College baseball preview:
The college baseball season gets underway Friday with games across ESPN platforms. Wake Forest will play Fordham at 5 p.m. ET (ACCNX), while reigning champion LSU will face VMI at 3 p.m. ET (SEC Network+).
Our collegiate baseball analysts are quite pumped for 2024. They break down the season’s most important topics, teams, and players to watch, as well as provide their early Men’s College World Series predictions.
The college baseball season begins Friday with games on ESPN platforms. Wake Forest takes on Fordham at 5 p.m. ET (ACCNX), while LSU faces VMI at 3 p.m. ET (SEC Network+).
Our collegiate baseball analysts are really excited about 2024. They discuss the season’s most significant subjects, teams, and players to watch, as well as make early Men’s College World Series predictions.
Christopher Burke: I’m excited to see some of the old faces in new areas this year. Say whatever you want about the portal, but it exists and has drastically transformed college athletics. Three of the finest players in the portal last year, Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd, and Tommy White, were key components of LSU’s championship run, and this year’s top crop has the potential to do the same.
So keep an eye on preseason No. 1 Wake Forest and its top transfers, Chase Burns and Seaver King. These two players might be the difference in the Deacs’ chances of winning the Men’s College World Series.
Mike Rooney: I’m interested to see who can take the national championship trophy away from the SEC! The league has won five of the last six championships, including four in a row. The SEC teams appear to be designed for Omaha, as seen by their performance in both qualifying for and thriving at the Men’s College World Series.
In the offseason, Wake Forest and TCU traded blows with the league’s powerhouse teams. However, those five previously mentioned national championships were won by five different programs. This league is not a one-trick pony.
Which teams are worth keeping an eye on?
McGee: I suppose it feels lazy to include Wake Forest because it is at the top of practically everyone’s preseason poll. But I’m always interested in programs and teams that are dealing with the aftermath of a heartbreaking season finale.
What will you do with that? Is it the resentment that takes you over the hump? Or is it the threat you can’t shake? The Demon Deacons lost the best collegiate baseball game I’ve ever seen, an elimination game versus LSU in the MCWS quarterfinals. This season will be defined by how they recover, for better or worse.
Burke: The list of teams to watch coming into the season looks like a who’s who of college baseball over the last five years. Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M lead a loaded SEC bunch. TCU looked to be the Big 12’s best team, coming off a spectacular Omaha run in ’23.
Wake Forest and Clemson both return significant firepower and appear to be legitimate ACC MCWS candidates. Oregon State appears to be the strongest team in the West, combining excellent veterans with an exceptional recruiting class that has sparked widespread optimism about the team’s chances of making a long tournament run.
Rooney: The top of the standings is packed with recognizable faces. Can Wake Forest continue its current level of success? Who is the best SEC team? LSU, Florida, and Arkansas all feel like Tier 1. Is this the year Tennessee or Arkansas wins the national championship?
Is Iowa prepared to host in the postseason and make its way to Omaha? Can UCSB and UC Irvine restore the Big West as a national powerhouse in collegiate baseball? Northeastern returns a slew of excellent players from a 45-win club. Are the Huskies for real? Will Oregon State make people pay for leaving the Beavers behind during the most recent round of league realignment?
Which under-the-radar team should we keep track of?
McGee: Northeastern is well-known among avid college baseball fans. However, to the national public, the Colonial Huskies are not Wake Forest or LSU. Their season begins with a month-long road trip to Arizona.
They retain all but two starters, have a large number of transfers from lesser divisions, and have five batters who hit ten or more home runs last year. Mike Sirotka, the center fielder, is the genuine deal. These players will fade from the CAA schedule in the spring, but expect them to make a splash when the tournament begins this summer.
Burke: represents Florida State. The Seminoles are expected to have a strong rebound season. After missing the tournament for the first time in 44 years and finishing last in the ACC, the Seminoles appear to be poised to emerge as a contender again. This club, led by returning talents 1B James Tibbs and the versatile 3B Cam Smith, has the potential to reappear as a danger immediately. Coach Link Jarrett has won everywhere he has been, and I believe he will have this team ready to rebound in ’24.
Rooney: UC Irvine has returned every at-bat from the 2023 season. Every single one. The NCAA selection committee passed over the Eaters last season, despite their 8-1 record against the Pac-12 and 19-6 road record. That team had both a top-30 offense and a top-tier pitching staff. Two of their top players, slugger Anthony Martinez and firestarter Jo Oyama, both hit from the left side. Speaking of southpaws, Division I baseball’s ace Nick Pinto has 46 career starts. Finally, shortstop Woody Hadeen comes back (he missed 2023 due to injury) and is a top-five draft pick.
Which players should we keep an eye on?
McGee: Florida’s Jac Caglianone and LSU’s Tommy White are obvious choices, right? But I feel it would also interest you to keep an eye out for another section of the SEC that you may not have looked at in a while. South Carolina hasn’t gone to Omaha since 2012, but with Cole Messina at the plate and Ethan Perry in the outfield, the Gamecocks are poised to reclaim national relevance.
Burke: The players to watch in 2024 are a collection of standouts. Caglianone, the team’s top star, has some of the greatest raw tools in the NCAA game. Last year, he led the country in home runs (33) and boasts a fastball that can reach 100 mph.
He is definitely a must-see on television. As much as Cags dominates the headlines, the players below him on the list may be better prospects to become MLB stars. West Virginia SS JJ Wetherholt is the top hitter in the country, Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana is the reigning Cape Cod League MVP, and Wake Forest’s Chase Burns (RHP) possesses some of the nastiest swing-and-miss stuff in college baseball.
Oh, and Tommy White, nicknamed Tommy Tanks, has had two of the finest seasons to begin a career, and seeing him cap off his famous career this year will be a tale to follow. There are so many fantastic players this year, but here is my short list of must-follows.
Rooney: One interesting subject to observe will be two-sport competitors who have opted to concentrate on baseball in 2024. Brody Brecht (Iowa), Jay Woolfolk (Virginia), and Will Taylor (Clemson) all handed in their football scholarships last summer to play fall baseball. Brecht and Woolfolk are right-handers with high MLB draft prospects. Brecht had been a wide receiver, while Woolfolk was a quarterback.
Are there any notable freshmen or transfers that you are interested in?
McGee: If you stood in the center of the Arkansas clubhouse and swung a fungo bat in any direction, you’d hit at least two or three really good freshman, but the one I’m most excited to watch is lefty pitcher Hunter Dietz. Dude is 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, and one of those men who, at 19, already looks like a CEO with three kids and a mortgage.
Burke: One of the benefits of the MLB’s reduction of the draft from 50 rounds to 20 rounds is that the collegiate game has seen an increase in older players remaining for four to five years and blue-chip prospects arriving at school. This year, a number of high-profile freshmen fell through the draft for various reasons and are now playing key roles in college baseball.
UCLA has always recruited well, but this year’s class might be the most talented since John Savage’s tenure. The class’s star is Roch Cholowsky, one of the highest-ranked high school position players to reach university; he was also a standout high school quarterback.
Rooney: When it comes to impact transfers and freshmen, I’ll stay on the left side of the infield. Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) started for Sacramento State as a true freshman in 2023. As a collegiate baseball rookie, the Hawaii native hit 34 extra-base hits, 14 of which were home runs.
The 6-1, 195-pounder possesses thunder in his hands and will be the Razorbacks’ starting shortstop. Trent Caraway, an Oregon State freshman, was a great shortstop in Southern California and will play third base for the Beavers. Caraway’s distinguishing features include his incredible bat speed and a style that can best be characterized as playing with his hair on fire.
