A Look At Baseball America’s ‘Way Too Early’ College Baseball Top 25 Rankings
Summer is coming to an end, which means many D1 baseball teams are finalizing their rosters. Transfer portal moves are slowing down, and summer ball teams are finishing up the last few games on their schedule. Though the 2026 season is months away, we can get a pretty good feel of which teams look best on paper and which ones look like they’re in for a rough season. Let’s take a look at Baseball America’s “Way Too Early” college baseball Top 25.
In the number one spot, Baseball America’s Jacob Rudner and Peter Flaherty have the UCLA Bruins. This is an interesting pick, seeing as the Bruins finished sixth overall at the end of the 2025 season in Omaha. However, the Bruins have not seen much movement in the portal or the MLB Draft. Many of the athletes who were key to getting the Bruins to Omaha in 2025 will remain on the roster for the 2026 season. Instead of rebuilding, this team is simply improving, which cannot be said for many of their opponents.
The second and third-ranked spots went to LSU and Texas, respectively, and this makes a lot of sense. LSU is coming off a huge National Championship victory, but has also suffered a few losses in the draft and in the transfer portal that they’re looking to replace. Placing them at that number one spot, especially with all of their roster changes, would be too obvious. Texas had a phenomenal season despite falling victim to its own regional, and head coach Jim Schlossnagle wasted no time making quality moves in the transfer portal.
Putting the Carolina Tar Heels at 13th may seem dramatic to some. They hosted both a Regional and a Super Regional, and sat among the top 10 teams in the country for the majority of the season. Why then are they ranked 10 spots lower than the Longhorns? Unlike the Longhorns, the Heels were expected to win it all. The 2025 season was their best shot at taking home a national championship, and they suffered huge losses during the MLB Draft. Coach Scott Forbes has made some quality moves in the portal, but 2026 is looking like a building season for the boys in Carolina blue.
One of the most interesting picks comes at the 23rd-ranked spot. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers powered their way through the postseason only to be stopped by the Tigers of LSU. At first, it seemed like a Cinderella story, but after the Chants’ 26th straight win, it was clear they belonged there just as much as the SEC powerhouse that won it all. The offense will need building to sustain another successful season, but putting them at 23 seems like a discredit to their historic 2025 season.
