Another exciting college baseball season is on the horizon, and it’s time to start previewing the teams, conferences and players on the national stage.
We look to build on our promise to provide the most comprehensive coverage with the 2026 College Preview, presented by Netting Pros. Bookmark this page and return to it regularly!
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For the first time in the 12-year history of the rankings, UCLA is No. 1 in the D1Baseball Preseason Top 25. Led by 2025 D1Baseball Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky, the Bruins return eight everyday regulars and 10 of their top 12 innings leaders on the mound from a team that won 48 games and reached the College World Series last year. And they further bolstered their roster with two high-profile transfers (righthander Logan Reddemann and outfielder Will Gasparino), along with one of the nation’s top incoming freshman arms (Angel Cervantes).
Read more on the Top 25 here →
Top 25 Team Capsules
- UCLA
- LSU
- Texas
- Mississippi State
- Georgia Tech
- Coastal Carolina
- Arkansas
- Louisville
- Auburn
- TCU
- North Carolina
- Oregon State
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Florida State
- NC State
- Kentucky
- Clemson
- Southern Miss
- Wake Forest
- Miami
- Vanderbilt
- Arizona
- Texas A&M
UCLA
2025 Record: 48-18 (22-8 in Big Ten)
Coach: John Savage (724-481-2 in 21 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Top-ranked UCLA brings back an absurd amount of proven stars from an Omaha team, and the Bruins got even better in the offseason.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
LSU
2025 Record: 53-15 (19-11 in SEC)
Coach: Jay Johnson (190-77 in four seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Repeating is never easy, but LSU has the returning experience and the overall talent, both positionally and in the lineup, to make a serious run in Omaha.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Texas
2025 Record: 44-14 (22-8 in SEC)
Coach: Jim Schlossnagle (44-14 in one season)
More:
Fall Report
The sky is the limit for Texas with an incredibly deep pitching staff and a formidable top of the offensive order.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Mississippi State
2025 Record: 36-23 (15-15 in SEC)
Coach: Brian O’Connor (0-0, first season)
More:
Fall Report
Excitement is building for a new era of Mississippi State baseball, one led by national title-winning coach Brian O'Connor.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Georgia Tech
2025 Record: 41-19 (19-11 in ACC)
Coach: James Ramsey (0-0, first season)
More:
Fall Report
With the nation's best lineup and plenty of emerging talent on the mound, Georgia Tech has sky-high hopes in Year One of the James Ramsey era.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Coastal Carolina
2025 Record: 56-13 (26-4 in Sun Belt)
Coach: Kevin Schnall (56-13, one season)
More:
Fall Report
Coming off a trip to the CWS Finals, Coastal Carolina has the high-end pitching to make another run at Omaha, especially if the emerging talent in the lineup harnesses its potential.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Arkansas
2025 Record: 50-15 (20-10 in SEC)
Coach: Dave Van Horn (933-472, 24 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Arkansas lost its entire outfield and all three members of the season-ending weekend rotation, but it has reloaded for another deep postseason run.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Louisville
2025 Record: 42-24 (15-15 in ACC)
Coach: Dan McDonnell (784-353-1, 19 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Louisville brings back a super-talented lineup and a deep pitching staff from a club that reached the national semifinals in 2025. The Cards look built to make another Omaha run.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Auburn
2025 Record: 41-20 (17-13 in SEC)
Coach: Butch Thompson (324-233-1, 10 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Auburn’s lineup is going to mash, but its ability to compete at the top of the SEC will likely come down to how far along its pitching comes.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
TCU
2025 Record: 39-18 (19-11 in Big 12)
Coach: Kirk Saarloos (154-87 in 4 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
With star power on the mound and in the lineup, TCU has obvious Omaha upside if its super-talented sophomore class continues to progress as expected.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
North Carolina
2025 Record: 46-15 (18-11 in ACC)
Coach: Scott Forbes (200-104 in 5 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Perhaps the nation’s most complete pitching staff gives North Carolina high hopes for 2026. The key will be how the dramatically overhauled lineup gels and handles the step up to the ACC.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Oregon State
