The Tide Turns

Changes to MLB draft rules could make the 2020s a second golden age for junior college baseball

- J.J. Cooper

With the demise of the draft-and-follow rule, the golden age of junior college baseball ended in 2007.

Thanks to a combination of factors, the 2020s have a chance to be a second golden age for junior college baseball.

The draft-and-follow rule allowed players selected out of high school and junior college to head to junior college for one season, while the drafting team retained the player’s rights up until a week before the following draft.

When Major League Baseball implemented a hard-and-fast signing deadline for the 2007 draft, it eliminated draft-and-follows—and a source of talent heading to junior colleges dried up.

A year after college baseball shut down in mid March because of the coronavirus pandemic, the game returned to action on Jan. 22 with the beginning of the 2021 junior college baseball season.

The games will count. After the 2020 season ended prematurely without a championship, teams will once again be aiming for the Division I, D-II or D-III NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.; Enid, Okla.; or Greeneville, Tenn., respectively.

But for the players themselves, the 2021 season is a freebie. Because some schools will not be playing because of Covid-19, the NJCAA has determined that this season will not count for eligibility purposes. Last year also did not count as a year of eligibility because of the early ending.