College Baseball: SEC Conference Preview

2024 was another banner for the sport’s best conference. Five of the top seven national seeds were from the SEC, and those Regional hosts were joined by six more SEC teams that made the NCAA Tournament as Regional 2-seeds.

#1 Tennessee, #2 Kentucky, #3 Texas A&M, and Florida all reached the College World Series. Tennessee and Texas A&M ensured it would be an all SEC affair for the National Championship again. The Vols were the first top overall seed to win the National Championship since Miami did it in 1999.

The SEC will build on their recent dominance in the College World Series as they add baseball powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma to the conference. The two programs have combined for 49 Omaha appearances and eight National Championships.

Unlike the other three Power 4 conferences, these additions won’t impact the overall travel schedule much, but it will be interesting to see how Texas and Oklahoma handle the grueling conference schedule in year one of their new home.

Let’s break down the SEC. Here’s what we will cover: 

• Teams Ranked in the Top 25
• 2024 Records   
• Preseason Award Winners
• Preseason All-Conference Team
• Projected Conference Champion
• Teams to Watch
• Top 2025 MLB Draft Prospects in the ACC
• Other 2025 MLB Draft Prospects to Watch in the ACC

Just Baseball Preseason Top 25 Teams

• #1 – Texas A&M Aggies
• #2 – Tennessee Volunteers
• #4 – LSU Tigers
• #5 – Arkansas Razorbacks
• #9 – Georgia Bulldogs
• #13 – Florida Gators
• #14 – Texas Longhorns
• #15 – Vanderbilt Commodores
• #16 – Oklahoma Sooners
• #22 – Auburn Tigers
• #24 – Alabama

2024 Records

* Indicates new to conference. The record reflects their previous conference.

Preseason Award Winners

Player of the Year: OF Jace LaViolette – Texas A&M

Pitcher of the Year: RHP Gabe Gaeckle – Arkansas

Freshman of the Year: OF Derek Curiel – LSU

Transfer of the Year: 2B Wyatt Henseler – Texas A&M

Preseason All-Conference Team

Projected Conference Champion

Texas A&M Aggies

The Aggies aren’t just our projected SEC Champion; they’re our #1 ranked preseason team and projected National Champion.

Texas A&M finished one win short of the promised last in 2024 after losing the National Championship series to Tennessee in Omaha. Days later, head coach Jim Schlossnagle to the same position at their archrival Texas. First-year head coach Michael Early inherits a team with National Championship expectations.

Ace Ryan Prager returns to lead the staff after turning down a good-sized signing bonus from the Los Angeles Angels. He was one of the best pitchers in the country last year going 9-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 104 strikeouts versus just 20 walks.

He’ll be joined by lefty Justin Lamkin and standout transfer Myles Patton. Patton comes over from Long Beach State and is similar to Prager in that he’s a soft-tossing lefty with good secondary pitches.

If there’s a weakness for this Aggie team, it may come from a bullpen that loses Evan Aschenbeck and Chris Cortez at the backend. Earley and his staff will be hoping options such as Josh Stewart and Grant Cunningham have what it takes to finish out games.

The lineup returns a core that includes potential first-overall pick Jace LaViolette, sophomore third baseman Gavin Grahovac, and shortstop Kaeden Kent. LaViolette and Grahovac combined to hit 52 home runs last season.

They’ll be joined in a power-laden lineup by transfers Matt Bergevin (Fairfield), Wyatt Henseler (Penn), and Gavin Kash (Texas Tech)– each of whom hit more than 15 bombs in 2024. Super senior Hayden Schott returns as well after slashing .339//419/.496 to complete a deep batting order that will score a ton of runs.

Teams to Watch

Tennessee Volunteers

The defending National Champions return in 2025 with a deep roster despite some key losses in their lineup and pitching staff. They’ll need to avoid the championship hangover that’s plagued the last three winners, but head coach Tony Vitello and company appear to be hungry to build a dynasty in Knoxville. An elite freshman group will get a chance to contribute early while a number of impact transfers join the roster.