2025 Record: 48-16-1 (Division I independent)
Coach: Mitch Canham (224-103-1 in 6 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Oregon State returns overwhelming mound talent from an Omaha club. If the revamped lineup can hold its own, these Beavers have a chance to compete for another national title.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Florida
2025 Record: 39-22 (15-15 in SEC)
Coach: Kevin O’Sullivan (756-371, 18 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Florida is coming off of an unusual fall, but as long as the Gators can put that behind them, Omaha is very much in play.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Tennessee
2025 Record: 46-19 (16-14 in SEC)
Coach: Josh Elander (0-0, first season)
More:
Fall Report
The Tennessee coaching staff has changed, but what hasn't is the presence of a College World Series-level roster.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Georgia
2025 Record: 43-17 (18-12 in SEC)
Coach: Wes Johnson (86-34 in two seasons)
More:
Fall Report
With 22 D1 transfers, Georgia has another older, talented roster, which should again make it one of the teams to beat in the SEC and nationally.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Florida State
2025 Record: 42-16 (17-10 in ACC)
Coach: Link Jarrett (114-64 in three seasons)
More:
Fall Report
After losing 11 drafted players from a super regional club, Florida State reloaded with stellar groups of transfers and freshmen, keeping the talent level high in Tallahassee.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
NC State
2025 Record: 33-19 (17-11 in ACC)
Coach: Elliott Avent (1,069-634 in 29 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Led by a superb veteran quintet on the mound and a revamped lineup with intriguing upside, NC State should remain in the thick of the ACC race in 2026.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Kentucky
2025 Record: 31-26 (13-17 in SEC)
Coach: Nick Mingione (295-192 in 9 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
After making three straight regionals for the first time in program history, Kentucky heads into 2026 with legitimate Omaha aspirations, led by a superb rotation and an athletic lineup.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Clemson
2025 Record: 45-18 (18-12 in ACC)
Coach: Erik Bakich (133-53 in 3 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Led by a rotation that has a chance to be special and a lineup that got a big offseason power boost, Clemson looks ready to make noise in the ACC again.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Southern Miss
2025 Record: 47-16 (24-6 in Sun Belt)
Coach: Christian Ostrander (90-36 in 2 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
With an older team and a potentially dangerous rotation, Southern Miss is eyeing another postseason run.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Wake Forest
2025 Record: 39-22 (16-14 in ACC)
Coach: Tom Walter (495-383-1 in 16 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
There are questions for Wake as it pertains to lineup depth and bullpen quality, but if it gets answers in the affirmative, their ceiling is immense.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Miami
2025 Record: 35-27 (15-14 in ACC)
Coach: J.D. Arteaga (62-57 in two seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Miami has assembled a deep, powerful, athletic lineup that should carry the load while the talented but less proven pitching staff gels.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Vanderbilt
2025 Record: 43-18 (19-11 in SEC)
Coach: Tim Corbin (964-461-1, 23 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Pitching and defense give this Vanderbilt team a high floor. How well its lineup swings the bats will control the team's ceiling.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Arizona
2025 Record: 44-21 (18-12 in Big 12)
Coach: Chip Hale (152-95 in 4 seasons)
More:
Fall Report
Arizona returns a star-studded pitching core from last year’s Omaha team. If the dramatically overhauled lineup clicks, let the good times roll in Tucson.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
Texas A&M
2025 Record: 30-26 overall (11-19 in SEC)
Coach: Michael Earley (30-26 in one season)
More:
Fall Report
After a tough first season of the Earley Era, Texas A&M has the offensive firepower to make a serious move.
Read the full breakdownScouting Grades
We’re previewing each and every conference in depth in the buildup to Opening Day. Dive into preseason award predictions, projected regional bids, team-by-team breakdowns, top prospects, and impact freshmen.
