The MLB Draft begins this Wednesday and concludes on Thursday. Due to the the financial uncertainty cause by COVID-19 the MLB Draft has been shortened to just five rounds. While the SEC has been prolific at producing MLB Draft picks in recent years, the top ten schools of the past two decades have a distinct West Coast and Texas flair. Eight of the top ten schools are located west of the Mississippi River. Arizona State leads the way with 151 MLB Draft picks since 1999. Spencer Torkelson, the likely number one overall pick, will help add to this list for the Sun Devils. With nine College World Series appearance and one title since 1999, Cal State Fullerton's 149 MLB Draft picks come as no surprise. Texas, with two titles in the same period, is tied for third with Rice at 140 picks. Florida and Stanford round out the top five. The Gators have one College World Series Championship since 1999, while the Cardinal have three runner-up finishes in that time period. With the MLB Draft shortening to just five rounds this year, these schools will obviously not be able to keep up the same pace of MLB Draft picks. The MLB Draft will be televised by ESPN2 and MLB Network beginning at 7 PM ET on Wednesday, with Thursday’s coverage beginning at 5 PM ET. EDIT: By request, we have added the data for just the last ten years of the draft: Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball #mlbdraft

The 2020 MLB Draft has come and gone, and with it the SEC has strengthened its claim on the title of best baseball conference of the last few years. Over the past six MLB drafts, the SEC leads the way with 5.48 players drafted per team per year. The Big XII, ACC, and Pac-12 are all clustered just over 4 players/team/year, with the American coming in fifth at an even 3 players/team/year selected in the draft. The SEC leads all conferences in terms of total draft picks (460) in part because all 14 SEC schools field a baseball team. Due to the financial uncertainty caused by COVID-19 the 2020 MLB Draft was shortened to just five rounds, which led to a stark decrease in draft picks for all schools. Arizona State led all teams with five players drafted, but the SEC and ACC led all conferences in terms of first round and total picks. The SEC had 26 players drafted in the 2020 MLB Draft. Vanderbilt led the way for the SEC with four players drafted, while Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Texas A&M each saw three players get drafted. The ACC sent 20 players to professional baseball via the draft with Louisville accounting for three of the selections. Schools with the Most MLB Draft Picks Since 1999 The 2021 MLB Draft will also be shortened from the typical 40-round format to an expected 20 rounds. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

We reached out to D1 college baseball players asking them for their favorite three stadiums to play at, besides their home field. After receiving 88 responses, representing 55 different teams, one stadium rose above the rest: Alex Box Stadium. Dudy Noble Field and Swayze Field come in at number two and three. These two stadiums duked it out in the finals of the fan vote a few weeks ago. Baum-Walker Stadium and Olsen Field round out the top five. The top five stadiums all hail from the SEC before Sun Belt member, Coastal Carolina, checks in at number six. ECU's Clark-LeClair Stadium lands at number seven. Disch-Falk Field, home of the Texas Longhorns, ranked eighth. Phoenix Municipal Stadium and Goss Stadium, both from the Pac-12 finish the top ten. The full top 25: Thanks for checking out our College Baseball Stadium Rankings! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and more? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #rankings #collegebaseball

With baseball teams returning to campus, it is time to begin preparation for College Baseball Nation's Way-Too-Early Top 25. While it is unclear which schools will allow players to return for fall practice, several schools across the country (including Mississippi State, Duke, and TCU) have already begun on-campus team meetings. In a normal season, preseason rankings are difficult enough to compile, but the 2021 season provides additional challenges. Many rosters will be overloaded with talent as all players were given an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19-induced cancellation of the 2020 season. However, in the midst of this, a shortened MLB Draft and subsequent free agent signing period saw the top talents in college baseball move on to professional baseball. We attempted to quantify which teams lost and gained the most talent in the offseason. With that in mind, the list of teams under consideration for College Baseball Nation's Top 25 is larger than ever. From the 302 teams in division I baseball, we have pared the list down to the top quarter. Here are the 76 teams we think will compete at the top of college baseball in 2021. All 14 SEC squads are on the watch list as well as eight of nine Big XII teams and 11 of 14 ACC teams. The Big West is well-represented with five of its 11 teams present. Be on the lookout for College Baseball Nation's Way-Too-Early Top 25 where we will further trim down the list by two-thirds. The list will be released later this week. A wide range of factors could influence the Top 25 between now and the beginning of the college baseball season. Though many conferences, including the Big Ten and Pac-12, have suspended fall athletic competitions, the current expectation is that spring sports will be allowed to practice. If this changes, there will be a clear advantage to teams who are able to practice in the fall. Additionally, players opting out of the season could have a substantial impact on the rankings. Because of the ever-changing collegiate athletic landscape due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be presumptuous to predict whether or not players will opt out. With college baseball season still several months out, no players have announced an intent to opt out. