The 2025 college baseball season is officially here! With over 4,000 games across ESPN platforms, there will be no shortage of action.
Tennessee will begin its quest to repeat as national champion and enters the season ranked No. 4, but with the SEC having won six of the past seven titles (five other SEC teams rank in the preseason top 10), it could really be anyone's game this year.
From heated rivalry drama in Texas-Texas A&M, to a new ACC tournament, to a high school sensation from Japan, here's everything our college baseball experts are excited to watch this upcoming season.
Jump to:
Most excited about | Teams to watch
Under-the-radar squads | POY picks
Newcomers to watch | MCWS predictions
What are you most looking forward to this season?
Chris Burke: Can Mike Earley lead the Aggies back to Omaha as a first-year head coach? There was a lot of drama that went down in Aggie-land after the season concluded last year. Yes, they were one win away from a natty, but then their head coach, Jim Schlossnagle, left for their arch rival Texas. After their coaching search took a couple turns, they actually hired their former hitting coach, who had briefly gone to Texas with Schlossnagle, back a few days later to be their guy. I know, it's a lot. Ha! Anyway, the Aggies are the consensus preseason No. 1 and are loaded either way with experienced talent. It will be fascinating to watch a young first-time skipper navigate this ride.
Mike Rooney: The Southeastern Conference is on a heater in baseball. SEC programs have won six of the past seven national titles in baseball. And this has not been a one-team dynasty ... six different SEC programs have been crowned during this run. Over the past four seasons, seven of the eight teams in the Men's College World Series finals have come from the Southeastern Conference. Yikes. The 2025 preseason All-America teams reflect tremendous strength in the ACC, but that said, the SEC went 5-0 versus that league in Omaha last June. Until further notice, the SEC runs college baseball.
Ryan McGee: I know the season is just now starting and thus the postseason is months away, but I can't wait to see this just-announced ACC tournament format. All 16 teams, single elimination, no pool play. Where I'm from, we call that a Bunkhouse Stampede.
David Dellucci: As I'm typing this answer, the official 2024 Division I NCAA baseball record book has not been published, but presumably the total number of home runs hit was a record-breaking 19,539. That total eclipsed the previous record of 19,009 hit in 2023, which toppled the 2022 season totals at 16,987. See a pattern here? This is great for the fans who dig the long ball. But for those who enjoy low-scoring pitching duels, I'd recommend finding some footage from 2014, when the total number of home runs was 6,446. I'm looking forward to the conversations regarding the offensive state of our sport, and although I rarely side with pitchers (wink wink), I side with fellow ESPN college baseball analyst Big Ben McDonald in that jam-shot home runs are not good for the game.
Which teams should we be watching?
Burke: The top five of the SEC is loaded again. Wouldn't surprise me at all if the champ comes from the list of A&M, LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas or Florida. That said, don't sleep on Oregon State. They have two first-round prospects in 3B Trent Caraway and 2B Aiva Arquette. The Beavers are definitely in it for the long haul.
Rooney: Texas A&M could best be described as uber-talented and extremely motivated. 6-foot-6 center fielder Jace LaViolette could be the first pick in the MLB draft. Ace Ryan Prager is back for another season in College Station despite being a fourth-round pick of the Los Angeles Angels last July. Third baseman Gavin Grahovac earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2024, and transfer Wyatt Henseler (Penn) is the Ivy League's home run king. Regarding the motivation, the Aggies didn't like losing their coach to archrival Texas. If you're looking for slightly better paying odds, four Virginia players earned preseason All-America honors, and the Cavaliers have been to the MCWS in three of the past four seasons.
McGee: This feels like the year that the "How have they never won it all?" teams might finally break through. A&M, Arkansas, UNC, always good, but have somehow never dogpiled. Maybe Tennessee paved that road for everyone else.
Dellucci: Mark your calendars for April 25, because the Lone Star Showdown between Texas and Texas A&M will have many more watching than just The Eyes Of Texas. That rivalry hit overdrive when Schlossnagle and staff, minus Earley, left shortly after leading A&M to the final game of the 2024 MCWS. Can Schloss achieve instant success and lead the Longhorns to the MCWS in Year 1 like he did at A&M?
Elsewhere in the SEC, after recent years of regional and MCWS appearances, Auburn posted an 8-22 conference record in 2024, with eight of those losses by one run. In conference play, the Tigers were last in ERA (they were second to last in the conference overall for the entire season), giving up the most hits, highest number of runs and tying for the lead in home runs allowed. Any improvements on the pitching mound will take pressure off of a talented offense and put them back in the post season conversations. Any improvements in the pitching performance will take pressure off a talented offense and put the team back in the postseason conversations.
Which under-the-radar teams should we keep tabs on?
Burke: Dallas Baptist. Dan Heefner's club is always knocking on the door to Omaha, and this year will be no different. It returns some talented players from a team that went 45-15 a year ago. An interesting name to watch is Luke Pettitte, son of MLB legend Andy Pettitte. Luke was the CUSA freshman of the year in '24, and all indications are he is ready to take another step.
Rooney: The Kansas Jayhawks made a late push for an NCAA tournament bid in 2024. Dan Fitzgerald's squad played deep into the Big 12 tournament and finished the year with 17 conference victories. A few early-season stumbles compromised their postseason résumé, but there is clear momentum in this program. The lineup is rich with college baseball experience. Seniors Michael Brooks and Brady Counsell will anchor what should be a productive group. And ace Dominic Voegele was named preseason pitcher of the year for the league. An old team with an ace sure seems like a solid bet.
