NCAA Div. I Preview

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host, ryan brownlee. If you run a baseball facility, Swift is the only piece of software you need to manage and grow your business. From scheduling and payments to memberships and retail, Swift takes care of it all. Your coaches can use the app to manage their schedule on the go, and your customers have a sleek and fast way to book online lessons, rentals, camps, packages and more all in one spot. That's why hundreds of the best baseball facilities across the country rely on Swift. And now, with their upcoming AI Front desk, you can literally put your business on autopilot. Get started in minutes@run SwiftApp download. That's runswiftapp.com ABCA spend less time behind the screen and more time on the. [00:01:06] Speaker B: Field. [00:01:09] Speaker A: This episode is sponsored by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Netting Professionals specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, BP screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies, and more. Netting Professionals is an official partner of the ABCA and continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 627 oh7 or infoettingpros.com visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out NettingPros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast. Always an exciting week with all levels of college baseball going now, happy opening week of Division 1 baseball. Next up on the ABCA Podcast, our Division 1 preview. We give our sports writers a lot of credit for the work they put in throughout the year to help grow the game of baseball. We start things off with D1baseball.com Zaron Fitt and Mike Rooney. And after that we talk to Vincent Sorvino for Perfect Game. As a lifelong fan of college baseball, this is always an exciting time of the year for me. Let's welcome everyone to the podcast. Here's the Aaron Fit Mike Rooney. Sometimes Kendall jumps on, but I know he's got stuff going on. But I know you guys are really busy right now, so I appreciate you guys jumping on with me. [00:02:59] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:03:00] Speaker B: We're good. RB my Atlantic 10 previews turned in. I do have a blown out back from writing a preview. First first ever back injury from writing a preview. But, but we're good. It's turned in. [00:03:11] Speaker A: Has that gotten easier for you guys or, or more difficult? [00:03:16] Speaker B: Oh, Fitzy, you should comment. [00:03:18] Speaker C: Well, you know, I mean, I, I would say it's easier for, for Kendall and I because we have a lot more help than we had back in the, the, the, the days. The dark ages, I guess you would say, when, you know, when we had 30 conference previews that we mostly had to do ourselves. At least now we got a whole staff of guys at D1 baseball who are crushing it. And code. You got, you know, generational talents like Michael Patrick Rooney cranking out world class coverage of the A10. And you know, you got Bradley on the team now and Joe and everybody else. I mean, we got about what, 10 different guys cranking out these things. And so from that respect, it's easier. At least we can, we can spread the workout. But it's, it's always a grind. The preseason is always a grind. You know, it's just waiting through so many notes and talking about so many places, players and trying not to use the exact same phrases over and over again is difficult. You know, and, and anytime you're making predictions, I mean, I feel like you're gonna, you're gonna hit some, you're gonna miss some. It's all in good fun. I mean, you know, that's what this is, this is about. It's just, it's fun to talk about this stuff, but yeah, it's the best part is when the season starts, you know, and then I think we can all settle into a much, much better rhythm. [00:04:30] Speaker A: Yeah, but it speaks volumes to the job that you guys have done because there is so much interest in it now. It's as big as football. And now with the interest. And people do want to know the players, they want to know the teams, like, they want to know all this stuff now. [00:04:43] Speaker B: I, I would say this RB too. Like, the one thing that's, that is to your previous question is there's so much information now. Like, you know, like you, you have to really discipline yourself to like, like before, when we're writing these previews seven or eight years ago, you have a questionnaire and you just, that's what you're writing, right? Like, it's, it's, that's the info you got now you got True Media and 6, 4, 3. And the D1 site's got incredible stats. Like, you know, I can't tell you how many times I'm, I'm writing even for an Atlantic 10 preview. And I'm down the rabbit hole of, like, what is walk percentages and a strikeout percentage, like, eight years ago. That's just like a not, you know, you label as tools and. And go from there. But, you know, to. To what you just mentioned, I do think that has been super cool where the sport has become so much more streamlined than ever before. Like, you