2025 Preseason College Baseball Top 25 Rankings
The College Baseball season is about to begin, and Just Baseball has ranked our list of the top 25 teams to watch in 2025.

(The Top 25 Ranking Is Based on an Aggregate of Votes from Just Baseball Analysts)
The smell of baseball is in the air as we approach the beginning of the 2025 College Baseball season.
Last season, Tennessee made history, securing their first-ever national championship with a dominant performance. As defending champions, the Volunteers enter the new season with just as high expectations and a target on their backs.
Despite being the defending champs, Texas A&M and other schools have made some noise during the offseason, stacking their rosters and bouncing Tennessee from the number one slot in our preseason poll.
The season will likely be full of surprises, and this Top 25 will change all season long.
In our preseason 2025 Top 25 College Baseball rankings, we’ve carefully assessed the top programs heading into the season—combining returning talent, transfer portal success, recruiting classes, and fall insights to determine who has the best shot to return to Omaha
Our top 25 will be updated biweekly during the season.

The Aggies made it to the championship series in the College World Series but ended up losing to Tennessee.
They bring in a stacked and well-balanced roster for the 2025 season, making them our No. 1 ranked team. Texas A&M had many of the program’s top guys enter the portal with their former head coach Jim Sclossnagle heading to Texas, making it a tough start to the offseason for new Head Coach Mike Earley. Despite the craziness, he was able to retain a lot of the guys.
A&M has one of the most potent lineups in the nation, as highlighted by Jace LaViolette, who is a potential first-overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. LaViolette is the highest-ranked player in our 2025 MLB Draft Top College Player rankings.
They’ve also got SEC Freshman of the Year Gavin Grahovac, who will likely be a top prospect for the 2026 MLB Draft. The Aggies also had a big-time addition from the transfer portal, with back-to-back Big 12 Player of the Year Gavin Kash coming over from Texas Tech. A&M has a solid outfield, which might be one of the country’s best, that is rounded out with Caden Sorell and Hayden Schott.
The Aggies are just as strong on the bump, mainly thanks to their Dick Howser Award Finalist Ryan Prager returning to College Station. Prager was drafted by the Angels last year in the third Round (slot $948,000), but he opted to come back to Texas A&M and should easily open up as the Friday night starter as he was their ace last year. They round out their rotation with another study lefty in Justin Lamkin and have tons of depth for the third spot.
Coming in at No. 2 on our list is the defending champs Tennessee. You’d think that a team that lost Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick, Drew Beam, Dylan Dreiling, Kavares Tears, AJ Causey, and Aaron Combs in the 2024 MLB Draft would be struggling to replenish.
Especially given that all those guys except Causey went in the top 5 rounds. Well, they found a way to continue being stacked.
It starts with shortstop Dean Curley, the No. 10 college prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft. The sophomore is a physical specimen with solid contact skills and does not chase a ton.
They also brought in some more firepower to the lineup through the transfer portal, adding Gavin Kilen from Louisville and Andrew Fischer from Ole Miss. Fischer is the No. 13 overall college prospect, and Kilen is the No. 17 overall college prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft.
Went through more film from the spring and @Vol_Baseball's Dean Curley is in prime position to be a Day 1 prospect.
— Tyler Jennings (@TylerJennings24) September 28, 2024
It's a lovely swing with excellent barrel feel and legitimate pull-side power. The two swings in this video produced EVs of 105.9 and 107.3, respectively. Also… pic.twitter.com/P9tLH6MbKx
There are some more question marks on the mound for the Volunteers, but there are still plenty of great options. AJ Russell, the 38th overall college prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft, will be a potential key piece for them.
He’s battled injuries over the years, and he had a non-invasive version of Tommy John surgery, so there is a chance he could see time on the mound in 2025.
Outside of Russell, Tennessee will rely on guys like Liam Doyle, Nate Snead, Brandon Arvidson, and Tegan Kuhns to complete the rotation. Doyle is another transfer from Ole Miss who averages over 20 inches of vertical carry on his fastball, sits in the low-90s, but touches 96-97 MPH at its best.
Snead has a nasty sinker that has jumped the 100 MPH barrier in shorter stints but sits in the mid-90s. Kuhns was a highly touted prep prospect who ranked in Tyler Jennings and Prospects Live as one of the top 70 overall players for the 2024 MLB Draft.
While there are many questions about who solidifies the rotation, there are still tons of talent.
Rounding out our top 3 is Virginia. This may come as somewhat of a surprise given how stacked Arkansas and LSU are, but you can easily argue that Virginia has right up there with them and even better than those two teams.
Virginia showcases one of the best lineups in the country, with top 2025 MLB Draft picks Henry Ford and Henry Godbout leading the way.
