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Fall Baseball Proposal

HuskerFan31

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Sep 10, 2006
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This is taken from a longer Aaron Fitt article about the draft on D1Baseball, here is the section about Fall baseball:


The NCAA has already indicated it wants to provide some eligibility relief for athletes in spring sports, even if only granting seniors another year of eligibility. Many coaches are concerned about the effect of cramming five classes into four, but they still want to allow seniors to finish their careers properly. So one interesting idea has been circulating in the coaching community. Wofford coach Todd Interdonato crafted this proposal:

Resume the 2020 season on Aug. 28 and play the remaining 10 weeks as scheduled. Conference tournaments could take place in early November, followed by regionals and super regionals at warm-weather sites, perhaps spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona. Then play the College World Series in a warm-weather (or domed) major league park.

Fifth-year players would only have to return for one semester (and receive scholarship money for just one additional semester). Teams would use the same 35-man rosters they submitted in February; fall newcomers would be allowed to practice and train with the team but would not be allowed to participate in fall games. One option would be to allow a newcomer to fill any spot vacated by a fifth-year senior who chooses not to return, although that could lead to some complications.

Then, the draft would take place in late November, giving scouts an entire fall of real, meaningful competition to evaluate players. Drafted players would report to their new organizations after the conclusion of the fall semester.

Certainly there would be plenty of logistical issues to figure out, involving scheduling and staffing. MLB, the NCAA and individual schools would all have to work together to make all the pieces fit together. And if the NCAA takes that route for baseball, would it then be obligated to do something similar for all spring sports? Would schools have the capacity to essentially run a spring season and a fall season concurrently? This seems rather unlikely. But I think it’s worth discussing seriously.

“It’s not perfect but it’s better than what we are about to enter with 2021-2025 if we proceed with it this way,” Interdonato said, alluding to the potential trickle-down effect of eligibility relief. “There are holes in it but the issues raised in this scenario are short term, less expensive, and have us back to zero by the time we start the 2021 season. Which goes as normally scheduled.”

Viewed that way, this fall proposal might actually be the best way to transition back to normalcy in 2021 — for schools as well as for major league teams. It’s a big idea, but these dramatic times call for big thinking.

D1Baseball
 
Hmmmm, seems to be a tough task to pull but I’d never argue against more baseball. I don’t see the MLB draft willingly delaying. Maybe do the top 5 rounds and the other rounds later? Tough call regardless.
 
John Anderson, is that you? ;) (Just kidding)

I would love it, but I don't know that enough programs care about college baseball to pull it off.
 
John Anderson, is that you? ;) (Just kidding)

I would love it, but I don't know that enough programs care about college baseball to pull it off.

The same schools that would have trouble pulling it off are the schools that won't want to pay out more baseball scholarships next season (or longer, depending on what the NCAA decides to do).
 
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