The windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror. 2025 was fun but there’s been so many coaching changes, transfers, and new freshmen arriving on campus since the season concluded. This set of College Baseball rankings attempts to take that all into account. There are bound to be changes made, so that’s why this is the ‘Way Too Early Top 5.’
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Coach Jim Schlossnagle’s bunch was picked 8th in the SEC during the 2025 preseason. We all know what happened next: a historic league start (18-2) that led to a SEC Regular season championship.
Schlossnagle inked his contract after the 2024 College World Series. Therefore he had a late start in the Transfer Portal and kept a lot of the players he inherited from the previous regime.
That is not meant to be a slight because obviously they won a conference title. But the ‘25 Longhorns could be ranked near the bottom of the list when it comes to raw talent on Texas teams coached by Schloss.
Texas’ pitching staff has the highest floor in the country in 2026. The Longhorns notably return Luke Harrison (3.06 ERA), Dylan Volantis (1.94), Max Grubbs (2.84), Ruger Riojas (5.61), and Thomas Burns (3.71 ERA).
Harrison/Volantis/Grubbs will be a super consistent weekend rotation. I assume Riojas will slip back into a leverage bullpen role where he excelled in ‘25. Burns and lefthanded Wake Forest transfer, Hayden Leffew (4.46, 59 K, 18 BB, 34.1 IP), will round out the back end.
On the offensive side Max Belyeu, Rylan Galvan, Jalin Flores, and Kimble Schuessler departed after building a solid foundation for Schloss. Will Gasparino, a regular starter in the outfield, transferred as well.
Ethan Mendoza (.333 AVG, .913 OPS, 53 R) and Adrian Rodriguez (.313, .926) are the remaining pillars in the lineup. Impact incoming transfers are Carson Tinney (Notre Dame, C: .348, 1.251), Aiden Robbins (Seton Hall, OF: .422, 1.289), Josh Livingston (Wichita State, 1B: .283, .955, 15 HR), and Temo Beccera (Stanford, SS: .330/.811).
For my money Tinney was the best catcher in the portal. Tinney was a monster offensively in the second half and the Fighting Irish pitching staff vastly overperformed expectations. Robbins led qualified Cape Cod League hitters in both average (.307) and OPS (.936).
LSU TIGERS
This team finished 2025 on a tear, making all the right plays and coming up with all the big hits. Coach Jay Johnson lost a lot of production from their National Championship team.
Superb SP duo Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson are gone along with Jared Jones, Ethan Frey, Luis Hernandez, Daniel Dickinson, and Michael Braswell. The MLB Draft even sniped a handful of their top incoming Freshmen. But Coach Johnson and his staff were prepared.
After this first day of the MLB Draft some of the transfer portal commits started to trickle in for LSU. Guys like Trent Caraway (Oregon State, 3B: .267, .820), Zach Yorke (Grand Canyon, 1B: .339, 1.079), Seth Dardar (Kansas State, 1B: .326, 1.065), and Brayden Simpson (High Point, 3B: .389, 1.250, 22 HR, 77 RBI, 75 R) all project to make 200+ plate appearances in the same lineup as Derek Curiel (.345, .990) and Steven Milam (.295, .904) in Baton Rouge.
LSU will rely on it’s pitching development to make up the Weekend Rotation. Casan Evans (2.05) projects to be an Ace after breaking out in the second half of 2025.
The remaining four contenders for the final two weekend roles should be: Zac Cowan (2.94), William Schmidt (4.73), Jaden Noot (4.13), and transfer Cooper Moore (Kansas: 3.94).
UCLA BRUINS
Coach John Savage has a 2026 roster that returns eight starting position players and a big chunk of innings pitched from the ‘25 College World Series squad. The notable losses are AJ Salgado, Michael Barnett, Cody Delvecchio, Ian May, and Luke Rodriguez.
Shortstop Roch Cholowsky enters 2026 as the No. 1 college prospect for the MLB Draft. Chowlowsky plays great defense and tallied 23 homers, with a .353 average, 1.190 OPS, 80 runs, and 74 RBI. It will be hard for Cholowsky to top his ‘25 campaign but UCLA’s entire infield returns with the stud shortstop.
Third baseman Roman Martin (.316, .952) was unconscious in the NCAA Tournament. Mulivai Levu (.320, .911) and Phoenix Call (.256, .691) round out the right side of the defense. Last year Cashel Dugger (.279, .781) was solid behind the plate for a young pitching staff too.
Texas transfer Will Gasparino (.242, .851, 13 HR) joins an outfield that will be patrolled by Dean West (.320, .895) and Payton Brennan (.303, .868). Gasparino’s pops is Billy Gasparino, the Vice President of Baseball Operations with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
I’ve seen Will play in-person for five games and he’s been unbelievable in all of them. But obviously it wasn’t a memorable Sophomore season for the Harvard-Westlake grad, maybe being closer to home for his draft year will help him put together a great full season.
