2019 college baseball preseason Top 25: Takeaways die-hard fans need to know

D1baseball has finally released their preseason college baseball top 25 rankings. Here’s what they look like and what you need to know about the list.

College baseball is almost back! We are officially just a few weeks away from the first pitch of the upcoming 2019 college baseball season. That means that it’s time for publications such as D1baseball to start rankings teams prior to the season beginning. Luckily enough for us, that’s exactly what D1Baseball did.

Vanderbilt, despite not making it to the 2018 College World Series, has claimed the top spot among the college baseball ranks coming into this season. The Commodores have an incredibly talented roster and baseball in Nashville should be intriguing to watch this year.

Here’s what their preseason rankings look like:

1. Vanderbilt
2. LSU
3. Texas Tech
4. Louisville
5. UCLA
6. Florida
7. North Carolina
8. Oregon State
9. Georgia
10. Ole Miss
11. East Carolina
12. Stanford
13. Florida State
14. Mississippi State
15. Baylor
16. Arkansas
17. Michigan
18. Oklahoma State
19. TCU
20. Wake Forest
21. Coastal Carolina
22. Auburn
23. Texas
24. Clemson
25. Cal State Fullerton

Three teams that are overrated

1. Wake Forest– The Demon Deacons could certainly be in for a good year, but it’s a bit shocking to see them so highly ranked after finishing at just 25-32 a season ago. Sure, Wake Forest returns its three best hitters from last year, but can the Demon Deacons take a huge step forward this year?
2. Michigan– Michigan was almost unbeatable at Ray Fisher Stadium last season, but the Wolverines struggled when they had to play away from Ann Arbor. Michigan went 12-13 in away games and just 3-5 in neutral site games. This team might make some noise in the Big Ten this season, but it’ll have to improve on how it plays away from home.
3. Georgia– The Georgia Bulldogs went 18-12 in SEC play, shocking many in the process. But Georgia’s pitching staff wasn’t overly impressive a year ago and the Bulldogs just lost their three best hitters from last season. Being ranked in the top ten just doesn’t quite make a ton of sense for this team right now, but they might be pretty good this year and make things difficult for some of the more talented programs in the conference.

Three teams that deserve more respect

1. Texas A&M– Why aren’t the Aggies on this list? Sure, Texas A&M struggled once it got into conference play, only going 13-17 and finishing 6th in the SEC West last year, but the Aggies still won 40 games. They’re bringing back a team with 13 juniors and seniors on the roster. Stars such as John Doxakis (92 strikeouts in 93.1 innings pitched) and Braden Shewmake (.327 batting average and just 22 strikeouts) will need to step up, but they should do just that. A&M may not deserve to be ranked in the top 10 or even the top 20, but it would make sense to put them in the top 25.
2. Stanford– The Stanford Cardinal being ranked at No. 12 shouldn’t be considered a snub, in all honesty, but this team deserves to be ranked a bit higher. Last season, Stanford had one of the best all-around starting rotations in the country. Stanford has lost two of its three starting pitchers, but Brendan Beck is back and he had a 2.43 ERA and a perfect 8-0 record last season. Plus, the Cardinal still have plenty of talent in sophomore bullpen arms such as Austin Weiermiller, who had an explosive freshman season with a 3.29 ERA and 5-1 record, and Jacob Palisch, who similarly dominated as a freshman with a 1.72 ERA and a 4-1 record.
3. Mississippi State– This will only make sense if Chris Lemonis is able to pick up where interim head coach Gary Henderson left off. The Bulldogs were one of the most intriguing teams in baseball last season. They started the year by getting swept and with head coach Andy Canizaro leaving the program amidst a reported sex scandal. By the end of March, Mississippi State was 14-15. The Bulldogs then went 25-14 down the stretch and all the way into Omaha. In the regular season, MSU was 9-1 against top 5 ranked foes. The Bulldogs are bringing back key senior leaders in Cole Gordon, Jake Mangum, and Elijah MacNamee. Plus Ethan Small, one of the SEC’s best pitchers, returns this year. They could be dangerous in 2019 as long as things work out with Lemonis.

Final thoughts:

Playing in the SEC is going to be a difficult task for just about anyone and everyone involved yet again. The SEC had three teams make it into the 2018 College World Series with Florida, Mississippi State, and Arkansas being three of the final four teams playing for the national title.

And all three of those teams are ranked, with several others from the conference making appearances on this list as well. Vanderbilt sits at the top, LSU is at No. 2, Florida is ranked at No. 6, Georgia at No. 9, Ole Miss at No. 10, Mississippi State at No. 14, Arkansas at No. 16, and then Auburn at No. 22.

On the note of last season’s College World Series, almost every single team from last year’s bunch in Omaha made it into this preseason ranking. Washington was the only team left out, which makes some sense given that the Huskies don’t have a ton of college baseball history and last season was their best in program history.

It’ll be hard for them to repeat having that level of success as Washington continues to build its program. That level of success may not be sustainable for the Huskies just yet the way that it is for teams such as Oregon State, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Texas Tech and Texas.