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Since 2010, six teams have won their first College World Series Championship, including a streak of five straight, first-time winners from 2013-2017. With the rise of a new-guard of teams in college baseball to challenge the blue bloods, it is likely that the next decade will provide a few more first-time winners. We asked College Baseball Nation's Twitter followers which team they thought would be the next to break through, and Arkansas and Mississippi State ran away with the poll. Find out what our analysts had to say below. Kyle's (@kylemckelv) verdict: Texas Tech This is quite difficult to answer. A case could be made for any one of Louisville, Texas Tech, Arkansas, and Mississippi State to win a title in the next decade. The question is about the first team to accomplish this feat, so I am bound to make some fans mad. As an Aggie graduate, I am hesitant to admit this, but I believe Texas Tech will be the first team out of this group to win a title. All these teams are similar, so I had to find a factor that set these teams apart. Coaches, recruiting base, conference competition, and recent success are a few of the components that elite programs need to have, which all contribute to talent acquisition and success on the field. The state of Texas consistently has a ton of recruits to sift through and, given Texas Tech’s recent success, the Red Raiders can almost have their pick of the litter for in-state talent. However, Louisville, Arkansas, and Mississippi State all have equally talent-rich areas in which to recruit, so this is a push, with a slight lean in Tech’s favor. Mississippi State is the only one out of this group to have inconsistent coaching in recent years. Arkansas’ Dave Van Horn has been in Fayetteville since 2003. Dan McDonnell has been in charge at Louisville since 2007. Texas Tech’s head man is Tim Tadlock, who has been in Lubbock since 2013. Since 2013, Mississippi State has had three different head coaches. State has still had sustained success in that time without consistency at the head coach spot, so this does not separate any of these teams, in my opinion. The separating factor for me to lean towards Texas Tech in this debate is conference competition. I am not knocking the other teams in the ACC or Big 12 because there have been some good teams of late, but the SEC consistently has elite teams, which gives Arkansas and Mississippi State little room for error. If they slip up a little bit, there will be a team right behind them, ready to take their spot. It is a similar story in the ACC, with elite competition week in and week out. I believe that the Big 12 is there for the taking for Texas Tech more often and more easily than the other teams’ respective conferences. That does not mean you Texas fans or TCU fans can screenshot this and tweet it at me later if one of those teams wins it this year, but I bet you will anyway. Of course, winning your conference does not guarantee a CWS title or even an appearance in the CWS, but I believe that winning a conference regular season and/or tournament title shows you have what it takes to win in Omaha. Winning your conference also gives teams a higher seed in the NCAA tournament, which means you have a slightly easier path to Omaha than a lower seeded team. Riley's (@ZayasRiley) verdict: Mississippi State “We won’t be scared to talk about playing for a national championship.” Those were Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis’ words to the Bulldog faithful upon taking the head job in Starkville in the summer of 2018. Since that point, the Bulldogs have reached Omaha once, in 2019, and started the 2020 season with a 12-4 record, before COVID-19 marked the end of the campaign. But in the program’s extensive 135 year history, the Bulldogs have never won it all in Omaha. This seems like a good time to use the old sportswriting cliche and say, “but that could very well change this upcoming season”. In all reality, that statement is completely accurate. The Bulldogs may have lost ace J.T. Ginn and starting second baseman Justin Foscue to the MLB Draft, but return a plethora of talent at the plate, including infielder Kamren James, who will likely start in place of Foscue at second base, and utility player Josh Hatcher, who broke out in 2019 with a .321 batting average. This Mississippi State squad has the makings of a national champion, and for more reasons than just the players. The Bulldogs will play in an Omaha-like round-robin tournament to begin the 2021 campaign at the Texas Rangers’ state-of-the-art stadium, Globe Life Field against the likes of TCU, Texas and Texas Tech. As always, the SEC schedule will be an uphill challenge from beginning to end, with the conference keeping the same schedule as in 2020 with different dates. If anything, that will only prepare the team more for the opponents and atmosphere they will experience come tournament time. And don’t kid yourself, the majority of this team has been here before; and proven its potential to reach Omaha season after season. Now, in 2021, it is time to overcome that hump and finally earn an NCAA title. John's (@johnny_omaha_) verdict: Louisville Ask me again next week, and my answer might be different, but for now, I am picking Louisville as the next team that will break through and win their first College World Series. My first instinct was to choose Texas Tech or TCU because of their recent success and more straightforward path to hosting a Regional and Super Regional, but Louisville's success under head coach, Dan McDonnell, is impossible to ignore. In the 13 years with