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2022 Top 100 Programs: By The Numbers

Analysis

Over the last two weeks, we have counted down the top 100 programs in college baseball, as they stand in 2022. For the purpose of this exercise, we don’t care what happened in the 1970s or 80s, or even the 90s — that’s ancient history to a potential recruit in 2022. Tradition is nice, but it’s more important to establish a tradition of consistent winning in the last decade, and especially in the last five years. Our ultimate goal here is to identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years.

Now it’s time to unveil the entire Top 100, in chart form. The chart below is sortable by state and by conference, which makes it easy to see how all of the Top 100 programs stack up relative to the other teams in their state and league. A few factoids:

• The SEC leads all conferences with 13 teams (out of its 14 current members) in the Top 100. The SEC also occupies each of the top four spots in the rankings for the second time in a row, although the order of that top four has shuffled a bit since our 2019 update. The SEC also occupies six of the top eight spots, and nine of the top 20.

• Here’s the full conference-by-conference breakdown: ACC (12 of 14 teams landed in the Top 100), Pac-12 (8 of 11), Big Ten (8 of 13), Big 12 (7 of 9), Sun Belt (7 of 14), American (5 of 8), Big West (4 of 9), Conference USA (4 of 8). The Big East, MAC, SoCon and Southland placed three teams apiece on the list. The A-Sun, CAA, MVC, MWC, WAC and WCC landed two teams apiece in the Top 100. Overall, 26 different conferences are represented.

• California is now tied with Texas for most teams in the top 100 with 10 apiece. That’s a decrease of four teams for California since 2019, and an increase of one team for Texas. Those states are followed by North Carolina (nine), Florida (seven), Louisiana (six) and Virginia (five). Alabama, Georgia, Indiana have four teams apiece on the list.

• Fifteen teams entered the Top 100 after being unranked in 2019. That represents more turnover than the last time we conducted this exercise, as just 11 new teams entered in 2019. Out of our newcomers, Notre Dame made the biggest vault, landing at No. 40. Others that made big jumps into the Top 100 include Central Michigan (No. 55), Old Dominion (No. 64) and Georgia Southern (No. 65).

• Of the teams that were already in the Top 100 in 2019, Tennessee made the biggest jump, catapulting 52 spots from No. 69 to No. 17. The other biggest climbers are Virginia Tech (up 45 spots), Louisiana Tech (up 43), Maryland (up 33) and Oregon (up 26).

• The biggest fallers from 2019 are St. John’s (down 46), Minnesota (down 44), Rice (down 43), Illinois (down 34), Cal State Fullerton, California and Kent State (down 29 spots apiece).



Program Analysis:

Teams 1-5
Teams 6-10
Teams 11-20
Teams 21-30
Teams 31-40
Teams 41-50
Teams 51-60
Teams 61-70
Teams 71-80
Teams 81-90
Teams 91-100