Jump to a conference:
ACC | America East | American | Atlantic 10
Atlantic Sun | Big 12 | Big East | Big South
Big Ten | Big West | CAA | CUSA
Horizon | Ivy | Metro Atlantic | Mid-American
Missouri Valley | Mountain West | Northeast
Ohio Valley | Patriot League | SEC | SoCon
Southland | Summit League | Sun Belt | SWAC
West Coast | Western Athletic
Metro Atlantic
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Fairfield
A perennial one-bid league, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference always boils down to the conference tournament. Last year, Rider won the regular season, but second-place Fairfield toppled the Broncs in the conference tourney to capture the automatic bid to regionals. Those same two clubs figure to battle it out for MAAC supremacy again in 2026. — Walter Villa
Ohio Valley
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Little Rock
The OVC team that made the biggest splash in 2025 wasn’t regular-season champion Eastern Illinois. It was eighth-place finisher Little Rock, which snuck in as the last team into the OVC Tournament but then kept winning, all the way through to a deciding seventh game of the Baton Rouge Regional against eventual national champion LSU. The Trojans bring back a ton of key players from that team, making them the preseason favorite in the conference, but there are no fewer than six viable candidates to finish atop the league in 2026, which should make the OVC race one of the best in college baseball this season. — Joe Healy
ACC
2025 Bids: 9
Projected 2026 Bids: 10
Preseason favorite: 
Georgia Tech
The ACC had another strong campaign in 2025, sending nine teams to regionals and five to supers, although just one of those five (Louisville) wound up making it to Omaha, making the postseason feel like a major missed opportunity for the league. But the ACC is once again poised to rival the SEC for college baseball supremacy in 2026, with eight teams in our Preseason Top 25, and 17 ACC players on our Preseason All-America teams, led by five first-teamers. That’s a testament to the immense talent in this conference once again, led by loaded Georgia Tech and Louisville. — Aaron Fitt
Big West
2025 Bids: 2
Projected 2026 Bids: 3
Preseason favorite: 
UC Irvine
The 2026 season marks the 10th anniversary of the last time that the Big West Conference had three teams reach the NCAA postseason. This time around, the top of the conference looks very strong. The bottom of the conference is improved but still acting too much as an RPI anchor to ruin some resumés in the month of May. The Big West big wigs decided to hold a postseason tournament for the second year in hopes to make this a multi-bid conference for the Big Dance. But the big question is can this conference make this June an anniversary repeat of 2016? Stay tuned. — Eric Sorenson
Big 12
2025 Bids: 8
Projected 2026 Bids: 7
Preseason favorite: 
TCU
Conference realignment left the Big 12 with an exciting 14-team conglomerate headed into 2025. The outstanding depth of this newly constructed league led to a banner year. Eight teams advanced to the NCAA tournament and Arizona won five road games to punch its ticket to Omaha. Expect more of the same in 2026 as this is a conference on the rise. — Mike Rooney
Big South
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
High Point
The Big South Conference in the last decade has said goodbye to postseason stalwarts Coastal Carolina, Campbell and Liberty, and yet, it keeps plugging along putting teams on the field that can compete nationally — as we saw again last summer, when USC Upstate played well in the Clemson Regional. On paper, it once again looks like a two-horse race for the league title between High Point and Upstate, but don’t sleep on Winthrop or even Radford sneaking up and making it a bit more crowded at the top. — Joe Healy
Missouri Valley
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Murray State
A team from the Missouri Valley Conference has been a force in the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons, with Indiana State and Evansville advancing to the super regional round in 2023 and 2024 and Murray State ending last year at the 2025 College World Series. Under the leadership of head coach Dan Skirka, Murray State remains the team to beat in the Valley, returning a significant amount of innings from last year’s Omaha squad. After adding Murray State, Belmont and UIC in recent years, the departures of Dallas Baptist in 2022 and Missouri State this past offseason makes the MVC a nine-team league. — Patrick Ebert
Southern Conference
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Samford
It’s another season where any number of teams could contend in the SoCon. Sure, Samford and Mercer are preseason favorites, and defending champ ETSU looks to reload, but other teams like The Citadel, UNCG, Wofford, Western Carolina, and VMI also have eyes on the prize. It’s a conference with balance, where bottom teams can beat top teams, giving us another fun season in the SoCon where the teams are projected to be jumbled in the standings. — Mark Etheridge
Southwestern Athletic
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Bethune-Cookman
