SLU Baseball 2024

[OkieBilliken]

Update on departing player:   Very good freshman reliever Jackson Yarberry has signed with Indiana

[OkieBilliken]

We have replaced Asst Coach Logan Moon with Matt Morrow from Wabash Valley JC.  They led the country in hits, runs and RBI’s and were National runners up with him as hitting coach.   Good replacement sounds like.  

[majerus mojo]

On 6/25/2024 at 3:32 PM, OkieBilliken said:

 

Reinforcements on the way!!!!!!

 

 

Recruiting/scouting the college baseball portal has to be crazy 

[OkieBilliken]

Hate the Atlanta Braves.   Now I’m a Braves fan.  Pat Clohisy drafted in the 11th round!!!!!!!!!!!   Congrats Patrick! 

[OkieBilliken]

Hey I am a Giants fan too.  Evan Gray drafted in Round 15!!!!  It’s fun tracking the draft at the Bourdeaux airport on vacation.  

[OkieBilliken]

SLU has a late signee who looks like pretty good 

[OkieBilliken]

Hendo working the portal!   Bringing in another arm, this time from Seton Hall. 

[OkieBilliken]

https://slubillikens.com/news/2024/7/23/baseball-billikens-add-four-to-roster.aspx

More additions.   Connolly was previously noted.   Its great to see an infusion of new arms, from some very solid programs.   The 2025 version will be quite a dramatic change from the past two years, but it looks like Coach DH has brought in some quality talent.   

[OkieBilliken]

Interesting ruling coming out of the NCAA.  Allowable baseball scholarships will be increased from 11.7 to 25 with an expected roster size of 34.   Not analyzing too deeply, I would think this would help a program like SLU.   Very good players from the metro area historically wind up at Mo State and SEMO.  Understood that both schools have better facilities (everyone does) but it has also been way more expensive for players to attend SLU due to tuition differences.   This could level the playing field a bit.  This is assuming SLU gives out all 25.   

[Lord Elrond]

5 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

Interesting ruling coming out of the NCAA.  Allowable baseball scholarships will be increased from 11.7 to 25 with an expected roster size of 34.   Not analyzing too deeply, I would think this would help a program like SLU.   Very good players from the metro area historically wind up at Mo State and SEMO.  Understood that both schools have better facilities (everyone does) but it has also been way more expensive for players to attend SLU due to tuition differences.   This could level the playing field a bit.  This is assuming SLU gives out all 25.   

Any idea why such a dramatic increase in scholarships? 11.7 to 25 is one heck of a jump.

[Lord Elrond]

Never mind, part of court settlement. Looks like things are getting interesting. 105 for football?

And of course the link to the Yahoo sports article I saw isn’t working…

 

[CenHudDude]

3 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

Never mind, part of court settlement. Looks like things are getting interesting. 105 for football?

And of course the link to the Yahoo sports article I saw isn’t working…

 

85 to 105 for football and 13 to 15 for basketball.

[BillTheCat]

4 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Interesting ruling coming out of the NCAA.  Allowable baseball scholarships will be increased from 11.7 to 25 with an expected roster size of 34.   Not analyzing too deeply, I would think this would help a program like SLU.   Very good players from the metro area historically wind up at Mo State and SEMO.  Understood that both schools have better facilities (everyone does) but it has also been way more expensive for players to attend SLU due to tuition differences.   This could level the playing field a bit.  This is assuming SLU gives out all 25.   

FWIW the new scholarship limit is projected to be 34... the 25 number is softball.  So in essence a program committed to supporting baseball can have 34 full scholarship players.  This should ultimately benefit the mid-majors who wish to compete in baseball but don't have the NIL resources of the Power 4.  

 

[OkieBilliken]

2 hours ago, BillTheCat said:

FWIW the new scholarship limit is projected to be 34... the 25 number is softball.  So in essence a program committed to supporting baseball can have 34 full scholarship players.  This should ultimately benefit the mid-majors who wish to compete in baseball but don't have the NIL resources of the Power 4.  

