College Roster Breakdown

In my opinion, the majority that get playing time are the best players, doesn't matter if they are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior.

If a freshman receives little or no field time unless he’s reassured by the coaching staff he’s in next years plans he’s toast. Soph to seniors should be able to figure it out for themselves they’re not in the team plans. Chances are there are ten to fifteen new recruits/tranfers coming in next year.

Looks pretty typical. If you want a sense of what has happened at that school, look at the 2018 and 2019 stats, and see what happened in 2019 with players who got minimal time in 2018.

Also see how many freshmen are still on the team as juniors or seniors. How many juco players do they usually have?  On some teams, most of the upperclassmen are transfers.

All past experience may go out the window with the covid logjam, though.

Simple.  If you did not play this year and were not hurt, what makes you think you will play next year?  Time to head on down the road.  There are too many transfers that are coming from higher level moving down and even for P5 too many studs that are on bad teams that want a chance at a championship.  When you watch SEC games, see how many players started there and how many moved in to see the scenery of college baseball at this point.

Francis - My experience tells me there there is no way of knowing what is inside a HC's mind when it comes to "moving his chess pieces".   I stopped trying to predict what they are thinking and instead focused on their motivations and what they did.  Their single motivation is winning and keeping his job, and that is very understandable.  Honestly, I question if some of these coaches know what academic year some of their players are filling a lineup card or a game situation.  I'm certain they've determined if a player can help them win or not.

Just my opinion....

If you look at a freshman or even sophomore who got little playing time, sometimes he becomes a full time player in subsequent years, sometimes he stays on the bench, sometimes he changes positions and plays more, sometimes he transfers or quits.

No amount of studying the rosters will tell you which outcome will happen to which kid.

No amount of studying the stats will tell you which outcome will happen to which kid.

If you could attend every practice, particularly in the fall, you might get a good idea, but that's not going to happen.

For a competitive College program, it is important to learn what level of baseball, did the player play the previous Summer. Did he play in a strong Summer Collegiate League?

Did he learn the game; can he make adjustments when hitting or pitching.

"Can he help our team WIN!"

Bob

The overriding factor for position players is the guys that can hit will most likely be the guys on the field. Does not matter to the coach what year they are...

College coaches don't care what grade a player is.  If he can play, he'll play.  My son was starting on the weekend 3 weeks into his freshman year but he was throwing 90+ when most of the other guys were 86-88 so that helped.  He had 8 freshmen start their career with him.....only 3 were left on Senior day....but 3 other guys had come in...so they had 6 seniors by the time he left.   The guys that left were for various reasons.....with lack of playing time being the biggest issue for them.