The SWAC last season was a two-horse race between Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M all the way through to the final pitch of the season. In the regular season, the Wildcats edged the Rattlers by a half-game, and in the SWAC Tournament, BCU got a walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth to turn a 9-8 deficit into an 11-9 victory. Those two teams are back in a big way in 2026, but they aren’t alone in being contenders in the league, as Alabama State, Grambling and Arkansas-Pine Bluff are all good enough on paper to push the favorites. — Joe Healy
SEC
2025 Bids: 13
Projected 2026 Bids: 13
Preseason favorite: 
LSU
The Southeastern Conference, arguably the nation’s premier conference, will once again have a highly competitive regular-season title race in 2026. In 2025, Texas won the SEC regular season crown in its first season in the league, while Vanderbilt earned the top national seed in the NCAA tournament. And of course, LSU won the national title with a series win over Coastal Carolina. The 2026 campaign promises to be full of intrigue as well with 13 teams expected in the NCAA tourney. — Kendall Rogers
Atlantic Sun
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Florida Gulf Coast
Stetson and Austin Peay have battled for ASUN supremacy in the regular season and conference tournament over the past two seasons, with the Hatters claiming the big prize by winning the automatic bid to regionals each year. Both teams should be very formidable once again in 2026, but Florida Gulf Coast looks poised to jump into the top tier with both of them, thanks to a standout pitching staff headlined by first-team All-America two-way star Evan Dempsey. Jacksonville should also be a factor in this compelling race. — Walter Villa
Patriot League
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Navy
The Patriot League was firmly in Holy Cross’ control from start to finish last year. The Crusaders won the regular season title by three games, then slugged past Lehigh in the semifinals before sweeping defending champion Army in the championship series. That ended the Black Knights’ six-season reign atop the conference and potentially ushered in a new era for the league. Holy Cross, Navy, and Army went a combined 30-15 against the bottom half of the conference, setting up another three-horse race atop the league in 2026. — Bradley Smart
West Coast Conference
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Gonzaga
The West Coast Conference welcomes a new member this season as Seattle makes the jump from the WAC to the WCC. The Redhawks will jump into the maelstrom that is the Conference of Cannibals where outside an occasional cellar dweller, every team is fully capable of beating every other team in the conference. It always makes for highly entertaining jostling for positioning in the standings both at the top and in the middle where teams are trying to solidify their standing to make the WCC Tournament. Last year, the four teams at the bottom of the standings all finished within two games of each other as they contended for the final conference tournament spot. — Shotgun Spratling
American Athletic Conference
2025 Bids: 2
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
East Carolina
UTSA ended East Carolina’s six-year run atop the American standings last year, as the Roadrunners dominated the league in the regular season and went on to reach their first super regional. But ECU recovered from a disappointing regular season to get hot and win the conference tournament, then reached a regional final. With an exciting core of rising stars back in the fold, the Pirates look poised to regain their perch atop the standings, but UTSA should remain right in the hunt despite losing some serious star power from last year. Charlotte, South Florida, Florida Atlantic and Tulane all look like factors in this race as well, giving the American at least a shot at sending multiple teams to regionals for the fourth time in the last five years. But it’s worth noting that it would have been a one-bid league in each of those seasons if the regular-season champion had won the automatic bid, as the AAC hasn’t produced more than one team with a viable at-large resumé since 2018, when UConn and Houston were still members. — Aaron Fitt
Western Athletic Conference
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Cal Baptist
The last season of WAC baseball is upon us. The league will be rebranded as the United Athletic Conference after this season. Four of these seven teams will join the UAC while Cal Baptist and Sacramento State will join the Big West, and Utah Tech will join the Mountain West. Utah Valley upset Oregon in the Eugene Regional a year ago, and all of teams at the top of this league look capable of playing the role of nightmare four-seed in the NCAA tournament. — Mike Rooney
Big Ten
2025 Bids: 4
Projected 2026 Bids: 4
Preseason favorite: 
UCLA