 

That is different than what D1 Baseball is saying as early as this morning.  If all D1 schools are going to be giving out giving out 30+,  I wouldn’t want to be a JUCO coach right now.   Would this violate Title 9?   I wonder if some schools are going to kill their program because 30 scholarships is very expensive. 

[BillTheCat]

42 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

That is different than what D1 Baseball is saying as early as this morning.  If all D1 schools are going to be giving out giving out 30+,  I wouldn’t want to be a JUCO coach right now.   Would this violate Title 9?   I wonder if some schools are going to kill their program because 30 scholarships is very expensive. 

The number bantered around has always seemed between 32 and 35... what Kendall w/ D1 is referencing is that just because schools can give out 34 scholarships doesn't mean they have to... they could in fact offer less, but the max is now 34.  I think the next logical question is whether D1 conferences will mandate the scholarship number for their members, or leave it to the individual member administrations to decide how much they like baseball.

When you get right down to it, how much does a baseball scholarship actually 'cost' a University?  You have a student in classes who might otherwise not attend the university if not for baseball, but what ultimately does one more student in a class cost at that point?  You're either going to have a sports program or you're not, whatever that sport is... I would venture to say the significant cost of team staffing, logistics, meals, etc are going to be there whether the individual athletes are on a full ride or not.  I think if the reduced income of 22.3 scholarships a school would otherwise get impacts a university that much where it's actually a problem to someone besides the keepers of the endowment, then yes maybe that school needs to look at dropping a sport.  This opens up a whole other discussion on just how 'profitable' non-profit universities are with today's cost structures, and how mis-managed they are if they're overly impacted by adding 22.3 baseball scholarships.  A recent study found 10yr returns for higher-ed endowments average around 7.2%... I believe SLU's is around $2B... big math.  

The scholarship increase IMO is a big net benefit to college baseball overall.

As for whether you'd want to be a JuCo coach?  Well, your talent pool just in fact got bigger not smaller, because the big impact on the tweener athletes is the new roster limit also being 34 at the D1 level (has been 40, with 32 allowed on some portion of scholarship).  With 300 D1 teams having 6 less roster spots, starting Fall 2025 there will be 1,800 less D1 baseball athletes.  Players who might have taken these last 6 spots at the D1 level will find themselves at a lower division level (or at JuCo).  I have yet to see how roster/scholarship parameters will shake out for D2/D3, but the trickle down of talent will be immediate and inevitable.    

[OkieBilliken]

9 hours ago, BillTheCat said:

The number bantered around has always seemed between 32 and 35... what Kendall w/ D1 is referencing is that just because schools can give out 34 scholarships doesn't mean they have to... they could in fact offer less, but the max is now 34.  I think the next logical question is whether D1 conferences will mandate the scholarship number for their members, or leave it to the individual member administrations to decide how much they like baseball.

When you get right down to it, how much does a baseball scholarship actually 'cost' a University?  You have a student in classes who might otherwise not attend the university if not for baseball, but what ultimately does one more student in a class cost at that point?  You're either going to have a sports program or you're not, whatever that sport is... I would venture to say the significant cost of team staffing, logistics, meals, etc are going to be there whether the individual athletes are on a full ride or not.  I think if the reduced income of 22.3 scholarships a school would otherwise get impacts a university that much where it's actually a problem to someone besides the keepers of the endowment, then yes maybe that school needs to look at dropping a sport.  This opens up a whole other discussion on just how 'profitable' non-profit universities are with today's cost structures, and how mis-managed they are if they're overly impacted by adding 22.3 baseball scholarships.  A recent study found 10yr returns for higher-ed endowments average around 7.2%... I believe SLU's is around $2B... big math.  

The scholarship increase IMO is a big net benefit to college baseball overall.

As for whether you'd want to be a JuCo coach?  Well, your talent pool just in fact got bigger not smaller, because the big impact on the tweener athletes is the new roster limit also being 34 at the D1 level (has been 40, with 32 allowed on some portion of scholarship).  With 300 D1 teams having 6 less roster spots, starting Fall 2025 there will be 1,800 less D1 baseball athletes.  Players who might have taken these last 6 spots at the D1 level will find themselves at a lower division level (or at JuCo).  I have yet to see how roster/scholarship parameters will shake out for D2/D3, but the trickle down of talent will be immediate and inevitable.    

