2019 D1Baseball Preseason All-Americans

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Last year’s College World Series Finalists, Oregon State and Arkansas, are tied for the most players on D1Baseball’s 2019 Preseason All-America teams. The Beavers and Razorbacks each placed three players on the three All-America teams, as did Baylor and NC State.

The trio of All-Americans for reigning national champion Oregon State includes 2018 CWS Most Outstanding Player Adley Rutschman, 2018 D1Baseball Freshman of the Year Kevin Abel, and bullpen stalwart Brandon Eisert. Rutschman and fellow Pac-12 stars Andrew Vaughn of California and Jack Little of Stanford are the only players who earned first-team honors last June and returned to college baseball. All three of them are preseason first-teamers heading into 2019. Abel joined Rutschman on the first team, while Eisert landed on the third team.

Arkansas joined Oregon State as the only teams to place multiple players on the first team: shortstop Casey Martin and outfielder Heston Kjerstad, two of just three sophomores to make the first team (along with Arizona State’s Spencer Torkelson). Arkansas closer Matt Cronin cracked the second team.

Baylor landed three players on the second team: catcher Shea Langeliers, third baseman Davis Wendzel and ace Cody Bradford. NC State put three players on the third team: catcher Patrick Bailey, shortstop Will Wilson and bullpen stopper Kent Klyman.

Eight other teams had two All-Americans apiece: Auburn, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Sain’t Mary’s, Texas Tech and UCLA. Five of the 12 teams that earned multiple preseason All-America nods are ranked inside the top 10 of D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25.

The Pac-12 leads all conferences with six players on the first team and 12 All-Americans overall. The ACC is next with three first-teamers and 10 overall. The SEC and Big 12 are tied for third with seven total All-Americans, followed by the Big Ten (four). The American Athletic, Big East and West Coast conferences had two All-Americans apiece, while the Atlantic Sun, Big West, Colonial Athletic Association, Conference USA and Mountain West each placed one player on the teams.

D1Baseball’s editors selected the Preseason All-America teams with one guiding principle in mind: To identify the best and most valuable college baseball players for the 2019 season. Past performance and future upside factored into the deliberations, but the goal was 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 was to select the players who would provide the most value for a team that wanted to win the College World Series in 2019 — the players who are best equipped to perform at an elite level if they were matched up against elite college competition this spring.

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