Four Pac-12 cast-offs joined the mostly Midwest-based Big Ten in 2025, and those four teams – Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington – went a combined 61-23 against their legacy opponents during the regular season. At the conference tournament, however, it was Nebraska that emerged with the league’s automatic bid, the second year in a row the Huskers had claimed the Big Ten championship. UCLA advanced to the College World Series, led by D1Baseball Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky. The Bruins return almost their entire roster from a year ago, with several significant reinforcements via the portal and their most recent recruiting class, and enter 2026 atop the D1Baseball Top 25 rankings. — Patrick Ebert and Burke Granger
Mountain West
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Nevada
It might not be a stretch to say that no other conference in the country has been more affected by the transfer portal than the MWC. Other than Air Force, for obvious reasons, every other team in the league will be leaning heavily on new faces playing in new places. That means there will be a lot of competition but also a lot of uncertainty. As Fresno State has shown the last two years, the regular season can be merely a suggestion and the team that gets hot at the end of May is the one who will be the ones getting their groove on in the Big Dance. But this 2026 season proves that it really is anybody’s title to grab. — Eric Sorenson
Horizon League
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Wright State
Wright State has represented the Horizon League in the NCAA Tournament for four of the past five years, and there’s no reason to think that will change anytime soon. This league is down to five teams after Purdue Fort Wayne discontinued its baseball program at the end of the 2025 season, but will gain a team back in 2027 when Northern Illinois defects from the Mid-American Conference. — Burke Granger
Big East
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Connecticut
The Big East turned in a strong 2025 campaign, producing three teams inside the top 45 of the RPI, but the Division I Baseball Committee snubbed regular-season co-champion Connecticut and fellow at-large contender Xavier on selection day. So regular-season co-champ and conference tournament winner Creighton was the Big East’s sole entry in the NCAA tournament — but the Bluejays represented the league well, winning two games to reach the Fayetteville Regional final. The Huskies and Bluejays should remain the teams to beat in 2026, with St. John’s and Xavier also in the mix. — Shotgun Spratling
Sun Belt
2025 Bids: 2
Projected 2026 Bids: 3
Preseason favorite: 
Coastal Carolina
Like many conferences around college baseball these days, the landscape of the Sun Belt is always changing. Last season, Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss ran away with the regular season title, while Troy, which was ranked for a vast majority of the regular season, fell just short of the NCAA tournament. This season, we are expecting three bids to the NCAA tournament — including Troy — while others such as Louisiana and Marshall look to make a move in the pecking order. — Kendall Rogers
Southland
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
UT Rio Grande Valley
Last season was a banner year in the Southland, as multiple teams made strong cases for postseason inclusion. UTRGV (43), Southeastern Louisiana (51) and Lamar (61) all had RPIs high enough to be in the NCAA Tournament discussion. With a unique conference tournament format, it was Houston Christian that emerged as the champion and it should be noted that Northwestern State and McNeese also enjoyed strong seasons, with each finishing 19-11 in Southland play. This is a competitive conference that can’t lazily be labeled a “one-bid league.” — Patrick Ebert
Northeast Conference
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Long Island
Last season, the NEC regular season crown was decided by a single game and the conference tournament final went 12 innings. Third-seeded Central Connecticut got the better of No. 1 seed Long Island, 6-5, robbing the Sharks of back-to-back regional appearances. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar matchup this year as as one of those two teams have won each of the last eight auto-bids, alternating since 2021. Wagner and Le Moyne may have something to say about that in 2026, however, as there’s an intriguing mix of contenders after the favorite, LIU, and the defending champions in Central Connecticut. — Bradley Smart
CAA
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
UNC Wilmington
Northeastern was the story of the Coastal Athletic Association in 2025, going 25-2 to win the regular-season title by six games, then taking down UNC Wilmington in the conference tournament final en route to a school-record 49 wins. The Huskies lost significant star power from that club but still return a formidable core in the lineup, which should ensure they remain a force near the top of the standings, along with perennial CAA power UNCW. College of Charleston, Campbell and William & Mary also posted winning records in league play last year and figure to remain very competitive. — Aaron Fitt
Atlantic 10
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Rhode Island
