BASEBALL PREVIEW: NCAA roster rules

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Tigers, others settle into second year of 35-man limit

By CARL DUBOIS
Tiger Rag Associate Editor

The second year of the 35-man roster for college baseball represents a stabilization LSU coach Paul Mainieri expects to be in place for a long time.

“That’s it now,” Mainieri said. “We’ve settled into it.”

Not that it was easy.

“Last year was the transition year, which was really difficult because they didn’t give you much time to prepare for it, and so last year I literally had to cut some players to get down to the 35-man roster,” Mainieri said. “This year, it didn’t work out that way.”

In fact, LSU retained walk-on infielder Matt Fury from New Orleans on the roster after fall practice because there was a spot available. When Chad Jones declared in January he would enter the 2010 NFL Draft, Mainieri began exploring the possibility of giving another roster spot to a walk-on.

(Update: Mainieri awarded spots to left-handed freshman pitchers Chris Cotton and Michael Turnbull.)

Two of the 35 spots on LSU’s roster are occupied by players who won’t get on the field. Infielder Mike Lowery is injured and will miss the season. Catcher Edmond Sparks did not maintain academic eligibility and is no longer on the team, but by rule he counts as one of LSU’s 35.

The other big switch was the drop to 27 players on scholarship.

“Last year was the first year that we had the 35-man roster limitation, and they grandfathered a little bit on the scholarship guys,” Mainieri said. “They allowed you to have 30 guys on scholarship. Now we’re down to 27 guys on scholarship, and that’s where it will remain.

“Obviously, you would have eight players not on scholarship on your 35-man roster. If you have a player that’s on scholarship that gets hurt and is out for the year, like Mike Lowery, he’ll still count as one of your 27 and 35 guys, so you can’t replace him.”

Mainieri said a lot of coaches would like to change the roster rules, but he said he doesn’t expect them to change. They were put in place by the NCAA to raise the Academic Performance Rate of baseball programs, and that has happened - along with better retention of players at their respective schools.

“It has succeeded,” Mainieri said. “There’s no question that it has had an impact. The amount of transfers from one school to another has been greatly reduced, which I think is a very positive thing. It forces coaches, when you recruit a player, to work with that player and develop that player and not be so quick to let that player go.”

Mainieri said it also keeps players from getting impatient and transferring because they don’t like the coach or aren’t playing enough or playing at their favorite position.

“It forces them to kind of stick with it and fight through those tough times,” Mainieri said, “which I think is part of the education process for a youngster.” 

Highlights of NCAA roster rules

A maximum of 11.7 scholarships may be awarded per baseball program, per year, with a maximum of 27 student-athletes being allowed to receive portions of that allotment. An institution shall provide each counter athletically related and other countable financial aid that is equal to or greater than 25 percent of an equivalency.

An institution that awards athletically related financial aid based solely on demonstrated financial need, as determined for all students by the institution’s financial aid office using methodologies that conform to federal, state and written institutional guidelines, is not subject to the 25 percent minimum equivalency value.

An institution shall declare a varsity squad of a maximum of 35 student athletes by the day prior to its first scheduled game of the season. Only those 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 season.

Read more from the 2010 Baseball Preview:

MAINIERI PROFILE: Year 3 continued amazing run

DUBOIS COLUMN: Turning the page fun for us, essential for Tigers

HOME RUN HIRE: Bertman reached way back for a coach for the future

FALL IN REVIEW: Tigers worked through, around injuries

WILL KIMMEY GUEST COLUMN: Tigers back on top in SEC, college baseball