How often are college freshman asked to redshirt?

Depends on the level

Most of the HA D3’s don’t redshirt.  The “non HA” D3’s do, sometimes.

Its much more common at D1’s and D2’s.  Go through the rosters and it’ll tell you.  “Redshirt Sophomore”, “Redshirt Senior” etc... if you do your homework on specific schools your son is interested in, the rosters will tell you a lot.  (If you do, let us know please what you find out).  I haven’t really been studying the rosters of D1’s and D2’s in the last 18 months or so, because my son is very unlikely to play at that level.

An educated guess is that Redshirts will become even more common as a way to deal with the pandemic’s effect on creating roster logjams

JUCO’s are starting to redshirt kids more often now, too...

Kids are told that they are redshirting much more than they are asked. 

Do pitchers get redshirted more often than position players?

Iw

@Francis7 posted:

Do pitchers get redshirted more often than position players?

I would have thought the opposite (schools can always use arms). You got me curious so I looked at UCONN roster: 6 of each. (Being a stats teacher, though I realize a sample of one is not sufficient....)

@Francis7 posted:

Do pitchers get redshirted more often than position players?

Check out some rosters and let us know...

It seems fairly common among those schools that are inclined to redshirt about 2-3 players per year.  Seems far less common among D3's, which makes logical sense.  

There are a few Calif. JC's (that get huge roster turnouts every fall) where there are typically 5-8 kids told to redshirt.  Some Calif. D2's will ask incoming freshman to dual enroll at the local JC.  In both scenarios, the move is used by coaches to get marginally talented and/or those who could benefit a good deal from a year of physical maturation and development that time to develop, take reps and train to see if they improve sufficiently to have an impact.  Also used at times to cover recruiting assessment mistakes but saving face by not dropping the player completely from the program.  Some will use it as an easier way to deal with marginal local recruits too.  And, of course, sometimes it's injury/recovery related.

Curious on this one, Francis.. why is this even a thought for you/your player?  If there has been any indication this may be the case, this becomes one of those instances when you should be describing the specific scenario (I don't mean the school) and asking direct specific questions, not general ones.  

@cabbagedad posted:

Curious on this one, Francis.. why is this even a thought for you/your player?  If there has been any indication this may be the case, this becomes one of those instances when you should be describing the specific scenario (I don't mean the school) and asking direct specific questions, not general ones.  And, of course, sometimes it's injury/recovery related.

Nothing specific. In another thread it was mentioned that it's somewhat rare for a freshman to play that much and that players and parents should level set their expectations around playing as a freshman. That thought then spring boarded this one...wondering, if freshman don't play that much as the norm, how often do coaches elect to redshirt freshman instead of having them eat a roster spot.

@3and2Fastball posted:

Check out some rosters and let us know...

i looked at one D2 and it seemed like most of their redshirts were pitchers with one or two 155 pound infielders mixed in.

@Francis7 posted:

i looked at one D2 and it seemed like most of their redshirts were pitchers with one or two 155 pound infielders mixed in.

You've probably noticed that it would take quite a bit of digging to find this information. I'm guessing that at least 75% of the "Redshirts" listed on rosters are due to injury.

There is no official meaning for "redshirt" - the way the word is usually used, it means someone on athletic scholarship who didn't get any playing time, so has another year of eligibility.  Those students are, however, on the roster even as freshmen.

There are other students who were not on athletic scholarship, thus technically walk-ons, who are not on the roster, but are told they should come back the next year, essentially to try out again, sometimes in a quasi-official way.  If they make the roster the next year, are they listed as "redshirt"?

The other thing I would wonder is, how many freshmen who don't play their freshman year (either on scholarship or not) leave the team and go elsewhere?  Because if there are two "redshirt freshmen" on a roster, there might be four others who decided to leave the team.

@MidAtlanticDad posted:

You've probably noticed that it would take quite a bit of digging to find this information. I'm guessing that at least 75% of the "Redshirts" listed on rosters are due to injury.

This.

Redshirt means another year of someone paying for school. Unless an injury, it might not or probably not be paid for by the program.  A good question to ask during recruiting.

Agree that most will transfer.

100% last year.

Normally, I'm guessing 50% of P5 freshmen do not play their freshman year for the school they went to.  Closer to 33% for mid-major, juco, and D2.  Very rare in D3.  I'm not saying all are "redshirted" because that term is a term we use but not an official term.  There are also blueshirts and greyshirts. 