McDonnell at the helm, Louisville has finished first in their conference nine times, including five of the last six years. Once upon a time, the naysayers were skeptical that Louisville could handle the competition in the ACC, but the detractors are silent now. Louisville has established themselves as the team to beat in the ACC. What does winning with such consistency get you? Louisville is currently riding an eight-year NCAA Tournament appearance streak. In that time period, the Cardinals have hosted a Regional six times and earned a top-eight seed four of those years. When it comes to making the College World Series, hosting is crucial; over the past five years, 52.5% of teams that make it to Omaha were top-eight seeds. With all that said, I need to point out a few honorable mentions. The aforementioned TCU and Texas Tech each have multiple College World Series appearances over the past decade. Mississippi State has the talent and has managed to find consistency in terms of results despite a lack of consistency in coaching. What can the Bulldogs do with Chris Lemonis at the helm? Arkansas clearly has had what it takes to win a College World Series. Razorbacks fans don't need a reminder of how close they once were. Finally, you have to imagine that someday Florida State will win a title. Time will only tell, but don't be surprised if there is a first-time champion in 2021. Seven of the teams in the top ten of College Baseball Nation's Preseason Top 25 have never won a College World Series title. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

81 NCAA Tournament appearances. 49 conference titles. 17 College World Series appearances. 134 major leaguers. The numbers don’t lie. The state of Mississippi has established itself as a national power in college baseball. Sure, Mississippi may have achieved national recognition because of the football talent to come out of its colleges; Archie and Eli Manning, Michael Oher, Jerry Rice, and Jackie Slater to name a few. And yes, the two biggest institutions in the state play in a conference that is most famous for its football prowess. But the results on the diamond speak for themselves; the baseball talent coming out of the state’s six Division I programs is top-notch. In fact, the case could be made that in recent years baseball has been the state’s more successful sport. Mississippi State is coming off back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2018 and 2019. Southern Miss has won the Conference USA tournament each of the last two seasons. Ole Miss has reached the NCAA Tournament seven straight seasons. Alums of Mississippi schools have been making their pro debuts left and right—Jacob Waugespack, Brent Rooker, and Hunter Renfroe to name a few. And that is just a small slice of the baseball success recently experienced in the state. "There is no place better to watch college baseball than in Mississippi.” -Jake Mangum, former Mississippi State outfielder At the end of the 2019 season, Ole Miss was second in average attendance per game (8,911), and Mississippi State a near third (8,586). Southern Miss found its way onto the list at No. 19 (2,997), the first program from a non-power five conference team to be listed. So why do Mississippians love their college sports, especially baseball, so much? “For me it was just going to games growing up,” remembers Jake Mangum, the SEC’s all-time hits leader, of his first college baseball experiences. “On the weekends in Mississippi, in the fall you’ve got a football weekend in one of the college towns, in the spring you’ve got a baseball weekend in one of the college towns. The beautiful thing about Mississippi is that our biggest sports are our college teams, so you support your college throughout the year, fall, winter, spring...you got year-round sports. There is no place better to watch college baseball than in Mississippi.” While the native Mississisipian may be biased, his words ring true. Regionals in cities like Oxford, Starkville, and Hattiesburg draw some of the nation’s rowdiest, most enthusiastic crowds. RELATED: Who Will Be the Next First-Time College World Series Champion? “The fan bases are so much fun to play in front of in college, it’s exhilarating,” said Mangum. “Southern Miss even. We did a Regional down there; it was an electric weekend. There are passionate fans everywhere, all over the country, but I’ve definitely seen some of the most passionate fans in the state of Mississippi.” With no professional teams any closer than New Orleans, Florida, or Tennessee, much of the sports focus is on the college teams. That results in passionate crowds and heated rivalries across the state. One of those rivalries is the in-state battle between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, dubbed the “Egg Bowl” in football. In baseball, the winner of the neutral site contest, typically played at TrustPark in Pearl, earns the Governor’s Cup. As Mangum says, winning that game goes far beyond winning a trophy. It is a matter of bragging rights. “I’d have to say the Governor's Cup games were all close. Luke Alexander’s walk off in 2018 was probably the most memorable,” said Mangum of his favorite memories from the rivalry against the Rebels. In addition, Mississippi State and Ole Miss also play a weekend series. Because the 2020 SEC schedule will be the same for 2021, Mississippi State will host next season’s weekend series against Ole Miss. “It was always fun to play Ole Miss,” said Mangum “They’re a great program, always talented, with a great coach in [Mike] Bianco behind them.” A great coach Bianco is. Following the shortened 2020 campaign, Ole Miss finished the season No. 1 in College Baseball Nation’s national rankings, with Bianco named coach of the year by Collegiate Baseball. He took a team projected to finish fifth in the