College Baseball "Super-Class" in 2021 As Some Seniors Could Return
Note: Brandon Hall appeared in the above interview with Sports Illustrated, Hall and Prep Baseball Report, which initially published Hall's report, gave SI permission to use the below content.
The Vanderbilt Commodores likely won't be impacted much, if at all, by the NCAA decision to allow seniors who lost their final season of eligibility to return for another season as coach Tim Corbin's squad had just two seniors in 2020.
Ty Duvall and Harrison Ray are those seniors who could return, but that remains to be seen.
While there was initial uncertainty from Major League Baseball about their draft, they will move forward with the event, though no date has been set as of yet. As first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the MLB draft will take place this summer, meaning that until that occurs, both Duvall and Ray are likely in a wait-and-see mode as to their potential futures in Nashville with the Commodores.
What is known is that the draft will be just five rounds as opposed to the 40 that was initially planned, meaning that there will be far fewer players taken and lesson the odds for both Commodores of being chosen.
Other teams, however, will have more potential players who could choose to return for the extra year.
So what does all this mean for the incoming freshman class and the senior class initially scheduled to leave at the end of this year's now canceled season? Hall wrote about a few of those updates:
"Typically a D1 program is only allowed 35 players on the roster, 27 players on athletic aid, and an athletic scholarship allotment of 11.7 to distribute to their players. With the Senior class given the option to come back for another year, the NCAA is waiving the roster limit for 2021 rosters. The scholarship allotment of 11.7 will apply to the players that were projected for program rosters in the 2021 season. Seniors that decide to come back are allowed to receive athletic aid up to what they received in 2020, or less. Seniors that are on athletic aid will not count toward the schools 11.7 allotment."
What does this ultimately mean for teams across the college baseball landscape?
According to Hall, it will have an impact beyond just the 2021 season.
"It also has a big impact on the next 4-5 incoming classes of players. The roster sizes will be flooded with five classes on campus this year, but in 2021-2022 it looks like roster sizes will be back to 35, still with five classes on campus, as the high school graduates of 2019 and 2020 have been combined into one “super-class”. This super-class will continue to have an effect on roster and scholarship allotment through 2023-2024, when most of the players in those classes will exhaust the playing eligibility."
Another thing that could potentially lessen any impact for Corbin is the possibility that other players, such as Austin Martin who will likely have his name called in the first of the five rounds of the MLB Draft along with Mason Hickman and Tyler Brown who could make the jump to the next level and open a place in the roster.
Martin and the others could, of course, elect to return, which would be a welcome development for the Commodores.