McGee: How about that Trojan Horse rolling out of south-central Alabama? I'm old enough to remember when the Troy Trojans were a Division II baseball machine. This team is loaded with lefties on the mound and should be the Sun Belt favorites, so I have my eye on them.
Dellucci: Southern Miss often gets overlooked because of the success accomplished by other baseball programs in the state of Mississippi. Nevertheless, the Golden Eagles continue to get ever so close to reaching Omaha. Southern Miss was eliminated from the postseason two of the past three years by eventual national champion Tennessee in 2024 and Ole Miss in 2022, and it just missed the MCWS in 2023, losing in the Hattiesburg Super Regional. This year, the Golden Eagles are picked to win the Sun Belt Conference, and they feature a roster that might finally get them over the hump. Could Southern Miss become the third baseball team from the Magnolia State in the past five seasons to win the national championship?
Who are your early player-of-the-year picks?
Burke: Player of the year is tough to figure out, but just for fun I'm going to go a little outside the box and take Jared "Bear" Jones from LSU. First of all, he has one of the greatest nicknames in our sport, but secondly he is a legit 30+ homer threat. With the ball flying out the way it has in recent seasons, it wouldn't shock me if Bear hit 35 homers this year and takes home the Golden Spikes.
Rooney: Cam Cannarella is the heartbeat of the Clemson Tigers. His Willie Mays game-saving catch in the super regional versus Florida became a signature moment, but the wiry strong junior has been taking over games for two years now. Cannarella is a 6-foot, 175-pound left-handed hitter who plays with supreme confidence and swagger. And his ability to thrive in the most intense situations is uncanny. Cannarella enters his junior season with a .366 batting average and a 1.000 OPS. A fitting end to his Clemson career would be the Tigers' first trip to Omaha since 2010.
McGee: Jamie Arnold of Florida State was the only guy to appear on every single Golden Spikes Award preseason ballot, and he should have been. However, I am obsessed with Caden Bodine out of Coastal Carolina. Is it because he is a switch-hitting catcher? Yes. But is it also because his name makes him sound like a NASCAR driver from the 1980s? Even more, yes.
Dellucci: LaViolette is a monster literally and figuratively. At 6-6, 230 pounds, he fills up the batter's box and swings with the aggression that gives most pitchers nightmares. LaViolette's freshman debut of hitting .287/21 HR/63 RBI was followed with a .305/29 HR/78 RBI slash line in 2024. The big man can hit, steal bases and cover serious ground in the outfield. With two seasons under his belt and batting in the middle of a star-studded Texas A&M lineup, I predict even scarier numbers in 2025.
Which newcomers are you excited to watch?
Burke: 1B Rintaro Sasaki at Stanford. Sasaki might become the most famous name in college baseball this year. The high-profile slugger from Japan has the chance to be the freshman of the year and carry the Cardinal back to the postseason. Keep your eyes on this dude.
How will freshman @StanfordBSB Rintaro Sasaki do this season? 🤔pic.twitter.com/Nq0bdfwP8Q
— Prospect Dugout (@prospectdugout) February 11, 2025
Rooney: 6-foot-6 lefthanders with arm strength are hard to get to campus. The MLB draft tends to like those guys after all. Ethan Lund is the projected Saturday starter for Oklahoma State, and he is that profile to a tee. The freshman from Fishers, Indiana, works comfortably in the 93-95 mph range, and his low-80s slider shows flashes of being an out pitch. The Cowboys, who will be looking to host a regional for the fourth consecutive season, must replace their entire weekend rotation in 2025. Lund's extreme arm talent arrived in Stillwater just in time.
McGee: I will also say Lund at Oklahoma State, because he's great, but also because I can't yet say Ethan Holliday at Oklahoma State.
Dellucci: Pardon my two shameless alma mater plugs. Freshman William Schmidt is slated to be a major bullpen piece for LSU. Schmidt is a product of the 2024 Catholic High of Baton Rouge national champion baseball team. (Go Bears! plug #1). He possesses the arm strength and poise to consistently pitch with a fastball up in the zone at 98 mph, then counter with a curve ball that features a spin rate of 3000 rpm, 500 rpm over the MLB average. Additionally, Andrew Fischer put up solid power numbers for Duke in 2023 with 11 dingers and slugged 20 homers in 2024 with Ole Miss. (Hotty Toddy! plug #2). Now batting in a super talented Tennessee Volunteer lineup at hitter friendly Lindsey Nelson Stadium, I expect Fisher to exceed his previous slugging numbers.
Give us your way-too-early MCWS prediction
Burke: MCWS predictions: 4 SEC teams, 3 ACC teams and Oregon state.
Rooney: Six different SEC teams have won the national title since 2017. Do I hear seven? The Arkansas Razorbacks would love to make it so, and head coach Dave Van Horn has a team with that kind of upside. The pitching staff, led by electric righthander Gabe Gaeckle, is deep and it is nasty. Of course, that has been the case for nearly a decade in Fayetteville. The separator in 2025 will be an offense that is a year older and has added skill. Shortstop Wehiwa Aloy is giving breakout star vibes and Australian third baseman Brent Iredale raked all fall. Let's complete this redemption story by having the Razorbacks defeat Oregon State for the national title.
McGee: Aggies win a revenge matchup vs. Tennessee. (As I typed that I had to dodge my Tennessee alumni award being thrown across the room at me by my Knoxville-raised wife.)
Dellucci: North Carolina vs LSU. The 2025 MCWS championship series will be a rematch from last season's Chapel Hill Regional. In 2024, UNC second baseman Alex Madera ended the Tigers' dream of winning back-to-back national titles with a decisive go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 10th. This will be the year that LSU's second baseman Steven Milam returns the favor.