SEC West to a team ranked in the top 10 of every major poll by the end of the shortened 2020 season. The Rebels are trending in the same direction this upcoming season, with a lot of depth at the plate. Consistent recruiting efforts by Bianco have brought in young talent to fill voids left behind by starters Tyler Keenan and Anthony Servideo, who went to the professional ranks. One of the young talents is right-handed pitcher Wes Burton, a freshman who is coming back to Ole Miss for his second season. Burton, a reliever, stood out in Ole Miss’ fall intrasquad games with multiple scoreless innings pitched. Burton is confident that the Rebels have the bats and arms to win the SEC West this year and go even further into the postseason. “We’re going to swing it really well this year,” said Burton. “We’re going to put up some runs. Honestly, we [the pitchers] are looking forward to facing some outside competition at some point so we don’t have to face all these mashers.” The Rebels have reached the NCAA Tournament seven straight seasons and are on pace to make it eight in 2021. However, this Rebels team is focused on going further than just the Regionals. This team’s aspirations are focused high on making it to Omaha for the sixth time in program history. “I know we’re missing two guys from last year, and they played a big part, but the same energy and the same vibe is going to stay around,” said Ben Van Cleve, an infielder who will compete for a starting role in 2021. “It’s just kind of what is built here. This program has a bunch of fun, a bunch of energy, and we hope to keep that rolling all throughout this season.” "This program has a bunch of fun, a bunch of energy, and we hope to keep that rolling all throughout this season.” -Ben Van Cleve, Ole Miss infielder Southern Miss completes the trio of “power schools” in the state. A Conference USA school in Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles established a winning baseball tradition in the 1990s and early 2000s, reaching the NCAA Tournament on 11 occasions between 1990 and 2010. That has continued under head coach Scott Berry, who said he “didn’t change anything about the program” upon taking over 12 years ago. When asked about what first struck him about the level of baseball in the state, he spoke of an American Legion (one of the nation’s top amateur baseball leagues) game in 1990. It was the first game he ever saw in the state. “I was interviewing for the head coaching job at Meridian Community College, and Coach Palmer and I went and watched an American Legion baseball game that night,” recalls Berry. “There I saw four 90+ mph pitchers, one of them was Jay Powell, who pitched at [Mississippi] State. I went back to Southwest Missouri State and was I telling everyone, ‘I just saw four 90+ mph pitchers in the same game!' It was crazy.” It is not just talent that comes out of the state. It is the fact that, more so than in other parts of the country, sports fans and college students genuinely care about their baseball teams. As Berry notes, they show up in big ways, whether it be a regular season contest, a conference tournament, or an NCAA Regional. “We are one of the smallest states in terms of population (2.9 million), but yet Mississippi’s top three D1 baseball programs (Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss) are the leaders in total attendance every year over any other state’s top three D1 programs,” said Berry. This year is special for Southern Miss, as the Golden Eagles will retain four of their eight seniors from last season. All are pitchers. Despite concerns from some programs about playing a full 56-game season, Berry felt it was important that his squad got the opportunity to play as many games as possible prior to the start of conference play. The Golden Eagles will play a full 56 game slate, Berry told College Baseball Nation. “We’re not going to shy away from a tough schedule, both in conference and non-conference,” said Berry, who has coached at the school since 2000. The Golden Eagles have lived that out and taken down their fair share of power five programs in recent seasons. Southern Miss has ten wins over power five teams in the past three seasons, including a sweep of Mississippi State to start the 2018 season. “We have a saying at Southern Miss: anyone, anywhere, anytime,” emphasized Berry. “We have a saying at Southern Miss: anyone, anywhere, anytime,” -Scott Berry, Southern Miss head coach West of Starkville by 96 miles, north of Oxford by 91 and northeast of Hattiesburg by 190, Mississippi Valley State is nestled in Itta Bena, Mississippi, population 2,049. Coverage when it comes to sports, especially baseball, is few and far between. Head coach Aaron Stevens, in his 20th season as a coach for the Delta Devils and his fifth as the head coach, is the first to note that. “It is different, partially because of the area we’re in,” said Stevens. “We have to do decent across the board just to get some news coverage from our area. But to actually get the big coverage we have to play against a team like Southern Miss or Mississippi State (both are on the schedule for this upcoming season). We have to play those bigger teams so our guys can get seen by the scouts watching on a regular basis and get a chance to get covered by the bigger news outlets.” Despite this, Stevens has built up a competitive program. One of the challenges Stevens faces on a yearly basis is recruiting. He scours the country looking for top talent to bring to Itta Bena and has done a solid job keeping his program infused with players who have the potential to play professionally. However, he notes that things in the SWAC have changed since his days as a youngster in which he grew up a diehard fan of Jackson State, one of the state’s six D1 programs. Those were the days in which