They also brought back outfielder Harrison Didawick, who hit 23 home runs and drove in 68 RBI last year, and catcher Jacob Ference, who slashed .350/.465/.710 with 12 2B, 17 HR, and 43 RBI.
They added even more insane depth to that lineup by adding two-way player Chris Arroyo from the transfer portal and getting one of the top prep players in the country, James Nunnallee, who the Milwaukee Brewers drafted in the 14th round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
That doesn’t even cover half of the talent as they have the likes of Aidan Teel (Kyle Teel’s brother), likely manning centerfield, Eric Becker, who is an absolute table setter, and others.
Virginia’s Henry Godbout gets a hanging breaking ball in the bottom of the third and launches it over the left field fence.
— Jared Perkins (@JaredCP1) October 27, 2024
Tapped into some pull-side power. One of the better bats in college baseball. pic.twitter.com/WhydysaBr5
The rotation for the Cavaliers looks much better than last year, as well. Sophomore Evan Blanco will likely be the Friday night ace after finishing the previous year 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 18 starts. Blanco turned it on for them last year and took everything to another level.
Jay Woolfolk returns to campus for his Senior year, and while the numbers weren’t impressive last year, he’s a bulldog on the mound and was electric from them in the playoffs. He brings a ton of leadership to this rotation.
As mentioned earlier, Chris Arroyo is a two-way player and likely a candidate for the rotation. They also have Bryson Moore and a couple of other freshmen like William Kirk, who are also very intriguing.
LSU and Arkansas round out our top 5, with LSU coming in at No. 4 and Arkansas at No. 5. It’s hard to argue that any team beat LSU in their recruiting class and transfer portal this year.
The team is loaded.
There were 26 new players on the fall roster, and when we interviewed Jay Johnson earlier this year, he talked at length about how new it was and how talented it was. The lineup lost guys like Tommy White, but it has plenty of firepower, with Jared Jones returning and freshman Steven Milam and Ashton Larson, who took some serious strides in their game last year.
On top of that, LSU hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in guys like Chris Stanfield from Auburn, Luis Hernandez from Indiana State, and Daniel Dickinson from Utah Valley. Their freshman class was also stacked with Derek Curiel, Ryan Costello, and others coming to campus.
That doesn’t even touch on the pitching staff featuring a healthy Chase Shores, who will likely become one of the top starters in college baseball in 2025 and left-hander Kade Anderson. Anthony Eyanson, the UC San Diego transfer, should also be a force in their rotation.
And how could you forget about William Schmidt? He was projected to be a top-20 pick in last year’s draft and opted to head to LSU instead.
LSU is in line to be on of the top teams in college baseball again!
— On The Clock | College Baseball and MLB Draft Pod (@OnTheClock_1) January 8, 2025
Head Coach Jay Johnson joined us on On The Clock with @JustBB_Media to break down some of their newcomers, key players, and more!
Full interview with dropping next week! pic.twitter.com/mHtmWUwa2q
As for Arkansas, you’d think they wouldn’t be able to replicate a rotation with the likes of Hagen Smith, Brady Tygart, and Mason Molina. Boy, did they try to with their additions internally and from the transfer portal.
Gabe Gaeckle is expected to be the Friday night starter, and it is just electric stuff from the mound. It’s 97-98 on the fastball with two plus breakers to go along with it.
To follow Gaeckle, they have plenty of options with Junior Gage Wood, who has a mid-90s fastball, and two transfers, Zach Root from ECU and Landon Beidelschies from Ohio State, who possess some excellent stuff.
Root is a top 50 college MLB Draft prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft, and Beidelschies is not far behind. They also got prep prospect Cole Gibler to come to campus.
According to Tyler Jennings and Prospects Live, he was one of the top 175 prospects for the draft. The bats should be just as intriguing, with the likes of Wehiwa Aloy, TCU transfer Logan Maxwell, center fielder Charles Davalan, and others filling out this lineup.
From conference to conference, the SEC leads with 11, the ACC has eight, The Big 12 has two, and the BIG10 has two. Others who had one include an independent (Oregon State) and Conference USA (Dallas Baptist).
Others who received votes but didn’t make it into our Top 25 include Coastal Carolina, ECU, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Troy, and UCSB.
All these teams will be ones to watch early as they are just on the border of being potential top 25 teams.
Final Top 25 |
1. Texas A&M |
2. Tennessee |
3. Virginia |
4. LSU |
5. Arkansas |
6. Florida State |
7. Clemson |
8. Oregon State |
9. Georgia |
10. Duke |
11. North Carolina |
12. Oregon |
13. Florida |
14. Texas |
15. Vanderbilt |
16. Oklahoma |
17. Wake Forest |
18. Arizona |
19. NC State |
20. Stanford |
21. Dallas Baptist |
22. Auburn |
23. Oklahoma State |
24. Alabama |
25. Indiana |
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