The Atlantic 10 remains one of the more challenging leagues in college baseball to conquer. This conference has crowned five different champions in the last five seasons. And let’s not forget this league’s two regional championships (2015 – VCU, 2017 – Davidson) over the last decade. Rhode Island will attempt to go back-to-back and the Rams have the roster to do it. But this evenly matched 12 team league will push back on that endeavor. Could we have a sixth unique champion in six years? — Mike Rooney
Mid-American
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Kent State
Kent State and Miami finished the 2025 campaign with identical 23-7 records in Mid-American Conference play – sharing the regular season title – although the RedHawks owned the tiebreaker with a series win against the Golden Flashes at home. Expect a dog fight again at the top of the conference with Kent State getting the edge due to a number of key carryovers from last year’s squad. With that said, don’t overlook a talented Toledo team, and Ball State is always well coached and a squad to contend with. — Burke Granger
America East
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Bryant
The America East, in recent memory, has been a conference dominated by repeat champions and yet different NCAA Tournament representatives each year. Since 2011, there have been six instances of back-to-back regular season America East champions. Stony Brook accomplished the feat three different times before leaving the conference while Binghamton and Maine had each done it with Bryant joining last year. And yet, only twice in the last 25 years has a school represented the conference in the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years. That trend continued last year when Bryant ran away with the regular-season title by four games but couldn’t lock up back-to-back regional appearances, as Binghamton outlasted the Bulldogs with an 11th-inning win in the America East Tournament championship. Expect both teams to be back competing for the regular-season and conference-tournament titles. — Shotgun Spratling
Ivy League
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Yale
The advent of the Ivy League Tournament has breathed new life into all of the legendary programs here in the Ancient Eight. Just look at last season, when all four of the bottom-feeders in the standings had a chance to win their way into the four-team tournament field going into the final weekend of play. Ultimately, the second-seeded Columbia Lions swept three straight games in the postseason tourney to earn yet another bid to the Big Dance. But the message was sent by everyone: this could’ve been anybody’s title to win in 2025 and 2026 looks to be just as competitive. — Eric Sorenson
Conference USA
2025 Bids: 2
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Dallas Baptist
Conference USA, as with many leagues around the country, dealt with some realignment over the past year. Delaware and Missouri State will compete in their debut seasons in the league this spring. C-USA will look to build on last year’s two bids to the NCAA tournament. DBU earned one of those bids, while red-hot Western Kentucky earned the other. WKU lost several key components to last year’s club, but the pieces are still there to make some serious noise this spring. WKU has stiff competition with Louisiana Tech, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State, among others, slated to once again be in a solid state. — Kendall Rogers
Summit League
2025 Bids: 1
Projected 2026 Bids: 1
Preseason favorite: 
Oral Roberts
While Oral Roberts has long set the standard in the Summit League, St. Thomas deserves some serious recognition for finishing at the top of the regular season standings each of the last two years. The four-year transition period after making the jump from Division III is now complete as the Tommies will have the opportunity to qualify for the Division I NCAA Tournament. And because they finished tied with Oral Roberts at the top of the Summit League standings last year, they will have the honor of hosting the 2026 Summit League Baseball Championship at Minnesota’s Siebert Field in neighboring Minneapolis. Of course, they still have to contend with Oral Roberts, a team that is returning a ton of talent from their squad that went 37-22 overall. It should also be noted it was North Dakota State that claimed the league’s automatic bid in 2025, the second time in five years they have done so. — Patrick Ebert
D1Baseball’s editors and national writers select the preseason All-America teams with one guiding principle in mind: to identify the best and most valuable college baseball players for the 2026 season. Past performance and future potential factor into the deliberations, but the goal is neither to identify the best future major leaguers nor to reward the players who have put up the gaudiest numbers in past seasons (particularly since the level of competition varies significantly from one conference to another). The objective is to select the players who would provide the most value for a team that wanted to win the College World Series in 2026 — the players who are best equipped to perform against elite college competition this spring.