SLU had a 40-man roster last season but there were 6 guys who I don't think played at all and another couple who played maybe a game or two.   If they really are going to limit the roster size, the fallout is going to be really interesting.  My favorite non-SLU team I follow is Florida.   They have been ultra-successful stockpiling pitching.   On their typical roster, their 18th best pitcher on the staff has 90+ stuff and a great high school pedigree.   I would be surprised if these power conference schools are going to agree to roster size limitations.   I am VERY happy for future Billikens who hopefully will be on full scholarship now instead of 10%, etc.   That is a hell of a lot more impactful than VIP access to the Champions Center.  I hope this helps SLU and helps grow the sport.   I hope the SLU admin doesn't screw this up somehow.  

[OkieBilliken]

 

Crazy

[BillTheCat]

1 hour ago, OkieBilliken said:

SLU had a 40-man roster last season but there were 6 guys who I don't think played at all and another couple who played maybe a game or two.   If they really are going to limit the roster size, the fallout is going to be really interesting.  My favorite non-SLU team I follow is Florida.   They have been ultra-successful stockpiling pitching.   On their typical roster, their 18th best pitcher on the staff has 90+ stuff and a great high school pedigree.   I would be surprised if these power conference schools are going to agree to roster size limitations.   I am VERY happy for future Billikens who hopefully will be on full scholarship now instead of 10%, etc.   That is a hell of a lot more impactful than VIP access to the Champions Center.  I hope this helps SLU and helps grow the sport.   I hope the SLU admin doesn't screw this up somehow.  

IMO this should help schools like SLU and many of the A-10 schools tremendously if they commit to utilizing this expanded scholarship opportunity to it's fullest extent.  The opportunity to get a great education, and now take the formidable burden of tuition expense out of the equation.  Why go to a SEMO or MO State if you get accepted to SLU for baseball?    

As for power conference schools agreeing to the roster size limitations, that's apparently a done deal or the announcements never would have went public.  To your point on stockpiling, what this WON'T limit is some programs bringing in 40-50 players in the Fall, knowing they'll cut to the 36 for Spring.  This has been the case for a lot of ACC/SEC programs for awhile now... Fall is essentially 'tryout season' for many of those players... it's even called that by some of the coaches we know.  Not all programs in P4 conferences play that game however.

[OkieBilliken]

Nice job MMP gentlemen finding this one!  Still hasn’t been updated on the D1 site.  It reminds me of the Clohisy signing where he had only a handful of at bats at a power 5.   It’s going to be sooo cool if he can hit like he did in his summer league.  

[Pistol]

Finally!

[billikenfan05]

18 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Finally!

Finally indeed. Reminder to all that this is fixing a basic necessity that was old and busted, a year late. It is nice to see work being done on the infield and the lights. But there’s much still to be done and it’s all overdue. 

[billiken_roy]

It's encouraging to hear we now have an unlimited budget for a non revenue sport.

[brianstl]

2 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

It's encouraging to hear we now have an unlimited budget for a non revenue sport.

If the goal is to be a Big East or a Big East like program, your baseball program has to have better facilities than what they were last season.  It doesn’t need to be SEC level, but the situation last season was unacceptable.  You can’t have glass shards from old lights raining down on the opposing team.

[Pistol]

3 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

It's encouraging to hear we now have an unlimited budget for a non revenue sport.

From the guy who thinks we can use the endowment as a piggy bank for athletics.

[thetorch]

4 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

It's encouraging to hear we now have an unlimited budget for a non revenue sport.

St Bonaventure has better baseball facilities than we do and they can only play games in that arctic location a couple weeks out of the year.

This is another example that fans demanding action will get results. Lets push May to continue making improvements that this program deserves. A school like SLU should never have the worst facilities in our conference.