future pro bowlers Jackie Slater and Jerry Rice put HBCU schools on the map. “I’m from Jackson, and all my family went to Jackson State, so me being at Valley is already a challenge,” said Stevens with a chuckle. “That was my first introduction to college sports, going to Jackson State games. That was like the pros for us. A lot of the guys from the city there would end up going to Jackson State. The way things have changed now, you don't have as many guys from the city to play there. SWAC football, basketball, and even baseball, was different then because they had different athletes. Athletes that were playing in the SWAC when I was growing up are now playing in the SEC. Those athletes don’t get overlooked anymore. We still get great athletes, but it is a different kind of athlete.” Mississippi Valley State baseball currently has a low budget, and just 4.5 scholarships to offer. By comparison, the majority of power five schools, such as Ole Miss and Mississippi State, have 11.7 scholarships to offer. But because baseball is not a head count sport, Stevens can distribute the scholarship money amongst his 20-man roster. That’s another thing. If you look at a typical D1 college baseball roster, you will find around 40 players listed. That is not the case at Mississippi Valley State, where the resources aren’t there to have a roster of more than 20. At some point, Stevens would like to expand his roster to 22, but for now, he will just have to manage with limited pitching, and be forced to cut players who have already graduated but have remaining eligibility. Recruiting at the school is not easy, as Stevens notes. But he has managed to nab several top-level players from the JUCO ranks over the years. Interestingly, on the Delta Devils’ 2020 roster, all but two of the players hailed from out of the state, coming from places such as Puerto Rico, Michigan, and Hawaii. "It takes a special kid to want to come here and play sports." -Aaron Stevens, Mississippi Valley State, head coach “You have to look for a certain student to even want to come to school here,” said Stevens. “They have to be focused to come to school here. . . It takes a special kid to want to come here and play sports. Every sport has had success, but the last two or three years, we’ve had to settle. We’ve got to get it back to what it used to be.” With Stevens at the helm, that is certainly in the future for Mississippi Valley State. The Delta Devils have a multitude of two-way players for this upcoming season, though Stevens had not finalized his 2021 roster when he talked with College Baseball Nation on October 14. Despite all of these challenges, Stevens has built quite a program at Mississippi Valley State, and with the right team chemistry, this program can easily emerge as a SWAC title contender this upcoming season. Mississippi loves its college baseball. Whether it is a top 25 matchup at Dudy Noble Field, a Regional in Hattiesburg, or a SWAC showdown in the valley, at Jackson State or Alcorn State, fans show up to watch their team compete with the best of the best in college baseball. Mississippi is a special place for college sports. Don’t be surprised if a school out of Mississippi claims the College World Series Title come next summer. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Most teams around the country have already wrapped up fall baseball or are doing so soon. The college baseball season is less than 100 days away, so therefore, it is time to release College Baseball Nation's fall preseason top 25! This summer we released the 76 teams we think will compete at the top of college baseball, and then we released our Way-Too-Early Top 25. In a normal year, a preseason top 25 is difficult enough to make, but with all of the talent returning to college baseball in 2021 due to the shortening of the 2020 MLB Draft, it was even more challenging to pick the 25 best this year. Florida, UCLA, and Texas Tech remain in the top three of our top 25; each team is the favorite to win their conference. Vanderbilt moves up one spot to number four in the post-fall rankings in large part due to the early enrollment of Christian Little, RHP. Little leaves the 2021 class as one of the top five recruits in the country and adds to a talented Commodores pitching staff that already includes Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, who both project as early first round picks. Ole Miss rounds out the top five. Arizona State falls two spots to number 20. Entering 2021, the Sun Devils needed to replace the number one overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, Spencer Torkelson, along with four other players who joined professional baseball. That task became even more difficult this fall when Auburn transfer, Conor Davis, tore his ACL in a scrimmage. Davis who hit .287 in four seasons with the Tigers was the projected first basemen for Arizona State. The post-fall college baseball top 25 includes eight teams from the ACC, seven from the SEC, three from the Pac 12, three from the Big 12, two from the Big West, and two from the American. ECU at number 19 is the highest ranked team from outside the traditional "power five," followed by Long Beach State at 21. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