D1Baseball Top 100 Programs: 2022

RankProgramConferenceRank in Conf.StateRank in StateChange from 20192019 Rank2017 Rank2015 Rank
1VanderbiltSEC1TN11221
2ArkansasSEC2AR1131312
3Mississippi StateSEC3MS1581621
4FloridaSEC4FL1-3113
5Oregon StatePac-121OR11688
6LouisvilleACC1KY1-1566
7LSUSEC5LA1-3435
8Ole MissSEC6MS211191918
9Texas TechBig 121TX1091838
10StanfordPac-122CA112223031
11Texas A&MSEC7TX20111014
12TexasBig 122TX34162015
13Florida StateACC2FL2-67711
14North CarolinaACC3NC1-1131210
15VirginiaACC4VA1-31252
16NC StateACC5NC28242525
17TennesseeSEC8TN25269NRNR
18TCUBig 123TX4-81047
19Oklahoma StateBig 124OK1-1172119
20AuburnSEC9AL1-5254962
21UCLAPac-123CA2-214154
22East CarolinaAmerican1NC34263851
23OklahomaBig 125OK217403527
24ArizonaPac-124AZ13272222
25MiamiACC6FL3-4211413
26Southern MissSun Belt1MS37333388
27Dallas BaptistC-USA1TX51282835
28MichiganBig Ten1MI13315367
29ConnecticutBig East1CT17365760
30Coastal CarolinaSun Belt2SC1-10201733
31ClemsonACC7SC2-8232424
32South CarolinaSEC10SC3-1418119
33DukeACC8NC463982NR
34UC Santa BarbaraBig West1CA39433756
35GeorgiaSEC11GA1-6298670
36Georgia TechACC9GA26423634
37MarylandBig Ten2MD133703439
38OregonPac-125OR226644626
39Arizona StatePac-126AZ2-9302916
40Notre DameACC10IN1N/ANR8868
41Wake ForestACC11NC5115242NR
42IndianaBig Ten3IN2-10323123
43NebraskaBig Ten4NE18514340
44Cal State FullertonBig West2CA4-2915917
45BaylorBig 126TX6-11346259
46CampbellBig South1NC62268NRNR
47Louisiana TechC-USA2LA2439091NR
48Virginia TechACC12VA24593NR79
49GonzagaWCC1WA1247379NR
50LibertyA-Sun1VA325758155
51HoustonAmerican2TX7-7442729
52Florida AtlanticC-USA3FL4-7455153
53LouisianaSun Belt3LA3-15382630
54West VirginiaBig 127WV115573NR
55Central MichiganMAC1MI2N/ANRNRNR
56WashingtonPac-127WA2-15415469
57AlabamaSEC12AL221785228
58KentuckySEC13KY20584154
59Missouri StateMVC1MO1-22374049
60Indiana StateMVC2IN31676NR94
61Wright StateHorizon1OH11626880
62South AlabamaSun Belt4AL33655081
63South FloridaAmerican3FL5-3605863
64Old DominionSun Belt5VA4N/ANR8099
65Georgia SouthernSun Belt6GA3N/ANR9284
66UNC WilmingtonCAA1NC7-20464848
67VCUA-101VA525927675
68UC IrvineBig West3CA513814732
69San Diego StateMWC1CA6-16534543
70Grand CanyonWAC1AZ3N/ANRNRNR
71Long Beach StateBig West4CA7-8633978
72Sam Houston StateSouthland1TX8-25473274
73IowaBig Ten5IA1-6676187
74CharlotteC-USA4NC8N/ANRNRNR
75Oral RobertsSummit1OK3-16596571
76StetsonA-Sun2FL6-1957NR
77Southeastern LouisianaSouthland2LA4-11665595
78RiceC-USA5TX9-43352320
79ArmyPatriot1NY11089NRNR
80ColumbiaIvy1NY2N/ANRNR83
81San DiegoWCC2CA8191007145
82Ohio StateBig Ten6OH2-28548789
83NortheasternCAA2MA1N/ANRNRNR
84IllinoisBig Ten7IL1-34506636
85CaliforniaPac-128CA9-29567046
86Sacramento StateWAC2CA10-284NRNR
87Texas StateSun Belt7TX10N/ANRNRNR
88McNeeseSouthland3LA5N/ANRNRNR
89CreightonBig East2NE2-12779677
90Kent StateMAC2OH3-29616750
91UCFAmerican4FL7-20715961
92MercerSoCon1GA4-6867582
93MinnesotaBig Ten8MN1-444972100
94St. John’sBig East3NY3-46484442
95SamfordSoCon2AL4N/ANRNRNR
96UNC GreensboroSoCon3NC9N/ANRNRNR
97TulaneAmerican5LA6-25726064
98Ball StateMAC3IN4N/ANRNRNR
99NevadaMWC2NV1N/ANRNRNR
100SEMO StateOVC1MO2N/ANRNRNR

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