When we put together our Preseason All-America teams, we followed one guiding principle: If we were building a team to win the 2026 national title, which players would we choose? We use the same philosophy to construct our Player Rankings — think of them as an extension of our Preseason All-America teams.
These are NOT professional prospect lists, though they do take pure talent into consideration. Players who proved themselves against top competition in summer ball and look poised for breakout years might rank higher on the list than other players who had gaudier stats from last spring. We considered past performance and offensive statistics, but we also try to keep the numbers in context, because some leagues or ballparks are more offensive than others, and some leagues simply have more talent than others — so all stat lines are not created equal. So we take an amalgam of past numbers, raw talent, defensive ability (especially at premium positions), makeup and reports of development over the summer and fall. We also make use of more advanced metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and WAR, courtesy of our partners at 6-4-3 Charts.
Finally, remember that there are more than 300 Division I teams, and we’re ranking roughly the top 15 percent at each position. These lists reflect our projections of which players will be the best of the best this spring, but many good players in the remaining 85 percent just didn’t make the cut. We’ll revisit the Player Rankings over the course of the season and make adjustments as players prove themselves on the field.
Full Lists
Catchers | First Basemen | Second Basemen
Third Basemen | Shortstops | Outfielders
Starting Pitchers | Relief Pitchers
One thing to keep in mind with the way NCAA tournament seedings now operate: The NCAA Baseball Selection Committee will now rank the Top 32 teams, with 17-32 teams being grouped in pods as two seeds with the Top 16 seeds. For instance, teams in the 29-32 range will go national seeds in the No’s 1-4 range, teams in the 25-28 range will go to national seeds No’s 5-8, teams in the 21-24 range will go to national seeds in the No’s 9-12 range and teams in the 17-20 range will be two seeds at the No’s 13-16 regionals. It is worth noting two things: geographical considerations still matter when applicable, and you still cannot have two teams from the same conference in the same regional. That will naturally cause some seeding manipulation during the process.
