DIII Rosters

It varies but most schools will not post a 2016 roster until at least after fall workouts when squads are trimmed.  Many won't post until just prior to first game in January/February.  Some (and it looks like this is what you are seeing) will roll over their roster from previous year, updating the player year of returners and dropping the seniors of course.  In this case, the new players will not be added until they become a rostered player.  A few will list the whole roster, even those who are on the fall squad but may or may not make it 'til spring. 

Most D3 schools have limited resources in the "Sports Information" department. What time is spent is on the sport of the season. Baseball as a spring sport will likely not get any attention until the spring. If they have posted a "returning player" they likely took last years roster and subtracted the seniors. You will get some schools that post rosters, schedules and the like as quickly as possible (like now) but you will find even more that you won't get any information until the week before the season begins.

 

 

Just maybe- the school does not want the new recruits to see the real roster size Some tend to be rather large with all the incoming freshmen!!!

I took a look at the Centennial conference rosters and it looks like only one of those schools has updated their online roster for 2016 - and they have just stuck the freshman at the bottom of the list with no numbers yet.  

 

 

Son tells me there some  64 players his schools fall roster.  But you can bet they won't all be there come Spring. What I have no sense of from the kid is how quickly cuts will start to be made once tryouts and fall practices start.   But why post an official roster until you have actually made the necessary cuts.  In the past, this school has carried just  27-30 players on varsity and another 12 -15 on JV.  So the fall roster is likely to be cut by some 20 or so players.  

Son's D3 graduated 4 players in 2015 & 3 others decided not to return from a roster of 28. Fall recruits are 15 frosh so roster will be trimmed by 8 by late Feb.2016. Next May team will lose 14 seniors so the opportunities are there for a lot of incoming players.

Back when I was in hs and getting recruited by several D3 schools I noticed public schools were much more likely to bring 60-70 guys in for tryouts and the private schools, for the most part, only brought in guys they intended to have on the roster.

Also remember, enough Freshman will not make it past Fall semester and be unavailable due to Academics. OWU has several freshman every fall that opt not to come back(girlfriends, homesick,etc...) or who are not academically eligible in the spring. Looking at Fall rosters in D3 is really kind of pointless.

It is better to look at the historical roster. When son was being recruited, I looked back 5 years on every roster and tracked the athletes that did not come back. I excluded seniors. That gave me an Idea of Roster size and retention.  It was important to me that he did not attend a school that was constantly churning the roster. He did not care, he knew he could compete. When I looked at OWU there was very little "churn", which made me feel better about his choice.  

 

My son was at a private D3 in the Centennial. Every Fall had more freshman at the practices than could possibly be handled (25-35+)... When he was a Freshman there were I think 3 or 4 Seniors on the team... As a Soph there were 8... As a Junior there were 6 (2 of which were Jr's baseball wise)... As a Senior 20 (including the 2 holdovers)... This year there could be 6 Sr.'s.  I think his class was "unusual" as I would think at some D3's (perhaps higher academics) the interest wanes off as the play time erodes and certain players realize either they aren't that good or school is that hard. His class was an anomaly inasmuch as they stuck it out together (and is part of the reason he chose the school). That size also "hurts" future years a bit since rosters can only be so large and well let's face it no one wants to sit.

 

I believe a lot has to do with how the coach recruits (there's other threads in here about that). I also believe coaches know what the school costs - if they can get "more" players to come to the school on the belief they "will" play (or at least compete), then that helps the school with respect to budget. So if a coach is properly incented to bring in 30 players each fall knowing full well he only believes 8-10 ever will see the field and maybe find a diamond in the rough out of the other 20, then why not take the hit in the fall and see what spaghetti sticks on the wall.  There's always a "JV" roster (unofficially). But those 20 have paid their tuition for the year and probably could be considered as covering the team budget...

Not all schools recruit as John F Describes. But yes many do. In the OAC, Mount Union brings in a large class every year. But there ore no cuts. You are welcome on the team as long as you want as l9ng as you stay academically eligible.
In the NCAC OWU typically brungs in from 10 to 15. Once a class was upwards of 25 or more. Thats this years seniors. So every conference and school is different. A recruit needs to do his homework.

Getting a sense from the son -- who still hasn't started fall ball -- that some guys definitely take the voluntary part of the D3 season more seriously than others.   Some guys are always out there getting their work in.   Some guys not so much.   So I think the fall roster may not be a reliable guide to who is really a serious competitor.  Especially at a school where fall ball starts so late in the game, I can imagine some just don't have the motivation to really push themselves on their own for the first six or seven weeks of school 

 

Which group are the returning starters in?

The returning starters are pretty determined to win the D3 world series this year, I gather.    They were denied a regional bid despite winning regular season conference championship and winning over 30 games.   They are determined not to let that happen again.  

You're getting enough information to get a sense of what's going on???  Man, I'm envious.

I ask a lot of questions on text chats with him.  He answers a small %.   Every now and then he actually calls home.  It always amazes me when he does. 

Here in Ohio (and the Midwest) fall ball is very important.  My son's D1 came back from winter break last year on Jan 11th.....left for their first road trip on Feb 15th...without having been on the field ONCE!  Son's basically telling me that their spring lineup will basically be determined by the end of this fall practice season.  They have a nice indoor facility to use in January...but it's not the same as being on the field.

I spoke to a parent of a college freshman recently who said that she was talking to her son more now than she did during his last year of high school. 

 

A bit hyperbolic not doubt, but still....

Fall Ball is important for my guys school too.  they just seem to start it very late.  Next week is the start of it this year.  D3 regulations restrict schools to 16 pre-season, coach led practices and one competition day.  It can be spread out over no more than five weeks. Schools seem to use that time differently.   Seems as though these  coaches have decided to use the fact that they can be outdoors  right up through November to reduce the time gap between the end of fall ball and the beginning of spring training.  They report back early in January  before school starts in the Spring semester.  So the gap between the end of fall ball is and beginning of spring training is just about 2 months basically.  Means, though, that the guys have to spend a lot of time early in the fall getting their work in on their own.  They practice out doors all fall and in January too.  

We had a low of 41 last weekend here in Ohio....fortunately the highs are/have been above normal the past couple weeks (60's and 70's).  Looks like they'll get finished up before it gets too ugly.  Some years we are lucky to see upper 50's by this time of year.

Official  D1 fall baseball seems is a lot more demanding than official  D3 fall baseball.   D1  can encompass up to 45 consecutive days -- 6.5 weeks instead of 5 weeks --  with guys being able to practice for up to 20 hrs per week and 4 hours per day, with only one required off day per week, if I read the regulations correctly.    D3 fall ball sure seems like a piece of cake in comparison.   16 practices and one day of competition spread over five weeks, with no more than 4 days of practice in any one week.