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Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan (Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There was a palpable excitement in Omaha on the eve of the 2024 College World Series.
The final stages of the hunt for the national title were, of course, the main contributor.
But the enthusiasm was born from something much more profound.
After years of what NCAA vice president of championships and alliances Anthony Holman described as “losing the next generation of fans,” he and other top collegiate athletics decision makers said college baseball had experienced a resounding resurgence.
“College baseball, in my opinion,” American Baseball Coaches Association executive director Craig Keilitz said on June 13, “has never been better with the attendance and certainly the TV viewership.”
Six months later, there’s nothing to suggest that the growth could be stopping.
MLB’s shortened draft and atrophied minor league systems have squeezed more talent into the college ranks, and parity across the sport, several coaches told Baseball America, has never been higher as a result. The game’s entertainment value is booming, they say.
But the fallout from the pending $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement threatens to put a drag on college baseball’s ascent. A Dec. 1 roster-cut deadline to conform to new 34-man limits, which are set to take hold ahead of the 2026 campaign, figures to be among its most restrictive byproducts.
“I do look at baseball as a sport that is growing in popularity,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I don’t know why they’re trying to take that away from us in terms of numbers and that type of thing.”
The concern, according to O’Sullivan and many of his peers, is that college baseball’s looming changes stand to increase what they feel has been steadily intensifying chaos across their sport.
Post-fall-ball roster cuts, which would be required for teams that opt to carry more than 34 players during offseason training, could leave student-athletes without a home in a part of the academic calendar when finding a new one figures to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
The NCAA currently prohibits baseball players from changing schools mid-year. Post-fall casualties of roster limits would thus be faced with sitting out for a season, finding a spot on a junior college roster or dropping down to the Division II, III or NAIA levels.
“You know, everything is supposed to be based on student-athlete welfare, right?” O’Sullivan said. “I don’t know why they’re doing this. I don’t agree with it. I’m not saying we should have an unlimited number (of players), but 40 was not a bad one.”
Starting in 2026, those 40-man rosters could be much rarer.
If they exist, they’ll be confined to the fall and come with the understanding that some players will have to move on.
“If nobody gets hurt, you’re going to have to get rid of some players, and that’s where I think the path becomes a little challenging,” Fresno State pitching coach Troy Buckley said.
The NCAA’s new roster rules for baseball also open the door for significant competitive advantages.
Non-Power 4 schools might not have the funding to carry more than 34 players throughout their fall workouts, while high-major programs could choose to “hoard talent” only for those athletes to be stuck with nowhere to go if they’re ultimately cut.
“You just have to know what you’re getting into,” Southern Mississippi coach Christian Ostrander said.
There could be ways to optimize the system while keeping the NCAA’s 34-man roster limit and Dec. 1 cut deadline.
According to O’Sullivan, allowing mid-year transfers could be a starting point, though he and others pointed out that a second window could also be somewhat detrimental, especially in the pay-for-play era of college athletics when players could be enticed away from their teams.
“Maybe the solution is to have a limit on how many guys you can add in January,” the Florida coach said.
Buckley, Ostrander and UC Irvine head coach Ben Orloff each voiced support of an off-roster redshirt system in which players who didn’t make their 34-man rosters could remain with their respective teams in an inactive role.
“I would love if you can have 34 on aid and you can declare that 34 by Dec. 1,” Ostrander said, “but you can have six players coming in, not on athletic aid, and if they don’t make your roster, they still can grow, they still can participate, they still can get on the field and practice with you, they still can get with your strength coach.
“I think that’s important, I really do.”
Those adjustments could take time to come into play, though, leaving coaches to search for silver linings in what will soon be their new normal.
Orloff said 34-man rosters and Dec. 1 cuts will likely cause high-major programs to recruit fewer true freshmen, a trend that would allow non-Power 4 programs, such as his Anteaters, to secure higher-caliber high schoolers.
“If they’re recruiting less freshmen, in theory, there should be more of them available, which seems like good news for a lot of us who recruit the high school player,” he said. “On a 34-man roster, I’m not sure what the number of freshmen is that will allow you to be really good, but I’m sure it’s going to be five, six, seven, eight at the top-end schools, so there are going to be a lot more players in the pool.”
Buckley said teams that choose to bring in fewer players beyond the 34-man limit could also gain advantages in the recruiting process.
Stability, he pointed out, could be a valuable selling point.
“I still think you could get away with making a lot of cuts because of the allure of going to your dream school means something,” Buckley said. “But there are a lot of places that won’t do that, and there is a level for everybody. Realizing that will be really, really important.”
Coming to a consensus about roster regulations is viewed as a pressing matter for coaches, many of whom are set to convene in Washington D.C. in early January at the American Baseball Coaches Association’s annual convention, where the topic is sure to be broached.
The sooner it’s solved, coaches believe, the more college baseball can continue to flourish.
“We just need clarity,” Ostrander said. “I’m not so worried about the numbers, but we need to figure out a system that puts the athlete first. Athletes can be easily wowed but ultimately forget the reality that could be coming. There are still places that will look you in the eye and say, ‘You can have a bad fall but I’m going to keep you around and keep working with you.’ That’s not the case everywhere and we need to figure out a way to smooth it out some.”
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