NCAA Baseball Top 25 Rankings Chat (3/29/21)

Image credit: Tennessee 2B Max Ferguson (Photo courtesy of Tennessee Athletic Communications)

Teddy Cahill: Welcome to this week’s college baseball chat. It was a great weekend around the sport and there’s plenty to talk about. Let’s get to it.

RICK (Georgia):

 Which is the real Gamecock team….the one swept by Texas or the one who just swept Florida?

Teddy Cahill: I don’t think there’s a night and day difference between those versions of the Gamecocks. One was on the road, playing in a ballpark that’s difficult to hit in. The other had home-field advantage and did a better job offensively. I’m inclined to say South Carolina is closer to the version it showed this weekend against Florida. With powerful, veteran hitters like Wes Clarke and Andrew Eyster in the lineup, South Carolina should be better than the six runs it scored at Texas. I also think it would be understandable if South Carolina simply grew from the experience it got the last two weeks at Texas and Vanderbilt.

Tim (SLC):

 What happened to Minnesota? So consistent for so long, and this year, they have just gotten pounded.

Teddy Cahill: A lot has gone wrong for Minnesota. Most obviously, the pitching has had a terrible start to the season. J.P. Massey was expected to follow in Max Meyer’s footsteps (which was always a bit optimistic, given that he hadn’t yet broken out) and he’s instead continued to struggle with his control. The Gophers just haven’t been able to find enough consistent arms to get outs this season. And, offensively, Zack Raabe has been the lone bright spot. Did the lost season hit them harder because of the lost developmental time? Did they just miss on a recruiting class or two? Is this just a rough first month? It’s probably a combination of all of that and more. It is jarring to see Minnesota at 3-12, especially because it is the one team in the Big Ten that hasn’t had to travel yet.

Keegan (Nebraska):

 Is this the year that a conference will put 11 teams in the tournament? Does the Ivy League giving up its bid make a difference?

Teddy Cahill: At the start of every year, I think this is the year that the SEC will do it. Or, in this case, either the ACC or SEC. I have yet to be right. And I don’t think we’re trending that way in 2021, either. Yes, there are a few more bids up for grabs. The Ivy won’t have an auto bid. The American and Big Ten don’t look like they’ll eat up as many as they usually do. But, to offset that, the Pac-12 looks deeper than it has been in recent seasons. Both the ACC and SEC look like they’ll grab 9-10 bids, rather than one slipping down to 7 or 8. Conference USA and the Missouri Valley are stronger than usual. So, I’m a little down on the idea right now. But this weekend showed that the SEC may not be as stratified as I thought. Kentucky already has five SEC wins (albeit against two teams that I think are going to finish in or near the cellar). Texas A&M rebounded well after getting swept at Florida. Maybe that continues and the likes of LSU, Georgia and Alabama (which have all lost two series to open SEC play) get back on track. Meanwhile, in the ACC, it looks like a large swath of the league is trending toward .500. Maybe that’s viewed really positively by the committee. But I think the safer bet is that the ACC and SEC max out at 10 bids again this season.

Jackson (Arizona):

 How high would an Arizona sweep of ASU this weekend vault them?

Teddy Cahill: It’s important to remember that these results don’t happen in a vacuum. There’s only one series this week between top-15 teams. What if everyone ranked ahead of Arizona (except in that Ole Miss-Florida series) wins? Arizona’s not going to move as much in that scenario as if six top-10 teams lose series this weekend. That said, a sweep of Arizona State would be a loud result. I think the Sun Devils are a pretty good team even though we don’t have them ranked in the Top 25. More importantly, a sweep would indicate that Arizona has found some sort of answer on the mound for Game 3s. Over the last two weeks, UCLA and Oregon have crushed Arizona in the second half of the series finale. Finding an answer for the last 5-7 innings of a series is critical for the Wildcats going forward.

Karl of Delaware (Georgetown, Delaware):

 Of the new top 25 college teams, which one of them will have the most players drafted in this years major league draft? the most in the first and second round only?

Teddy Cahill: Well, Louisiana Tech was the only team to enter the Top 25 this week, so I’ll assume we don’t mean new in a terribly literal sense. Of the teams that weren’t in the Preseason Top 25 but are now ranked, I’d say UNC probably has the most high-end talent. Justice Thompson has really impressed early, Danny Serratti is still a solid prospect and Austin Love is doing well, too. Notre Dame and Virginia Tech have solid draft talent, most notably Niko Kavadas at ND.

Wheymen (Fargo, ND):

 How many teams from the Big Ten make a regional? And who looks like the front runner in the conference thus far?

Teddy Cahill: We had three in our first in-season Projected Field of 64 and that’s my expectation for how it goes, plus or minus one. Michigan’s been our favorite all season long, I don’t see a reason to jump off that yet. The leading challengers look to be Indiana and Nebraska. I actually expect this to be a pretty interesting Big Ten title race.

Teddy Cahill: Thanks to everyone for their questions today. We’ll be back next week for more after hopefully another great week of action.