I'm saying 50% because looking at SEC and other conferences leading into my son attending UT and watching his friends last year at various schools it was almost 50% of those who were there the entire fall practice did not play a single inning for the schools they went to.  They either left or redshirted (medical or chosen).  But they still did not play so that is the same.  It is lower in mid-majors because they do not guarantee scholarships.  You will not find the true answer by looking at rosters because those guys who left or were redshirted and then left will never appear on the roster.  You also understand that very few who redshirt for non-medical reasons actually ever play at that school from my research.  It was important to us as we were able to track down most of the numbers in fall, if they are true by what they put out, from articles on their websites.  I guessed they off by 10% in most cases by the true numbers who were there as we watched practices of some and realized they had 4-5 more players at practice than the articles showed they had.

I think the % will go up in the coming years because of the Covid stuff and the fact that everyone was redshirted this year.  My son will have 5 years if he does not get drafted or leave after graduation.  He is guaranteed 4 years of scholarship so that will hurt the numbers if he doesn't get drafted which as has been said all P5 coaches assume their players will leave after 3 years.  What a mess if the majority stay 5 years. 

I think this year the % of freshmen at P5 schools redshirted will be closer to 80-90%.  Only the studs will play. 

I would say fairly often it happens where a kid is expected to get some time. He travels for the first few series and doesn't get in, then the kid gets a nagging injury like a sprain or arm problems. Next thing you know you're 25 games in and he's not going to be 100% or get a ton of meaningful appearances so he gets told he's being redshirted halfway thru the season. 

Redshirting isn't the end of the world if there is an everyday starter in front of you or some nagging injury that will prevent you from being at 100% everyday. You probably could play, but does it make sense to waste a year of eligibility on 6 ABs one weekend for you to be shutdown for the next 12 games? The redshirts I see transferring were the guys who didn't belong, or the guys who are very talented but caught up in a positional logjam. 

It is one thing to be redshirted and not see a future. It is another for it to be circumstantial. Personally I would rather redshirt than get 9 ABs in midweeks over the course of a 60 game season. 

Not sure how common this is at other schools, but I had the opportunity to have a very candid conversation with a D2 RC. We were talking about catchers and their roles at that school (If I remember right your son is a catcher Francis7 so you may find this interesting). At his D2, the freshman catcher/s is "normally" used as the Bench/Bullpen catcher. Get all the benefits of practicing with the team, but normally end up redshirting their first year. They are on the roster, at all of the home games, and travel if one of the two starters is injured, or unable to travel for some other reason. Exceptions to this would be Very big bat, or a starter gets injured and the Fr gets a lot of game time, or the Fr ends up being better then the catchers already there. He had said, exceptions do not happen often. 

Like I said, this came from just one RC, I just found it interesting. 

I would look at the roster and stat histories of your target schools.  How many of the upper classmen had redshirted - this will tell you your answer.  Equally important, look at the stats of the upper classmen when they were freshman - how many got significant action, some action, no action, redshirt?  At my son's school (mid-major D1) every upper classman starter had been a contributor when they were freshman.  I'm sure different schools and coaches have different ways of doing things, but it's useful to know how they operate.

@Francis7 posted:

Nothing specific. In another thread it was mentioned that it's somewhat rare for a freshman to play that much and that players and parents should level set their expectations around playing as a freshman. That thought then spring boarded this one...wondering, if freshman don't play that much as the norm, how often do coaches elect to redshirt freshman instead of having them eat a roster spot.

Pretty sure redshirts still count for roster spots.

@Ripken Fan posted:

Iw

I would have thought the opposite (schools can always use arms). You got me curious so I looked at UCONN roster: 6 of each. (Being a stats teacher, though I realize a sample of one is not sufficient....)

Keep in mind that there are a variety of reasons a kid is redshirted.  Some are medical. I don't think a roster is going to distinguish between a medical redshirt and a redshirt for "roster management" reasons. With pitchers injured more than position players, could be part of what you see on UConn.

@Smitty28 posted:

I would look at the roster and stat histories of your target schools.  How many of the upper classmen had redshirted - this will tell you your answer.  Equally important, look at the stats of the upper classmen when they were freshman - how many got significant action, some action, no action, redshirt?  At my son's school (mid-major D1) every upper classman starter had been a contributor when they were freshman.  I'm sure different schools and coaches have different ways of doing things, but it's useful to know how they operate.

Agreed that you have to analyze what the HC's history has been....At my son's mid-major there are a half dozen major contributors who red shirted as freshmen and then started the following year.