Landon Stump (5.02) will most likely begin 2026 as the Friday Night starter. Behind Stump, Wylan Moss (2.98), San Diego transfer Logan Reddeman (2.29), Easton Hawk (4.50), and talented Freshman Angel Cervantes will all pitch meaningful innings for the Bruins too.
TCU HORNED FROGS
Coach Kirk Saarloos’ 2026 bunch has continuity and star power. TCU brings back six starters in the lineup and eight of their top 10 arms in ‘25 innings pitched.
Sawyer Strosnider took the world by storm in his first season getting named NCBWA Freshman Hitter of the Year. Strosnider (.350, 1.070) is draft eligible after this season so it is Omaha or bust for this Horned Frogs bunch.
If TCU gets to Omaha, Ace Tommy LaPour (3.09) will play a gigantic role. LaPour is an energetic unit that dominates hitters with his high-90s fastball.
Mason Brassfield (4.09), Louis Rodriguez (3.19), Nate Stern (1.35), Kade Eudy (3.75), and Trever Baumler (6.39) will patch together the bulk of other meaningful innings during the weekend.
Cole Cramer, Chase Brunson, Noah Franco, and Nolan Traeger all hit over .300 with above an .850 OPS. They create a solid core of players to support Strosnider. One last name to watch is Lucas Franco (no relation to Noah) who could be the starting shortstop and one of the country's best freshman in ‘26.
AUBURN TIGERS
Auburn loses a superstar in Ike Irish and a stalwart in Cooper McMurray. With that said, last season always felt like the Tigers were one year away.
That year is 2026, promising freshmen Chris Rembert, Bub Terrell, Chase Fralick, Christian Chatterton, Andreas Alvarez, and Connor Gatwood all enter their second season with the program. How far into the NCAA Tournament Auburn goes depends on whether these sophomores step into stardom or slumps.
Coach Butch Thompson raised his squad’s floor significantly by filling in some of the pitching staff’s holes. Drew Whalen (Western Kentucky: 3.53) and Jake Marciano (Virginia Tech: 6.08) come in and will most likely assume starting roles.
In 2025 Whalen was Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. Marciano punched out 71 with only 18 free passes in 14 starts as a freshman southpaw in the ACC. These are better transfer additions than, for example, Cade Fisher who came to Auburn after being relegated to Florida’s bullpen. That's why I'm much higher on this year's Tigers than I was last year's team.
The windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror. 2025 was fun but there’s been so many coaching changes, transfers, and new freshmen arriving on campus since the season concluded. This set of College Baseball rankings attempts to take that all into account. There are bound to be changes made, so that’s why this is the ‘Way Too Early Top 5.’
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Coach Jim Schlossnagle’s bunch was picked 8th in the SEC during the 2025 preseason. We all know what happened next: a historic league start (18-2) that led to a SEC Regular season championship.
Schlossnagle inked his contract after the 2024 College World Series. Therefore he had a late start in the Transfer Portal and kept a lot of the players he inherited from the previous regime.
That is not meant to be a slight because obviously they won a conference title. But the ‘25 Longhorns could be ranked near the bottom of the list when it comes to raw talent on Texas teams coached by Schloss.
Texas’ pitching staff has the highest floor in the country in 2026. The Longhorns notably return Luke Harrison (3.06 ERA), Dylan Volantis (1.94), Max Grubbs (2.84), Ruger Riojas (5.61), and Thomas Burns (3.71 ERA).
Harrison/Volantis/Grubbs will be a super consistent weekend rotation. I assume Riojas will slip back into a leverage bullpen role where he excelled in ‘25. Burns and lefthanded Wake Forest transfer, Hayden Leffew (4.46, 59 K, 18 BB, 34.1 IP), will round out the back end.
On the offensive side Max Belyeu, Rylan Galvan, Jalin Flores, and Kimble Schuessler departed after building a solid foundation for Schloss. Will Gasparino, a regular starter in the outfield, transferred as well.
Ethan Mendoza (.333 AVG, .913 OPS, 53 R) and Adrian Rodriguez (.313, .926) are the remaining pillars in the lineup. Impact incoming transfers are Carson Tinney (Notre Dame, C: .348, 1.251), Aiden Robbins (Seton Hall, OF: .422, 1.289), Josh Livingston (Wichita State, 1B: .283, .955, 15 HR), and Temo Beccera (Stanford, SS: .330/.811).
For my money Tinney was the best catcher in the portal. Tinney was a monster offensively in the second half and the Fighting Irish pitching staff vastly overperformed expectations. Robbins led qualified Cape Cod League hitters in both average (.307) and OPS (.936).
LSU TIGERS
This team finished 2025 on a tear, making all the right plays and coming up with all the big hits. Coach Jay Johnson lost a lot of production from their National Championship team.