On the Bubble
 UC Santa Barbara |
 Southern California |
 Nebraska |
 Kansas State |
 Oklahoma |
 UTSA |
 Cincinnati |
 Creighton |
 Virginia Tech |
 Xavier |
 Louisiana Tech |
 Charlotte |
Field of 64
Preseason Edition
| 1 |  UCLA* (1) |
| 2 |  Dallas Baptist* |
| 3 | UC Santa Barbara* |
| 4 |  California Baptist* |
| 1 |  Florida State (16) |
| 2 |  Southern Miss |
| 3 |  Kansas |
| 4 |  Wright State* |
| 1 |  LSU* (2) |
| 2 |  UC Irvine |
| 3 |  Oklahoma State |
| 4 |  Bryant* |
| 1 |  Georgia (15) |
| 2 |  Clemson |
| 3 | Kansas State |
| 4 |  Rhode Island* |
| 1 |  Texas (3) |
| 2 |  Oregon |
| 3 |  UTRGV* |
| 4 |  Long Island* |
| 1 |  Tennessee (14) |
| 2 |  NC State |
| 3 | Southern California |
| 4 |  Nevada* |
| 1 |  Mississippi State (4) |
| 2 |  Virginia |
| 3 |  Arizona State |
| 4 |  Fairfield* |
| 1 |  Florida (13) |
| 2 |  Miami |
| 3 |  Florida Gulf Coast* |
| 4 |  Yale* |
| 1 |  Georgia Tech (5) |
| 2 |  East Carolina* |
| 3 |  Alabama |
| 4 |  Bethune-Cookman* |
| 1 |  Oregon State (12) |
| 2 |  Kentucky |
| 3 | Nebraska |
| 4 |  Gonzaga* |
| 1 |  Coastal Carolina* (6) |
| 2 |  Ole Miss |
| 3 |  Connecticut* |
| 4 |  High Point* |
| 1 |  North Carolina (11) |
| 2 |  Vanderbilt |
| 3 |  UNC Wilmington* |
| 4 |  Navy* |
| 1 |  Arkansas (7) |
| 2 |  Arizona |
| 3 |  Notre Dame |
| 4 |  Little Rock* |
| 1 |  TCU* (10) |
| 2 |  Texas A&M |
| 3 |  Cal Poly |
| 4 |  Oral Roberts* |
| 1 |  Louisville (8) |
| 2 |  West Virginia |
| 3 |  Murray State* |
| 4 |  Kent State* |
| 1 |  Auburn (9) |
| 2 |  Wake Forest |
| 3 |  Troy |
| 4 |  Samford* |
The transfer portal has rapidly become a vital avenue for roster construction in college baseball. Some programs have gone all-in on the portal, and others have dipped their toes into the transfer pool judiciously to fill select roster needs. Throughout the offseason, we counted down the top 50 position player transfers, the top 50 pitcher transfers, and the top 25 transfer classes.
Get ready for the regular season by tuning into one of our many podcasts!
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INDEX
Top 25 Breakdowns
1. UCLA
2. LSU
3. Texas
4. Mississippi State
5. Georgia Tech
6. Coastal Carolina
7. Arkansas
8. Louisville
9. Auburn
10. TCU
11. North Carolina
12. Oregon State
13. Florida
14. Tennessee
15. Georgia
16. Florida State
17. NC State
18. Kentucky
19. Clemson
20. Southern Miss
21. Wake Forest
22. Miami
23. Vanderbilt
24. Arizona
25. Texas A&M
Conference Previews
ACC
America East
American
Atlantic 10
Atlantic Sun
Big 12
Big East
Big South
Big Ten
Big West
CAA
CUSA
Horizon
Ivy League
Metro Atlantic
Mid-American
Missouri Valley
Mountain West
Northeast
Ohio Valley
Patriot League
SEC
SoCon
Southland
Summit League
Sun Belt
SWAC
West Coast
Western Athletic
Player Rankings
Top 50 Catchers
Top 50 First Basemen
Top 50 Second Basemen
Top 50 Shortstops
Top 50 Third Basemen
Top 150 Outfielders
Top 200 Starting Pitchers
Top 100 Relievers
National Content
Fall Report Central
Top 25: 10 Teams To Watch
Head Coach Carousel
Assistant Coach Carousel
D1Baseball Podcasts
Transfer Portal Tracker
Top Transfer Hitters: Top 10
Top Transfer Hitters: 11-20
Top Transfer Hitters: 21-30
Top Transfer Hitters: 31-40
Top Transfer Hitters: 41-50
Top Transfer Pitchers: Top 10
Top Transfer Pitchers: 11-20
Top Transfer Pitchers: 21-30
Top Transfer Pitchers: 31-40
Top Transfer Pitchers: 41-50