know, like, hey, 2022 Tennessee really helped, like, people that don't like sports, even like that team or. Or didn't like that team, but you were somewhere, right? Like it was one or the other. And then, like, you know, when Jim Slossigo goes from A and M to Texas, people that weren't college baseball fans are like, oh, geez, hold my beer. Like, I gotta lock in on this thing, right? It's like, so we. It's been great. Yeah. I don't know what you think, Fitzy, but it's been a blast. [00:05:58] Speaker C: Yeah, there's definitely a lot more interest. I mean, I. You know, I would say we're. We're. We're still not on the level of football and basketball. It's just a different level of, you know, a volume, I guess. I mean, there's just a lot more. There's still just a lot more fans of those sports than there are of baseball. But our growth has been dramatic. There's no doubt about it. You know, and. And you just look at the attendance and the ratings and all the TV stuff that we have now, and, you know, the squeeze play out there, squeezing it, you know, it's just. [00:06:27] Speaker D: It's been fun. [00:06:29] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the best. You know, and Omaha is. Is so cool. It just seems like it just gets better and better and better. And. I don't know. I. Obviously, we're a bunch of college baseball junkies here, the three of us. You don't have to convince us, but I think we got a great product that is just getting stronger. And, you know, we'll. We'll see what the future holds now with. With the. The kind of. The new Lay the Land with all the scholarships. I mean, it's. It's so funny. Like, think about this, guys. How many years, decades now, 30 years where we all just ringing our hands about 11.7. 11.7. Oh, when are we going to get more scholarships? And just. Everybody just crying for. And all of a sudden, boom, you can give everyone your roster, a full scholarship. Like, what? I mean, I don't think people are talking about this enough. We had 11.7 for a 35 man roster for all these years. And I can give everybody a full ride if you want, if you could afford it. Like, it's bonkers to this new world that we're living in. [00:07:28] Speaker A: Thoughts on the convention? Shout out to Soldier Sports. By the way, they're good at stage set up. Like every time, you know, I didn't get in there much, but every time I walked in there, one of you guys was on stage with Soldier Sports. [00:07:42] Speaker B: That was very fun. Yeah, you're. Yeah. [00:07:44] Speaker D: So. [00:07:45] Speaker A: Yes. [00:07:45] Speaker B: Or Thoughts on the convention. RB like one of. One of my favorite parts of the convention. I think I've said this to you, Fitzy, but like, you know, for us at D1 baseball, we're all in different parts of the country, but we're on our D1 WhatsApp, WhatsApp thread chat all day, every day. Right. Like, I hope my day job's not listening. Like when I'm supposed to be locked in on a conference call. I'm, you know, I, I'm. We're, we're talking smack about our fantasy college baseball teams. But like, like, I see these guys twice a year, right? I see them at the convention. I see them in Omaha, basically. And we, we have an awesome dinner. And I know every, that's what's cool about this. Every baseball group or coaches have this where we have this incredible D1 baseball dinner. It's like our annual dinner at the convention every year. And you know, it's the one time we're all together. It's so fun. So, so fun. But yeah, like, I, I don't know, like, I think for Fitzy and I being in the game as long as we have the convention is just like a mini reunion every year and you don't know. You just don't know who you're going to run into. But you know you're going to run into a bunch of people and it's so fun. [00:08:51] Speaker C: And it's. You know what's cool too is as long as we've been doing this, you still show and meet new people every year. [00:08:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:57] Speaker C: You know, and it's like I was as me, I ran into. Late one night, you know, at the convention, I ran into Johnny Wilson, who is the son of one of my favorite people in baseball a long time Minnesota Twin scout John Wilson. You know, and, and young John pitched at Old Dominion and, you know, had a nice, nice career and just finished playing pro ball. Now he's coaching. He's part of Wake Forest staff. And it's like, stuff like that is neat. You Know, you get to meet kind of the next generation, some of these up and coming coaches. I mean there were a number of people that I met that I was like, oh, this is, this is a guy to file away. You know, this guy is going to be, you know, part of that next wa. I mean our game is still producing so many talented, smart people in the, in the coaching ranks and also just the support ranks. The, you know, there's so many more jobs now for people who want to work in college baseball. You know, not only do we have a fourth assistant, you can get all these different director of this and that. And it's just like