Baseball America College Pod: Breaking Down Recruiting Rankings

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On this episode of the Baseball America College Podcast, presented by MyBookie and Rapsodo, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy break down the newly-released recruiting rankings.

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Miami, after coming in seventh in the pre-draft version of the recruiting rankings, boasts the top class in the final rankings, and that is notable on its own, as it’s the first time in a long time that the recruiting rankings are not topped by an SEC team. The Hurricanes were big winners coming out of the MLB Draft, as they had three top-100 commits that went undrafted in righthanders Victor Mederos and Alejandro Rosario and shortstop Yohandy Morales. 

Louisiana State comes in at No. 2, Vanderbilt follows at No. 3 and Arizona is No. 4, its highest-ranked recruiting class ever. The Wildcats did lose Nick Yorke from the class after he was selected by the Red Sox in the first round, but it’s still a standout group coming to campus, led by catcher Daniel Susac, who could step in behind the plate right away. 

Florida checks in at No. 5 in the rankings, continuing its streak of outstanding classes. In a class this talented, some recruits will undoubtedly have roles on the team right away, but it will be tough to find that playing time on this particular Gators roster, with just about everyone from the 2020 team back to reprise their roles. 

Overall, uncertainty is still the word of the day in college baseball, and that will be expressed in what we see from these recruiting classes. With college rosters already packed with returning players who normally would have moved on after the 2020 season, how many freshmen will break through and how many will be forced to wait a year or two before taking on starring roles? Furthermore, how many of the players in these classes will still be at their original school at the end of 2021, given that they might be looking for playing time that may have been hard to come by in year one?

At the same time, these recruiting classes also provide another jolt of optimism for fans of teams that expect to compete for a national title, and it will be exciting to see which players prove that optimism to be well-founded in the end.