2026 College Baseball Preseason Top 25

Less than 40 days separate us from the glorious return of college baseball.

With Opening Day quickly approaching, the crew at College Baseball Now refreshed our Preseason 2026 College Baseball Top 25, and we’re excited to present it to you.

Right off the bat, a few trends stand out—chief among them, the SEC’s continued grip on the sport. Nine teams (36%) of our Top 25 represent the Southeastern Conference, including four of the Top Five. Defending national champion LSU justifiably sits at Number 1, but fellow powerhouses Arkansas and Tennessee, alongside transfer-loaded squads Texas and Georgia, firmly occupy the sport’s upper echelon in our rankings.

Representation and reputation precede the Southeastern Conference nowadays, though, and this naturally places a target on SEC programs, particularly in early-season tournaments and midweek matchups. With expectations so high, the margin for error is razor thin—conference game or not.

While the SEC leads the way, the ACC’s depth here is undeniable, with seven teams (28%) appearing in our Top 25. Still though, conference pedigree alone no longer guarantees credibility or ranking, and mid-major standouts UC Santa Barbara and reigning CWS finalist Coastal Carolina are proof of it. Talent is more widely distributed than ever, and the modern landscape reflects this spread across the nation.

Postseason performance also weighed heavily in our evaluations. Beyond LSU’s Omaha triumph and Coastal’s stinging defeat, teams like Louisville, Oregon State, Coastal Carolina, and UCLA—all 2025 College World Series participants—are represented. Others, including Florida State, Auburn, North Carolina, and Tennessee, return with recent Super Regional experience still fresh. As a group, we aimed to look beyond pure MLB Draft upside, instead focusing on how programs handled the postseason grind and how much of their core returns in 2026.

As with any rankings, there will be questions abound; predictably, some will wonder where their favorite teams fell in our mix…

Oklahoma got four votes and Josh ranked them 23rd. NC State also had four votes, with JB having the Wolfpack highest at 21. Troy got love from all four of us, Josh had them highest at 25. Two of our four rankers – Josh and JB – had the Miami Hurricanes ranked 27th, though all four gave them a nod. I had Arizona ranked 27th and all four of us voted for them in some regard. Meanwhile, I also gave my 29th spot to Stanford. (Cardinal fans, remember who loves you.)

We hope you enjoy our preseason rankings. Let us know which spot surprised you most or where your favorite team landed in the comments or by reaching out to the gang on X.

Rank	Team	Conference	Head Coach	2025 Finish	2025 Record
1	LSU	SEC	Jay Johnson	College World Series Champion	53-15
2	Texas	SEC	Jim Schlossnagle	Austin Regional Finals	44-14
3	UCLA	Big 10	John Savage	College World Series	48-18
4	Arkansas	SEC	Dave Van Horn	College World Series	50-15
5	Tennessee	SEC	Josh Elander	Fayetteville Super Regional	46-19
6	Georgia	SEC	Wes Johnson	Athens Regional	43-17
7	Florida State	ACC	Link Jarrett	Corvallis Super Regional	42-16
8	TCU	Big 12	Kirk Sarloos	Corvallis Regional	39-20
9	North Carolina	ACC	Scott Forbes	Chapel Hill Super Regional	46-15
10	Texas A&M	SEC	Michael Earley	SEC Tournament - Round 3	30-26
11	Florida	SEC	Kevin O'Sullivan	Conway Regional	39-22
12	Georgia Tech	ACC	James Ramsey	Oxford Regional	41-19
13	Mississippi State	SEC	Brian O'Connor	Tallahassee Regional Finals	36-23
14	Virginia	ACC	Chris Pollard	ACC Tournament - Round 2	32-18
15	Auburn	SEC	Butch Thompson	Auburn Super Regional	41-20
16	Vanderbilt	SEC	Tim Corbin	Nashville Regional	43-18
17	Clemson	ACC	Erik Bakich	Clemson Regional	45-18
18	Louisville	ACC	Dan McDonnell	College World Series	40-22
19	Oregon State	Independent	Mitch Canham	College World Series	48-16-1
20	Oregon	Big 10	Mark Wasikowski	Eugene Regional	42-16
21	Oklahoma State	Big 12	Josh Holliday	Athens Regional Finals	30-25
22	Arizona State	Big 12	Willie Bloomquist	Los Angeles Regional	36-24
23	Wake Forest	ACC	Tom Walter	Knoxville Regional Finals	39-22
24	Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	Kevin Schnall	College World Series Finals	56-13
25	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	Andrew Checketts	Big West Tournament - Round 1	36-18

Want more of our draft team's insane work from the off-season? Here's a few examples of what all you can find at Prospects Live pertaining to College Baseball and the MLB Draft!