While we’re waiting for the College Football Playoff to begin, here are some early picks for teams we might see in Omaha come this June (in no particular order).
Credit: Jeff Liang
Oregon State
The Beavers lineup is one of the nation’s best. If the staff can stay healthy, OSU, led by their 5 Top-100 MLB Draft Prospects (Aiva Arquette, Trent Caraway, Dallas Macias, Gavin Turley, and Nelson Keljo), has as good a shot as anyone at playing in Omaha come June.
Circled Series: OSU @ Oregon 4/25-4/27
UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos have arguably the best arm in college ball in Tyler Bremner, but they also have 2023 consensus Freshmen-All-American LHP Hudson Barrett healthy after being hurt nearly all of last season. Santa Barbara will have a pipeline of arms ready for Coach Checketts to deploy. If the retooled offense can provide run support, the Gauchos very well could surpass their historic 2024 campaign.
Circled Series: UCSB vs UC Irvine 3/21-3/23
Credit: Cole Moore / The Daily Beacon
Tennessee
To keep it short: The Vols lost a lot of talent to the draft, they have a boatload of talent, and they have one of the best transfer classes headlined by former Ole Miss roommates Andrew Fischer and Liam Doyle, reigning MAAC player of the year Eric Rataczak, and Louisville infield transfer Gavin Kilen. Up the middle with Kilen is no slouch in returning star SS Dean Curley.
Circled Series: Tennessee @ Arkansas 5/15-5/17
Texas A&M
The Aggies have the biggest bat in college baseball in Jace LaViolette. They are returning workhorse LHP Ryan Prager, star SS Kaeden Kent, and SEC Freshman of the Year Gavin Grahovac. The rest of their roster is star studded, bringing in two of my favorite transfer bats in 3B Wyatt Henseler (Penn) and 1B Matt Bergevin (Fairfield) to cap off a loaded transfer class.
Circled Series: Texas A&M @ Tennessee 4/4-4/6
Credit: Jeff Bartee Photography
Stanford
The Cardinal have projected First-Rounders C Malcolm Moore and RHP Matt Scott, along with arguably the biggest name on their roster: Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki. Coach Esquer runs as good a program as any, and if their prep class lives up to the hype, especially with a loaded ACC schedule, don’t be surprised if we see Stanford back in Omaha.
Circled Series: Stanford @ North Carolina 3/7-3/9
LSU
The Tigers are getting RHP Chase Shores back from injury, and have LHP Kade Anderson to deploy behind him. They’re also adding huge arms from the portal in Deven Sheeren (Mount St. Mary’s) and Anthony Eyanson (USF). Jared Jones will rake, and the offense is arguably gaining more talent than anyone from the transfer portal (more on that soon).
Circled Series: LSU @ Texas A&M 4/2-4/4
Arkansas
The Razorbacks infield is captained by arguably the best SS in college baseball in Wehiwa Aloy. The bats around him mash, including Kendall Diggs, Ryder Helfrick, Nolan Souza, in addition to transfers Rocco Peppi and Logan Maxwell. The pitching staff lost all three weekend starters from last year, but still boasts enough talent returning and from the portal to have a shot at booking flight tickets to Omaha.
Circled Series: Arkansas v Tennessee 5/16-5/17
North Carolina
Coming off an Omaha appearance, the Tar Heels return star catcher Luke Stevenson, established yet promising arm Jason Decaro, and as expected have a loaded transfer class coming in. The transfer class is led by OFs Tyson Bass (North Carolina Wesleyan) and Kane Kepler (Liberty). If LHP Folger Boaz can step up behind Decaro, teams will not be too excited to face UNC down the stretch.
Circled Series: North Carolina v NC State 5/9-5/11
The Skippers View is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
