Christmas just came early for Oklahoma baseball.
The MLB and MLB Players Association agreed over a week ago that the MLB Draft in 2020 will be a maximum of ten rounds and a minimum of five rounds. Signing bonus pools may be trimmed down, meaning that teams would likely be able to not go over slotted signing bonus value for prospects with great leverage like college eligibility. If the draft is five rounds, free agent signings for players not drafted would be a maximum of $20,000.
That meant a whole lot to players like Levi Prater, Dane Acker, Tanner Tredaway and even Justin Mitchell who were likely going to be drafted in rounds that would opt them to move on to professional baseball. That also meant a lot to Oklahoma keeping ahold of top high school MLB Draft prospects Cade Horton, Jace Bohrofen and Daxton Fulton who have signed with the Sooners.
The final touches on what appeared to be a promising 2021 season instead of a gloomy one was just finalized as the NCAA Division I Council just voted to allow spring sport athletes to regain a year of eligibly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
DI Council grants waiver to allow additional eligibility for spring sport athletes whose seasons were impacted by COVID-19: https://t.co/aC03MEa5UQ pic.twitter.com/XeVaxI85Ib
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 30, 2020
On top of the four mentioned, Oklahoma has a strong chance of retaining starting shortstop Brandon Zaragoza, catcher Brady Lindsly and grad transfer pitcher Brad Demco, who were all set to run out of eligibility.
The schools will be the ones to self-apply for an extra year of eligibility for spring sport student-athletes who exhausted a year of eligibility in 2020. NCAA mandated institutions can provide the same level of scholarships or anything less to scholarship players from the 2019-20 school year.
This will give an opportunity to spring sports programs, especially baseball with the larger roster size, to reassess scholarship situations and virtually give each program a chance to reset its roster.
In baseball, any senior who returns will not count towards the roster limit and there is not a set number.
CLARIFICATION: Spoke with the @NCAA — the roster limit is essentially scrapped for the 2021 season. Any senior who returns will NOT count against your 35/27 roster limits in college baseball. There’s no ‘set’ number. Just applies to returning seniors.
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) March 30, 2020
Oklahoma looked the part of a team destined for Omaha in 2020. When the season abruptly ended, it looked as if it would be another two years until that chance would present itself again.
In 2021, the Sooners should be primed and ready for another run at the College World Series.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]