there's so many different ways you could actually make a living if you're a smart college baseball person. And it's kind of fun to see these people on their way up. [00:10:00] Speaker A: I know him as Chucky by the way, because when John was a scout, when I was at JMU, he was, he was about 2ft tall and John would bring him around for the fall games for the Minnesota, for that New Jersey Twins. So John would bring him around. So I know him as Chucky. Like and like that's an old moment for me now thinking that he's coaching college baseball now. [00:10:18] Speaker C: That's great. [00:10:19] Speaker A: So, and onto that we've got new legislation and I think this speaks volumes to where we've been at, where you basically within a month or two you're able to get everyone allowable to coach on the field like that. That's a huge thing for me and I think it just speaks volumes of where we're at, where with what we're doing with our, you know, our on site committee and all that to be able to kind of implement things quicker because it took so long to get legislation passed in the past where I feel like we can make an impact much quicker now. [00:10:51] Speaker B: It will be interesting. Like I, I would love for our sport and I'm sure the other sports feel this way too, but like have a good framework of rules that are enforceable but then like not, let's not be legislating bagels and spread, you know what I mean? Like just like we, we do have to get our arms around roster construction and those types of things. But you know, just like these types of things. Like I don't know if you agree rb but like the too many coaches thing always blew me away. Like it's like that's a negative. Like I could, I could portray this negative. Like how many guys do I want in my hitters ears? 5, 6? Like that doesn't sound like a good formula. So I like all those little things. I, I get it where coaches get a little bound to shape about who's out on the road and that type of thing. But I, I also think if we have the right roster limits, who cares? Like the, the, the empowered schools can only you, hey, guess what? Like I'm gonna pick on lsu. They're defending national champs. I don't care how many people LSU has on the road. Schools not of their ilk are not feeding them in recruiting anyway. So why do you care how many people LSU sons on the road? So anyway, and that's a quality of life. [00:12:01] Speaker A: Those of us that, that lived it and were on the road the entire summer, it's not that you're going to have probably 10 or 12, but if you limit to four out at a time, it gives people a chance to take a breather. [00:12:11] Speaker B: I do like that. [00:12:12] Speaker A: That's what I'm looking at it as with your staff. If you can send more people out, you're not just hammering your recruiting coordinator the entire summer to be out the entire time where you can at least catch a breath. And it's a quality of life issue for the assistance. And that way you're not having to give a waiver, a fake waiver that your head coach isn't going to go out. [00:12:33] Speaker B: They do waivers for conference previews. Fitzy, can I go? [00:12:37] Speaker C: Oh, well, I think we're gonna have to red shirt you next year. And how long is this recovery is going to last for this back issue? I mean, it's tough to have a guy blow out in the final of the, the preseason. Man, that's tough. [00:12:47] Speaker B: We're at the right. We're right through it. [00:12:50] Speaker A: Any other things you'd like to see in the immediate? [00:12:54] Speaker B: Fitzy and I have talked about this a lot. Like, I think my, like, the biggest thing I'd like to see. And again, it's a little fancy island because there's so many other things in college sports that need to get right first. But I would just like to see a set of rosters August 15th, and that's your roster until next year. Like, just like, not. I, I know it's better, it's improved. We're cutting less guys in the fall, but I'd rather just not cut, you know, like, if you have to cut a guy for academics or discipline. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about, like, right now you have to cut people because we have this arbitrary December 1st date. I would just like whatever the number is, 40, 34, whatever it is, that's your August 15th set. It let the market write itself. I think some kids will get cut in August, but I think it's better than getting cut in December. That would be my biggest thing. And then let's just have 10 months to develop them as people and then if it's time to move on, it's time to move on. If not, then we keep them, that type of thing. [00:13:50] Speaker C: I think there's, you know, I, I agree there's a lot of positives about that. I mean, I'm curious what you guys think as former coaches, though. Like, if you got 34 guys heading into the fall and you're locked in and then, you know, you lose four guys to TJ before the season starts, I mean, there's, there's not a lot of wiggle room there. What's, what's the rebuttal? [00:14:11] Speaker A: I never coached