The academic year is kicking off around the country, and with that, it is time to release College Baseball Nation's Way-Too-Early Top 25. With the unpredictability in collegiate athletics caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the task of paring down the 302 division I baseball teams into a top 25 was even more difficult than usual. Early this week, we shrunk the list down to the 76 teams we think will compete at the top of college baseball in 2021, and now we have dropped that list to 25. UPDATE: Post-Fall Preseason Top 25 Coming in at number one are the Florida Gators. The Gators finished the shortened 2020 season at number two in the country and had one of the best imaginable offseasons. The Gators' 43-year streak of having a player drafted in the MLB Draft was cut short in this year's five-round draft, which means that most of Florida's top-notch talent will be returning to the field in 2021. Tommy Mace, Jack Leftwitch, and Hunter Barco all return to the weekend rotation which anchored a pitching staff that only allowed 2.7 runs per game in 2020. In other Florida Gators news, Florida Ballpark at Mckethan Field will be ready for the 2021 season, just in time to likely host a Regional and Super Regional. Number two UCLA and third-ranked Texas Tech each look to lead the way in their respective conferences in 2021. Both of these teams have a substantial leg up in terms of talent on the next best team in their conference. Matt McLain (SS/OF) out of UCLA has already been drafted in the first round (2018) and will likely hear his name called early in the 2021 MLB Draft. A youth movement at Texas Tech includes 2020 standouts Jace Jung, Cal Conley, and Nate Rombach. Number four Ole Miss finished 2020 in the top spot of College Baseball Nation's Power Rankings. The loss of Anthony Servideo and Tyler Keenan will be difficult for the Rebels, but consistent recruiting over the past several years has set Ole Miss up to compete at the top of the SEC West. Fellow SEC member, Vanderbilt, rounds out the top five. Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter highlight the best rotation in the country. The duo will look to be the top two picks in the 2021 MLB Draft. Arkansas, Louisville, TCU, Mississippi State, and Florida State fill spots five through ten. TCU jumps from the 21st spot in our last rankings. The Horned Frogs lost no players to professional baseball and bring in a top 15 recruiting class. LSU, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia Tech check in at numbers 11 through 15. Virginia looked poised to turn the corner in 2020, finishing the year at #24. The Cavaliers, like TCU, lost no one to professional baseball from last year's team. Duke, Wake Forest, Arizona State, Georgia, and ECU finish off the top 20. Georgia falls ten spots after losing Emerson Handcock and Cole Wilcox out of their rotation to the MLB Draft. Tucker Bradley and Cam Shepherd also leave for professional baseball, signing as undrafted free agents. Cam Shepherd's departure leaves a hole in the Bulldogs infield; Shepherd tallied 198 starts at shortstop during his time at Georgia. ECU marks the highest ranked team in the American Athletic Conference. Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, NC State, Pepperdine, and UCF round out the top 25. The Big West was poised for a banner year in 2020, and 2021 is looking like another strong year for the conference with Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara bringing back talented teams. Pepperdine is the lone representative from the West Coast Conference in our top 25. In total, the SEC and ACC each have seven teams represented in the top 25, the Big XII and Pac-12 each have three, the American and Big West each have two, and the West Coast Conference has one. A wide range of factors could influence the top 25 between now and the beginning of the college baseball season. Though many conferences, including the Big Ten and Pac-12, have suspended fall athletic competitions, the current expectation is that spring sports will be allowed to practice. If this changes, there will be a clear advantage to teams who are able to practice in the fall. Additionally, players opting out of the season could have a substantial impact on the rankings. Because of the ever-changing collegiate athletic landscape due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be presumptuous to predict whether or not players will opt out. With college baseball season still several months out, no players have announced an intent to opt out. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! College Baseball Rankings

On Wednesday, Abilene Christian University became the second school to release components of its 2021 spring baseball season. The team announced eleven midweek games, beginning February 23 and running until May 12. The Wildcat's midweek schedule is highlighted by ten in-state matchups and one trip to neighboring Arkansas. Home and away midweek games are schedule against TCU, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, and Tarleton State. The schedule is rounded out by visits to Texas A&M and Arkansas and a home game against Baylor. Earlier this month, Louisiana Tech released a full 56-game schedule that has already been modified. D1baseball.com is reporting that the Big Ten is opting out of non-conference play in 2021, leading to the cancellation of Louisiana Tech's home opening series against Illinois. Louisiana Tech has modified their online schedule to reflect the cancellation. Abilene Christian is a member of the Southland Conference and finished the shortened 2020 season at 7-8 (1-2). The Southland Conference has not yet announced plans for the 2021 college baseball season. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

