It's always seemed to me the poor performance of college baseball players was primarily due to two reasons:

1) The spring semester is shot. They play so much and travel so much that strong academic performance is almost impossible. It is impossible for players who come to college with any academic deficiencies.

2) The allure of pro ball is too strong. Lots of players (relative to other NCAA sports) can turn pro prior to graduation. Playing in the low minors might not pay well but, then, you don't have to pay to play and you don't have to go to class. Thus, if you can turn pro, you do.

I don't really see anyway for them to get around these issues. I'd be in favor of more minor leagues - admit that they're pros - and make varsity college ball more like a club sport. (ha!)

It really would be nice for baseball teams to have more scholarships. I guess that's not workable, and I'm not sure what the obstacles are, but 11.7 scholarships for 35 kids is awfully tough.

The issue with adding scholarships is that, except at a handful of schools, baseball is a non-revenue sport. The linked N&O article (which is an outstanding read) contains an estimate that about half of D-I schools do not even use all of their available scholarships.

I'd be in favor of more minor leagues - admit that they're pros - and make varsity college ball more like a club sport. (ha!)

In a lot of ways, this was the state of college baseball prior to 1960. It wasn't *exactly* a club sport, but it wasn't a high priority in many places, either. But as minor leagues went under in the late '50s/early '60s, more players (and a handful of astute coaches) saw college baseball as their only alternative to playing AAU baseball or giving up the game entirely.

-- MWE