The Volunteer lineup looks to be explosive again, but question marks surround the pitching staff after so much turnover. 

The entire rotation from last season is gone, so Tennessee will look to its former closer Nate Snead to lead the rotation alongside Ole Miss transfer Liam Doyle. Snead went 10-2 with a 3.11 ERA and 6 saves over 29 appearances last year while Doyle fronted an Ole Miss rotation that saw him carry a 5.73 ERA in 55 innings. Snead pitches more to contact while Doyle is a true strikeout power pitcher from the left side.

JUCO transfer Brandon Arvidson and true freshman Tegan Kuhns will be in the starting conversation as well, while Marcus Phillips takes over the bullpen ace role.  

The Vols return standout starters in center fielder Dean Curley and Hunter Ensley plus role players Reese Chapman and Dalton Bargo. Shortstop Curley is a draft-eligible sophomore coming off a strong first year where he slashed .285/.386/.502.

He’ll be joined on the infield by two dynamic transfers in former Ole Miss Rebel Andrew Fischer and former Louisville Cardinal Gavin Kilen. Fischer brings a powerful bat from Oxford where he hit 20 homers last season. Kilen enjoyed a breakout sophomore year in the ACC where he hit .330 with 35 extra base hits.

Freshman Jay Abernathy, who is projected to start in the outfield, was ranked by Perfect Game as the 32nd best prospect to make it to campus. The young outfield has game-changing speed and is a future table-setter at the top of the lineup.

LSU Tigers

After winning the National Championship in 2023, LSU experienced an up-and-down 2024 that ended with the Tigers earning the 2-seed in the Chapel Hill Regional. They took 4th overall national seed North Carolina to the wire, but that’s where their title defense ended.

An elite class of newcomers joins a slew of returners to make up one of the deepest rosters in the country. 

LSU has arguably the deepest pitching staff in the country alongside fellow SEC team Arkansas. Kade Anderson, Chase Shores, and Anthony Eyanson are the likely weekend starters and all three are day one MLB Draft prospects.

Stud freshman William Schmidt, who would probably have been drafted in the first round if he’d opted to skip school, joins a bullpen led by Gavin Guidry. Impact transfers that will be key arms in the bullpen include former Wofford star Zac Cowan, former Nicholls hurler Jacob Mayers, and former USF stud Chandler Dorsey.

The Tigers will have plenty of options in the late innings, and that kind of depth is what Omaha contenders dream of. 

Speaking of depth, LSU boasts one of the most talented and complete lineups in the country. Stud transfers Luis Hernandez (Indiana State) and Daniel Dickinson (Utah Valley) possess 20+ home run potential to pair with returning slugger Jared Jones. Dickinson also brings speed to the top of the order as does Auburn transfer Chris Stanfield.

The lineup is so deep that sophomore Ashton Larson, who hit .298/.401/.426 as an All-SEC Freshman in 2024, may not be in the starting nine. Freshmen Derek Curriel and Cade Arrambide were both ranked among the Top 5 prospects to make it to campus by Perfect Game. Curriel is projected to start in the outfield and is a National Freshman of the Year contender. 

Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas has fallen short of Omaha in three of the last four seasons.

Last year, the Razorbacks were led by an elite rotation and went 44-16 overall and 20-10 in the SEC. The fifth overall seed heading into Regionals looked destined for the Super Regionals before stunning upset losses to Kansas State and Southeast Missouri State ended their season.

Head coach Dave Van Horn has added some key pieces and the offense looks much improved. Despite the loss of their three-headed rotation monster that included Hagen Smith, Brady Tygart, and Mason Molina, Arkansas boasts the country’s most talented and deep pitching staff.

