NCAA Redshirt Rules for Baseball

A redshirt season in college baseball is a season in which a player sits out and gains an extra year of eligibility. These players can spread their four seasons of eligibility over five or sometimes six years of school while remaining on scholarship and practicing with the team during their redshirt year. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which governs sports at the biggest colleges and universities, has strict rules for granting redshirt seasons.

  1. No Competition Allowed

    • In most cases, a baseball player must decide to take a redshirt year before the season begins. If he enters any intercollegiate game in any capacity—even if only for one pitch, one at-bat or one play in the field—the NCAA will not allow him to take a voluntary redshirt year. For eligibility purposes, the NCAA counts any competition as a season of competition.

    Medical Hardship

    • The exception to the "no competition" rule is in the case of a serious injury or illness. If a player suffers an injury or medical condition during the first half of his team's season and has played in no more than 20 percent of the games on the season schedule, he can apply for a medical redshirt year. The school's athletic conference will review the case, asking to see medical documentation before granting the redshirt season. If the school does not belong to a conference, the NCAA reviews the case.

    Graduate Students

    • If a redshirt season leads a player to participate in intercollegiate baseball while in graduate school, he must stay with the school at which he received his undergraduate degree. This rule is in place only at the Division I level and only in baseball, basketball, football and men's ice hockey. At the Division II level, a graduate student can enroll at a different school and still be eligible to play baseball.

    A Sixth Year

    • For the most part, baseball players—and athletes in all sports—have five years to complete their four seasons of eligibility with a redshirt year included. In rare cases, the NCAA may permit a player to extend his eligibility over a six-year period. For the NCAA to grant a second redshirt season, the player must have missed all or most of two of his five years because of circumstances beyond his control. If he missed one of the five years because he took a voluntary redshirt season, he will not be eligible for a sixth year.

    Division III Policy

    • Players in baseball and other sports at NCAA Division III schools are not eligible to take redshirt seasons except under the hardship rule. The division, which features the smallest schools in the NCAA, voted in 2004 to bar athletes from taking voluntary redshirt seasons. But if a player receives a redshirt season while at a Division I or Division II school and then transfers to a Division III school, he retains his extra year of eligibility.