Coaches of many major college baseball programs were angered when the NCAA announced rule changes designed to improve academic success and parity two years ago.
Despite complaints of coaches such as Mississippi State University's Ron Polk and the University of South Carolina's Ray Tanner, the rules went into effect this season. Many other coaches, including Ball State University coach Greg Beals, were pleased.
The rules regulate how teams can distribute the 11.7 scholarships allotted to baseball by the NCAA and capped rosters at 35. Additionally, players who transferred now have to sit out a season like football and basketball players.
"I'm all for that," Beals said. "It creates parity when you limit the number of players that are allowed to be on scholarship. I like that the rules that have been beneficial for our [Academic Progress Rating]."
The NCAA uses APR to measure a team's academic success and was concerned that baseball had the lowest APR of the major sports. Unlike football and basketball, baseball struggled as a whole to have players eligible for the fall semester. Now players must be eligible for the fall semester to compete in spring.
"It was struggling because of transfers and ineligibility in the fall," Beals said. "There was not a sense of urgency to be eligible in the fall. The new rules are designed to improve the overall APR."
By eliminating what sometimes amounted to free agency in college baseball, the NCAA hopes players will focus more on making the right college choice both academically and athletically. To help players, the NCAA has mandated that every player on scholarship must receive an award of at least 33 percent. This season only 30 players are eligible for financial aid, but that number will decrease to 27 next year.
Beals said none of his players are affected by that change.
"As far as Ball State baseball, they only issue is making sure we stay under 35," Beals said. "We just have to hold to that."
Some programs have long provided smaller scholarships to encourage players to attend their school, even though the money might only cover their book costs. With that no longer an option, better players might be available to lesser programs.
"There's a greater value in the number of spots each team has," Beals said. "It puts individual student-athletes in better situations."
These rule changes went into effect one year after the NCAA established a uniform start date for college baseball. That prevents Southern schools from getting a jump on their Northern competition. That change was designed to bring a more parity into the game, which has traditionally been dominated by schools from the South and the West.
The rules only went into effect this year, but Beals said their impact is already being felt.
"It's already shown there's some success to this," he said.
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