Stud sophomore Gabe Gaeckle, who went 3-3 with a 2.32 ERA last season in a relief role, transitions to the rotation and will replace the departed Smith as the staff ace. He struck out 57 in 42.2 innings last year and has the talent to be a top pick in the 2026 MLB Draft Draft.

Joining the young right-hander will be ECU transfer Zach Root, a proven strike-thrower who went 6-2 with a 3.56 ERA for the Pirates last season. Gage Wood, another star reliever for the Razorbacks in 2024, is expected to transition to the rotation as well.

The bullpen will be led by the dominant Christian Foutch, who sported a 0.81 ERA last year. He’ll be joined by the likes of Will McEntire, Hunter Dietz, and Ben Bybee. Stud freshmen Carson Wiggins and Cole Gibler will vie for impact roles while former Oregon State starter Aiden Jimenez is also an option for several roles.

Lastly, Ohio State transfer Landon Beidelshies, who may serve as a starter on the weekend or midweek, has elite upside and could enjoy a breakout year.

The offense struggled at times for Arkansas last season but the lineup looks much improved ahead of 2025. Catcher Ryder Helfrick and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy look to take huge steps forward after dominating over the summer in the Cape Cod League, while senior Kendall Diggs is back and fully healthy.

Transfers Charles Davalan (FGCU), Cam Kozeal (Vanderbilt), and Michael Anderson (Rhode Island) also each impressed in the nation’s most elite summer league.

With impressive JUCO transfers Brent Iredale and Justin Thomas looking to make an immediate impact, the Razorback batting order appears deeper and more balanced than in recent years. The lineup needs to be among the conference’s best if they’re hoping to reach Omaha for the first time since 2022.

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia returned to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus in 2024. In Wes Johnson’s first season, the Bulldogs went 43-17 and earned the nation’s 7th overall seed. After sweeping their home Regional, Georgia fell in three games to 10-seed NC State in Athens.

Redshirt sophomore Charlie Condon won the prestigious Golden Spikes Award for the nation’s best player after an incredible season that saw him blast a record-setting 37 home runs while leading the country in batting average. Condon has since been drafted, but the Bulldogs have amassed a deep roster of dynamic talent on both sides of the ball. 

Right-handers Kolten Smith and Leighton Finley will lead a weekend rotation that might be the team’s weak spot. Both Smith and Finley are quality arms with high-end upside but lack the ace quality that many Friday night starters in the SEC possess.

Ole Miss transfer JT Quinn will likely get the first opportunity to start on Sunday, while a strong bullpen will be led by VCU transfer Brian Curley. Curley was electric for the Rams a year ago after going 6-0 with a 2.87 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 78.1 innings. He’s expected to be able to adjust to the jump in competition and lead a strong Bulldog bullpen.

Curley will be joined by former Alabama closer Alton Davis II at the back end of the bullpen along with Brian Zeldin to form a strong, three-headed relief monster. Overall, the pitching staff feels much deeper than last season’s edition.

Georgia returns star Tre Phelps as the focal point of the lineup after he hit .353/.441/.699 as a freshman in 2024. He’s surrounded by a familiar face or two and a slew of transfers. Slate Alford and Kolby Branch return on the left side of the infield, but the rest of the lineup will consist of stars from other programs.

A trio of standout seniors will lead the outfield as Devin Obee (Duke), Nolan McCarthy (Kentucky), and Robbie Burnett (UNC-Asheville) bring plenty of power, ability, and experience to help Georgia be a top dog in the conference. The three combined for 42 home runs last season while also providing fantastic defense for their former schools.

Plenty of depth on the bench will see playing time as Georgia boasts one of the deepest rosters in the country. They might seem like they’re in a tier just below the aforementioned group of A&M, LSU, Arkansas, and Tennessee, but it won’t take much for them to be right in the conversation with those programs.

Top 2025 MLB Draft Prospects

Ranking is Based on Placement in our 2025 MLB Draft Top 80 College Prospects List

Other MLB Draft Prospects to Watch