College "JV" Team

That's a very good question Husker. I may be TOTALLY wrong...but I think that if you play just 1 inning then that's essentially a season regardless of JV or Varsity.

If the college sponsors a varisty team, even playing on the college club team consumes a season of competition. A joint practice session with a different college would also trigger the use of a season. 14.02.07

quote:

Originally posted by Tx-Husker:
I've noticed some colleges have a "JV" schedule posted on their website. I'm sure that's to keep some kids in the mix they think need some development time. My question is if you go to a school and are put on the "JV" team and play a limited schedule, can you still red shirt that season since you didn't play any varsity games?

Floridafan can probably shed some light on the JV developmental discussion. Tampa fields a JV team and from what I've seen they don't use it that way at all.

Backstop17 is probably best on this topic as it relates to University of Tampa. But I do not think that many players advance from JV to the Varsity program. I believe I have seen one move up for limited playing time so far. My son did drop down for a game to get some innings on the mound once when we had a light week on games.

Daytona State (JUCO) has a JV program...

Tampa's JV team plays a schedule primarily against JUCOs in Florida. You can play for the JV program for up to 4 years.

Like FF says, there is usually a few players that get moved up to varsity during the year and some players from Varsity get extra innings picking up a game here and there for the JV Program. I believe the Varsity players have to be careful not playing in too many contests or hours per week (50 regular season limit and I believe that there is a weekly hours limit student athletes can have for both practice and games that they have to watch for).

It is a good replacement for midweek bullpen for Varsity pitchers.

The JV program has its own coach, but the Varsity coaches are involved in the program.

The competition is good against the JUCOs of Florida. But I believe they are treated as exhibition games for the JUCOs and don't count against the JUCO record, so the JUCO's use the games developmentally.

Most importantly, there is no problem with Roster size at the Varsity level as Tampa is a D2.

Hope that helps.

Speaking only for smaller schools and lower level schools the purpose of the JV team is to increase enrollment and recruit local kids that aren't quite good enough for varsity but it keeps the community happy. If you have a JV team of around 25 players then that's 25 people paying money to go to the school which increases revenue.

Kinda cold hearted way to look at it but that is how it's done. I'm sure if somebody is absolutely killing it on JV they will move them up but the overall purpose of the JV team is to make the school money.

Now I'm not speaking for the bigger schools or bigger levels either.

Playing on JV does count as a season, so the player cannot redshirt, at least on the D2 level. I agree with coach2709 in that JV teams are set up to increase enrollment in many schools but each school treats them differently. My son decided late in high school that he would like to try to play college ball. As a RHP he lacked the velocity to get much attention. He ended up choosing between a Juco and the JV team at 2 D2 schools. The D2 he ended up going to was somewhat fluid in moving some players between varsity and JV. The other D2 had only moved 3 or 4 players up to varsity in the last 5 years (according to their coach). My son played JV for two years and dressed out for most varsity games his 2nd year (this past spring) but only got into one game. After the season he talked to the coach about his chances of getting much varsity time this year. The coach was honest with him and told him that since 6 of their top 8 pitchers were returning he wouldn't get much time but would like for him to come back because of his work ethic and leadership in the dugout. However, there are some of my son's JV teammates that have moved up to permanent spots on the varsity. However, now that I think about it, they are all position players.

My son ended up transferring to another D2 school through contacts he made in summer ball. This team was in need of pitching and only has a varsity team. As of now (1 week into fall practice), it looks like he could see significant innings. Of course that depends on him and how he progresses between now and spring.

So, it can work out going from JV to varsity, but it isn't an easy path.

This thread is a couple of years old, but I had never heard of "college jv" baseball until recently and this was the most recent thread when I searched the term.  

• My first question is, how do you know if a school has a jv team? I've never seen a jv schedule on any college baseball page... And I look at a lot of them both as a fan and a parent of a hopeful HS prospect.
• Is there any functional difference between "jv" team and "club team"? I'm familiar with club sports at colleges, but have always understood these to be a separate thing entirely from college programs... Entirely outside of the athletic dept.
• My assumption is, unless someone knows differently, that jv baseball is somewhat rare and not something that most programs use as a part of their recruiting.

Appreciate any clarification on "college jv baseball". 

Some schools have them and some do not and it is hard to find a published schedule so you would have to ask during the recruiting process. My son's program started one two years ago and they play around 15 games. They are part of the program and club ball is completely different. The kids who are not on the travel squad play as well as allowing bench guys getting in some time. They also use it for pitchers to get some work in. My son told me some travel kids move back and forth but a lot are just on the JV squad. 

 

In general they are for freshmen to get some work in who are not quite ready for Varsity. My son's program started recruiting larger classes two years ago so I think they use it as part of the recruiting and weeding process. As others have posted since his is a DIII it allows the program to recruit more kids, it allows them to play, gets more kids into the school and program and contribute and be part of "college sports".

 

 

 

 

 

Even though its not listed on their website I know Hopkins has had a JV team in the past. I believe their roster has 47 players. The JV team is how all these players get some playing time. D3s don't have roster limits. I suppose the only way to find out is ask.

I was told recently by a D2 coach that there are only 18 D2 schools in the country that have a fully funded JV team.  Fully funded in this case meaning that it doesn't cost the players to play.  Yes, they pay for school if they're not on a scholarship...but from the way he talked, a lot of schools that have JV teams require some form of payment from the players to cover the JV costs.  I didn't get real involved or a ton of details about it as it just came up for a moment in a discussion about their program and it's not a school my son may attend.

I don't know if it still is but 20 years ago when I was in college it was pretty common in NAIA. Our team and others I was familiar with used if similar to HS. Mostly freshmen and sophomores on JV with juniors and seniors on varsity.

Here is a link to NAIA that has some of the general distinctions.

http://m.naia.org/mobile/ViewA...&DB_OEM_ID=27900

Just looked up Tusculum because someone I know from another site has a kid there.  They are a D2 team, have a JV schedule and 52 kids on their team.

 

I also have some friends whose kid plays for LaGrange College - a D3.  They don't have it listed this year, but they play a JV schedule and have a roster of 48.

 

Man that's a lot of kids.  My son plays for a D2 team with a 30 man roster.  Last year I believe it was 32.  It's tough to get on the field with a 30 man roster at his school, must be insane to compete for a spot with like 50 kids on the team!!!