College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional players, as baseball’s professional minor leagues are more extensive, with a greater history of supplying players to the top professional league. Moving directly from high school to the professional level is more common in baseball than in football or basketball. However, if players do opt to enroll at a four-year college to play baseball, they must complete three years to regain professional eligibility, unless they reach age 21 before starting their third year of college. Players who enroll at junior colleges (i.e., two-year institutions) regain eligibility after one year at that level. In the most recently completed 2019 season, there were 302 NCAA Division I teams in the United States (including schools transitioning from Division II to Division I).
Scholarships Division 1
There are approximately 302 NCAA Division I baseball programs with each team being allowed to offer a maximum of (11.7) scholarships. Under NCAA rules, these 11.7 scholarships can be divided between a maximum of 27 players, with all players on athletic scholarship having to receive a minimum of a 25% scholarship.
Division 2
There are currently 260 American and Canadian colleges and universities classified as Division II for NCAA competition. During the 2019–2020 academic year, 1 school is in the process of reclassifying to Division II. Forty-four of the 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia and the Canadian province of British Columbia are represented. Arizona, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Wyoming do not currently have D-II institutions. Under the NCAA rules each baseball team is allowed to offer a maximum of ( 9 ) scholarships.
Division 3
There are currently 393 American colleges and universities classified as Division III for NCAA competition. Schools from 35 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are represented.Conference affiliations listed in this table are primary affiliations as of the current 2019-2020 school year. Many schools will house some sports in other conferences if their primary leagues do not sponsor a given sport. Each Scholarship is based on Financial aid and academics.
Naia
Over 90% of schools in the NAIA offer scholarships, and NAIA athletes receive an average of $7,000 of financial aid. However, it is impossible to say how many athletes receive scholarships because the NAIA does not have a central database like the NCAA. Each program is allowed to offer up to 12 scholarships, which is more than any other NCAA four-year school. NAIA schools also have other financial aid opportunities outside of athletic scholarships. Potential recruits should look into academic, merit and need-based scholarships to bring down the overall cost of tuition.
NJCAA
There are 221 Division I teams in the NJCAA that play in 24 different regions. There are 24 Scholarships available for Baseball in the NJCAA per team.