With the growing likelihood of reduced, or even no, non-conference games for the 2021 college baseball season, talk of an expanded college baseball playoff is increasing. The logic goes that without non-conference games, it will be impossible to tease out which teams deserve an at-large bid. Therefore, open the field up to even more teams as insurance. Without non-conference games, the already questioned metric of the RPI will be useless, so how do you decide which teams deserve to make it in? University of Houston head coach Todd Whitting suggests automatically awarding bids based on an average of bids from recent years. So let's explore this. First off, we took a look at the number of postseason bids per conference over the last ten years. Not surprisingly, the SEC and ACC consistently have sent the most teams to Regionals. Our next takeaway is that ten years is way too long a time period to consider. The ever-changing landscape of conference alignment makes a conference's bid number from 2010 completely moot (see 2010 Big Ten). Major conference shuffling in the mid-2010s also plays a large factor in bid distribution. The American's emergence in 2014 changed the landscape of college baseball. So if ten years is too long of a period to consider, what is the right window? We next considered all conferences who have earned an at-large bid in the past five years. In total, 16 conferences have notched this distinction, while 12 conferences have done it more than once. We then took averages for these conferences over the past two, three, four, and five years. Now the tough part: where do you draw the line when determining how to dole out automatic bids? Two years does not make a trend, and the results from the two-year average are unsatisfying. I am skeptical that the Ohio Valley or Atlantic Sun would be more deserving than the Big West, for example, of an extra bid in 2021. The easiest answer is to use the five-year average. Five is a nice round number and the results look fairly reasonable. The five-year average would award 41 automatic bids amongst teams in ten conferences. An additional 21 conferences would each have an automatic bid, leaving 62 spots accounted for. In combination with an expanded field to 72 teams, ten additional at-large spots would allow for some more flexibility in the selection process. As expected, the SEC and ACC would have the most bids (eight), followed by the Pac-12 and Big 12 (five) and Big Ten (four). Other conferences with more than one bid would be the American and Conference USA (three) and the Missouri Valley, Big West, and Colonial (two). Personally, I am fan of the four-year average. This division of bids would give 44 bids to teams in 12 different conference with 19 additional conferences having an automatic bid. In total, nine additional at-large bids would be available. In this paradigm, the SEC would gain one bid (nine), and the Pac-12 would lose one (four). More importantly, the Sun Belt and Southland would each join the ranks of guaranteed two-bid leagues. The results over the past few years (including a host of bubble teams) confirms in my mind that both of these conferences deserve two bids. Regardless how the field is selected in 2021, it is likely that RPI won't be a useful metric. The tricky part is that both of the suggested plans leave some number of at-large bids for teams that will have to pass the "eye test." Selection of those additional teams will be a difficult task that will almost certainly leave some unsatisfied. However, selection is just one part; how would you make a 72-team bracket? One solution is to leave eight Regionals alone and add a play-in game in the eight Regionals of the highest eight seeds. The NCAA Basketball Tournament split these play-in games between automatic and at-large qualifiers. However, due to the nature of the double-elimination Regional format, it seems unfair to eliminate an automatic qualifier after a single loss. I suggest a play-in game between at-large, three-seeds in a Regional with the winner moving on to traditional Regional play. While there are sure to be hiccups in this system, it is hard to imagine a completely fair path forward in 2021. If there is any year to try out creative postseason strategies, 2021 is it. Let us know what you think the best plan for the 2021 season is! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Editor's note: College Baseball Nation is joined by guest writer, Riley Zayas, for coverage of the Texas Collegiate League. Riley Zayas is a high school freshman and freelance journalist from Round Rock, Texas. He began his journalism career as a Sports Illustrated Kid reporter and has since become a regular contributor to Horns Illustrated, covering Texas Longhorn sports. His work also includes Fellowship of Christian Athletes publications, his personal blog 360 Sports, and Sports Spectrum, a national christian sports magazine and website. He is passionate about all things sports and can be followed on Twitter at @ZayasRiley. For Lyle Miller-Green, the 100-plus degree dry heat of Amarillo, Texas has been a welcome change. At least, a welcome change from the humid summers of his native Virginia. “It’s totally different from Virginia,” said Miller-Green. “It’s definitely hotter here but it’s just dry heat. I’ll take dry heat over a really humid day any day of the week.” The weather has not been the only thing different for the 6’5, 230 lbs outfielder/pitcher out of George Mason University this summer in his first season playing in the Texas Collegiate League. Miller-Green has emerged as a clutch hitter for the first place Amarillo Sod Squad. As the last week of the season gets underway Miller-Green currently leads the team in RBI and has an impressive batting average of .305. Last week, he even earned the title of College Baseball Nation Hitter of the Week, after hitting for the cycle in Wednesday’s game against the Amarillo Sod Dogs, and totaling eight RBI. “I’m just trying to do my part to help the team win,” said Miller-Green. “The Sod Dogs are a good team and we’re trying to distance ourselves from them in the division standings. Right now we’re on the top of the north division.” The development he has made this summer has been tremendous, especially when you consider he has played in just 14 games during his entire college career. However, he did fare well at the plate in that small sample size, hitting .321 with 7 RBI. The