid-year resulting in a “keep up with the Joneses?” What about the players who performed well in the fall and come back in January and suddenly find themselves down on the depth chart behind a D-I
transfer? Either way, it is going to be interesting to see the effects of D-I legislation on D-III programs.