March 21, 2020

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

Canadians playing baseball at U.S. colleges who feared that the COVID-19 outbreak had prematurely ended their collegiate careers have new reason to hope.

The NCAA has decided that all spring athletes would be granted an extra year of eligibility in light of their seasons being lost to the pandemic.

“Council leadership agreed that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” said the NCAA’s Division I coordination committee in a statement issued March 13.

The ruling applies to all NCAA spring sports, including baseball.

The announcement was scarce on specifics about how the added eligibility would impact roster size and scholarship limits, but the committee said such details would be worked out.

“Details of eligibility relief will be finalized at a later time. Additional issues with NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks,” read the release.

That’s good news for Canadian seniors who were faced with having their final year of NCAA baseball cut short. However, Division I Saint Peter’s Peacocks coach Lou Proietti (Hamilton, Ont.) cautioned that the rule change doesn’t guarantee that all seniors will be back next spring, what with the scholarship issue still to be worked out and some players potentially having to make decisions regarding their off-field careers.

“It’s a tough situation. Guys have to weigh their options,” Proietti said.

Also following this story will be graduating high school players who may now have more competition for jobs next spring. Current NCAA baseball rosters are capped at 35 players.

The NCAA has informed coaches and program directors that in-person recruiting is paused until at least April 15. That leaves Proietti and his counterparts working the phones and email to recruit players for next season and beyond.

“I’m trying to have as many credible contacts in my network as possible,” said Proietti, who is currently self-isolating in Jersey City.

“Just trying to find a way to stay efficient.”