With college baseball kicking off in a few weeks, the Top 25 Preseason Polls have been released. The Top 25 is a projection of how the teams are expected to perform based on last season’s record and off-season moves like transfers, recruits, coaching changes, etc.
This year’s Top 25 are as follows: Texas A&M, Virginia, Louisiana State, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oregon State, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, Duke, Oregon, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Texas, Dallas Baptist, Arizona, University of California Santa Barbara, Texas Christian, Nebraska, and Troy.
The SEC seems to always find itself as the top conference for the sport — with the last few years’ winners of the College World Series being Vanderbilt (2019), Mississippi State (2021), Ole Miss (2022), LSU (2023), and Tennessee (2024). This season will be the SEC’s first with 16 teams and their two newest additions, Oklahoma and Texas, included in the Top 25. Let’s get into a breakdown of some of the top teams this season.
Texas A&M
After falling just one win short of a title and then losing their coach to rival Texas, the Aggies are fired up for the upcoming season. Head coach Michael Earley took over and made an immediate impact by holding onto key players, despite many entering the transfer portal. Some of the returning players include potential 2025 No. 1 overall pick Jace LaViolette and Gavin Grahovac. They also added Gavin Kash to the lineup. Though the Aggies lost some pitching depth, getting Ryan Prager back after he turned down the MLB Draft was a huge win.
Virginia
Virginia’s lineup took a big hit losing Griff O’Ferrall, Ethan Anderson, and more. They are still looking strong heading into the upcoming season, with several key players returning and have a pretty impressive incoming freshman class. The Cavaliers have the potential to do well, being led by Evan Blanco and Jay Woolfolk on the mound.
LSU
Last season LSU was on track to miss the NCAA Tournament before a late surge pushed them into the field. The Tigers are aiming to be back on track for the 2025 season. They had some pretty notable losses with Tommy White and three top catchers. Though with adding Luis Hernandez, a transfer from Indiana State, things are looking up. Last season the Tigers didn’t have Chase Shores on the mound due to injury, but he is back and ready to play now.
Tennessee
Head coach Tony Vitello and his crew have built something pretty special at Tennessee and they’re not coasting after last year’s title. Expectations for the team remain high after the win and they are one of the favorites to win again. They did lose some special players like Drew Beam, Blake Burke, Christian Moore, and a few others. However, they did bring in Andrew Fischer and Gavin Kilen who should make a big impact in the lineup.
Arkansas
The Razorbacks are in the top five of the preseason rankings despite the 30 new players on the roster for the season. Though there are many new faces on the lineup, there are a few returning like Wehiwa Aloy and Charles Davalan. Unfortunately there was the loss of Mason Molina, Hagen Smith, and Brady Tygart but with the addition of Ohio State transfer Landon Beidelschies, TCU transfer Logan Maxwell, East Carolina transfer Zach Root, and freshman Cole Gibler, the Razorbacks are ready to take on the season behind Gabe Gaeckle.
The 2025 college baseball season is looking to be another exciting one with Texas A&M, LSU, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas leading the way. The race for Omaha promises to be competitive and exciting from start to finish.
Edited by Brittany Snow
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