Superb SP duo Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson are gone along with Jared Jones, Ethan Frey, Luis Hernandez, Daniel Dickinson, and Michael Braswell. The MLB Draft even sniped a handful of their top incoming Freshmen. But Coach Johnson and his staff were prepared.
After this first day of the MLB Draft some of the transfer portal commits started to trickle in for LSU. Guys like Trent Caraway (Oregon State, 3B: .267, .820), Zach Yorke (Grand Canyon, 1B: .339, 1.079), Seth Dardar (Kansas State, 1B: .326, 1.065), and Brayden Simpson (High Point, 3B: .389, 1.250, 22 HR, 77 RBI, 75 R) all project to make 200+ plate appearances in the same lineup as Derek Curiel (.345, .990) and Steven Milam (.295, .904) in Baton Rouge.
LSU will rely on it’s pitching development to make up the Weekend Rotation. Casan Evans (2.05) projects to be an Ace after breaking out in the second half of 2025.
The remaining four contenders for the final two weekend roles should be: Zac Cowan (2.94), William Schmidt (4.73), Jaden Noot (4.13), and transfer Cooper Moore (Kansas: 3.94).
UCLA BRUINS
Coach John Savage has a 2026 roster that returns eight starting position players and a big chunk of innings pitched from the ‘25 College World Series squad. The notable losses are AJ Salgado, Michael Barnett, Cody Delvecchio, Ian May, and Luke Rodriguez.
Shortstop Roch Cholowsky enters 2026 as the No. 1 college prospect for the MLB Draft. Chowlowsky plays great defense and tallied 23 homers, with a .353 average, 1.190 OPS, 80 runs, and 74 RBI. It will be hard for Cholowsky to top his ‘25 campaign but UCLA’s entire infield returns with the stud shortstop.
Third baseman Roman Martin (.316, .952) was unconscious in the NCAA Tournament. Mulivai Levu (.320, .911) and Phoenix Call (.256, .691) round out the right side of the defense. Last year Cashel Dugger (.279, .781) was solid behind the plate for a young pitching staff too.
Texas transfer Will Gasparino (.242, .851, 13 HR) joins an outfield that will be patrolled by Dean West (.320, .895) and Payton Brennan (.303, .868). Gasparino’s pops is Billy Gasparino, the Vice President of Baseball Operations with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
I’ve seen Will play in-person for five games and he’s been unbelievable in all of them. But obviously it wasn’t a memorable Sophomore season for the Harvard-Westlake grad, maybe being closer to home for his draft year will help him put together a great full season.
Landon Stump (5.02) will most likely begin 2026 as the Friday Night starter. Behind Stump, Wylan Moss (2.98), San Diego transfer Logan Reddeman (2.29), Easton Hawk (4.50), and talented Freshman Angel Cervantes will all pitch meaningful innings for the Bruins too.
TCU HORNED FROGS
Coach Kirk Saarloos’ 2026 bunch has continuity and star power. TCU brings back six starters in the lineup and eight of their top 10 arms in ‘25 innings pitched.
Sawyer Strosnider took the world by storm in his first season getting named NCBWA Freshman Hitter of the Year. Strosnider (.350, 1.070) is draft eligible after this season so it is Omaha or bust for this Horned Frogs bunch.
If TCU gets to Omaha, Ace Tommy LaPour (3.09) will play a gigantic role. LaPour is an energetic unit that dominates hitters with his high-90s fastball.
Mason Brassfield (4.09), Louis Rodriguez (3.19), Nate Stern (1.35), Kade Eudy (3.75), and Trever Baumler (6.39) will patch together the bulk of other meaningful innings during the weekend.
Cole Cramer, Chase Brunson, Noah Franco, and Nolan Traeger all hit over .300 with above an .850 OPS. They create a solid core of players to support Strosnider. One last name to watch is Lucas Franco (no relation to Noah) who could be the starting shortstop and one of the country's best freshman in ‘26.
AUBURN TIGERS
Auburn loses a superstar in Ike Irish and a stalwart in Cooper McMurray. With that said, last season always felt like the Tigers were one year away.
That year is 2026, promising freshmen Chris Rembert, Bub Terrell, Chase Fralick, Christian Chatterton, Andreas Alvarez, and Connor Gatwood all enter their second season with the program. How far into the NCAA Tournament Auburn goes depends on whether these sophomores step into stardom or slumps.
Coach Butch Thompson raised his squad’s floor significantly by filling in some of the pitching staff’s holes. Drew Whalen (Western Kentucky: 3.53) and Jake Marciano (Virginia Tech: 6.08) come in and will most likely assume starting roles.
In 2025 Whalen was Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. Marciano punched out 71 with only 18 free passes in 14 starts as a freshman southpaw in the ACC. These are better transfer additions than, for example, Cade Fisher who came to Auburn after being relegated to Florida’s bullpen. That's why I'm much higher on this year's Tigers than I was last year's team.
