2020 Preseason College Top 25 Podcast
Image credit: Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
On this episode of the Baseball America College Podcast, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy discuss the preseason top 25 rankings, led by defending national champion Vanderbilt in the No. 1 spot.
A top five featuring a mix of modern powers like Vanderbilt, Louisville and Florida, and historical powers like Arizona State and Miami bodes well for an exciting year in college baseball.
The initial rankings also serve to highlight some general themes across the country.
Powered by RedCircle
The SEC dominates the top of the list, with all seven teams in the top 25 being among the top 14. The SEC East boasts three of the top seven, while the four SEC West teams are all clustered between No. 9 and No. 14.
The conference that shows the most depth is the ACC, which leads all conferences with eight teams in our initial top 25, plus Virginia, which missed out, but was heavily in the discussion to be included. It would not be a surprise if the league had 11 or 12 teams with legitimate regional hopes at various points of the 2020 season.
The Big 12’s place in the top 25 paints a picture of a league that suffered a bit of a talent drain due to the draft last year, and as a result, might be jumbled and tough to predict this time around. The rankings reflect Texas Tech as a favorite in the league, but in reality, all of the top six teams in the league could plausibly finish anywhere from one to six.
With three teams in the top 25, the Pac-12 has as many as the Big 12, highlighted by Arizona State coming in at No. 3. Because Stanford and Oregon State are likely to take a step back this season, the conference might not be as deep, but in ASU and UCLA, it has two preseason top-ten teams with high ceilings.
The Big Ten is also a multi-team league in the top 25, with Michigan in at No. 8 and Ohio State at No. 24. If those two teams really do end up being the two best teams in the conference, the rivalry series between the two in April will be the series of the year in the Midwest.
Comments are closed.