improvement? Aggressiveness at the plate, says Miller-Green. "I think that has been the biggest part of my approach, being aggressive at the plate.” -Lyle Miller-Green “Not missing pitches I should hit,” said Miller-Green when asked about his approach this season. “Not taking fastballs right down the middle, no missing hanging curveballs that I can hit hard. I think that has been the biggest part of my approach, being aggressive at the plate.” That aggressiveness has helped translate into victories for the Sod Squad who are now leading the north division with a 16-9 record. NJIT twins David and Juan Marcano have also played a key role in this success to clinch a spot in the four-team playoff next week. “Everyone is doing their part to do what they can to help the team win,” Miller-Green told College Baseball Nation. “We definitely want to clinch that playoff berth. We have San Antonio and Tulsa here in the final week of the season. It’s just the final stretch of the race, the final push.” Like many talented players at the college level, Miller-Green is a two-way player. At Lake Braddock high in Burke, Virginia, he was a four-year varsity player, Regional Player of the Year, and All-Conference Pitcher/Player of the Year. He has continued that dual success at George Mason, splitting time between relief appearances as a left handed pitcher and a superb outfielder. In 2020, he made five appearances on the mound, tossing 7.1 innings with a 4.91 ERA. His fielding percentage was a flawless 1.000%. “You can pretty much do anything when you’re a two-way player,” said Miller-Green. “You can pitch, hit and play the field, so you can get pretty much every aspect of the game. You’re not limited to one position. It is definitely a grind. At George Mason, I stay after practice to get my arm work done in the weight room, and I have to keep up with my hitting routine as well. On top of that, more defensive work. It’s a grind.” In the TCL, Miller-Green was relieved of his pitching duties, allowing him to both rest his arm and improve on his hitting at the same time. “I’m giving my arm a break from the spring season,” said Miller-Green. “I would have loved to pitch down here but I’m grateful that I’m getting to focus on hitting for now. It keeps my mind off pitching for a little while as well.” When asked if the decision to not pitch was his own or the George Mason coaching staff, Miller-Green said it is ultimately up to his coaches. “Ultimately it is up to the college and what they will let you do,” he said. “What matters most is the spring season, and every school wants their players to be ready for the season, so that was part of the reason as to why I didn’t pitch. I need to keep my arm safe so I don’t get hurt. God forbid I do something to my elbow or my shoulder that could sideline me, especially with the fall season right around the corner.” For Miller-Green this summer in the TCL has given him a new opportunity to face a variety of pitching from players at powerhouse D1 programs to top junior colleges. “Everyone is a college pitcher here,” said Miller-Green. “Everyone here is a good pitcher regardless [of what college they play at]. Here I’m facing a lot of D1, JUCO guys, who are very good pitchers. Each pitcher is unique in their own way.” Heading into the 2021 season at George Mason, Miller-Green will look to step up in big ways, especially because he has four years of eligibility remaining, giving him a prime opportunity to make a name for himself in the A-10 Conference early on. While the Patriots have had a baseball program since 1968, the team has made the NCAA Tournament on just seven occasions, and won a game just once, in 1992. With the dual-threat ability of Miller-Green, that could easily change as early as next spring, when the NCAA looks to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two years. It is obvious Miller-Green always puts the team first. When asked if there was anything he’d like to add, Miller-Green responded, “I’m just going to keep doing whatever I can to help my team win.” Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! 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Oregon State announced on Thursday night that they would part ways with long-time assistant coach Pat Bailey after Bailey spent 13 years with the program. Joining the Beavers in 2008, Bailey was part of ten of Oregon State's 19 Regional appearances in program history. Most notably, Bailey helped coach the 2018 Beavers to a National Championship. Bailey served as the interim head coach during the 2019 season, and led Oregon State to a 36-20-1 (21-8) record and a third place finish in the Pac-12. The Beavers hosted a Regional but did not advance. Bailey returned to an assistant role for the 2020 season, with Mitch Canham taking over as head coach. Said Canham of the Bailey: "Our Beaver Baseball Family is extremely grateful for the work Coach Bailey has done in his time here at Oregon State University. He has poured his heart into this program and our student-athletes lives. We all want to wish him and his family many blessings going forward" On the separation, Bailey told College Baseball Nation, "I am shocked. I have no interest in retirement. I hope that someone hires me!" Coach Canham announced that Ryan Gipson will be promoted from volunteer to full-time assistant. Gipson was a member of the 2006 Oregon State National Championship team and rejoined the program in 2018 as the volunteer assistant and camp coordinator. Oregon State has not announced who will take over Ryan Gipson's former role of volunteer assistant. The Beavers entered 2020 with lukewarm expectations in retooling mode. In the shortened season, Oregon State finished 5-9, ending the season by being swept at home by #16 UCSB. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! #collegebaseball