at places that cut guys like Evansville, Iowa, JMU Western. We just didn't. So we were in that model who, who showed up on campus. Other maybe through walk on tryouts. You might take an arm here and there through walk on tracks to help with inner squads in the fall to get you through the fall, but we never. Our roster was pretty much set by the time school started. [00:14:34] Speaker B: I think Fitzy, the answer to that is, is just like sensible medical, you know, exceptions. Like, like you have 34 in the fall, but like, if you have a kid that is, you know, like, the kids I worry about are the kids that have Tommy John, like at the end of the spring or in the summer. Like, if you have four kids blow out in the fall, I think you just have to chalk that up to like, oh, my gosh. Or like, I have to evaluate the kind of life I'm living, right? Like, what, what is the universe trying to tell me right now? But I think like, the kids I worry about is like, no one wants to burn a roster spot on them because they're not going to pitch in 2026. That kid should just be a free roster spot like a dsa, right? Like a medical DSA where, hey, we know going in the year, like, this kid is not pitching this year, but this is going to be a rehab year or I don't know, I feel like sensible minds could get in a room and figure that part out. But I also, I'm, I'm not saying 34 is the right number either. Like, 34 was picked by attorneys and, and, you know, people trying to balance athletic department budgets. 34 was not picked by baseball coaches in my opinion and range we talked. [00:15:37] Speaker A: About at the Garden State Clinic. I think the renaissance of the two way player, I think it's going to come back now. [00:15:43] Speaker B: That would be fun. Tell me on that. [00:15:44] Speaker A: I mean you're going to have to probably to make it work at least to get you through the fall. You know, the places I coached at carried multiple two way guys just because of that. They may not throw in the spring, but at least gave you an extra arm or two of a guy that, that was a pretty good high school pitcher to maybe get you through the fall a little bit. [00:16:01] Speaker B: I'm in. [00:16:02] Speaker A: You gave a good list of two way players by the way. [00:16:05] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah, that's right. [00:16:06] Speaker A: And I recapped on you. But we brought up, because I brought up Mike Owings and there were some. [00:16:11] Speaker B: Other guys I didn't miss. Some guys Tank Davis wasn't even on my list. Fitzy saw him pitch this fall for Louisville. It was legit. Fitzy. [00:16:18] Speaker C: I think it's real guys. I think it's real. Yeah, that's, you know, I mean it's, it's, that's the thing is you don't expect that guy. You didn't pitch at all last year. He's a big, big donkey first baseman. You didn't think him expecting to have pitch ability and it's like, you know 94 from low slot with just turbo sync and spin it and throw strikes and it's like, okay, you know, like this could be, this could be a real dude. As a two way guy. [00:16:41] Speaker A: Was McKay one of the last real good two way players that's been in division one baseball. [00:16:46] Speaker B: One of the, he was the most complete, right. Like he was like, like I think Kags is, is. It just was, you know, he was hurt his first year. Like he was coming off Tommy John. He was like just a, you know, life force but you know, he was more offense than McKay was just like awesome at everything, right? He's like basically three hole in Friday night and let's go for three years. [00:17:10] Speaker C: I mean for three years he was basically the best two way player in the country. And that's amazing. I mean just an amazing college career. One of the great college players of this, of the 21st century and for my money, but you know, AJ Reed for Kentucky won the national player of the year as a two way guy. He was a Friday night ace, you know, for a postseason team and also, you know, I think led the country in home runs. That guy comes to mind. I mean, Will Craig won our player of the year award at Wake Forest one year. It was, you know, less of a pitcher, but he was a meaningful kind of stopper guy just into a great offensive player. But Evan Dempsey is the guy this year you know, for for fgcu and I'm sure you guys have talked about that. But like, he's exciting, man. Like there's it's, it's some obviously really good on the mound. I mean his mound numbers are awesome, but I mean it gives you a lot of innings and he's a real guy as a hitter. Like he's probably the, you know, he just head and shoulders above everybody else. As far as actual two way impact this year. [00:18:07] Speaker B: All loyalty T2 like RB. I don't know if you caught that. But Fitzy, you. I think you wrote it. Fitzy, the all loyalty team article, which is I thought was. [00:18:14] Speaker A: That was my next question by the way, because everybody's so enamored with the transfer portal right now. I'm glad you guys are shining a light on guys that have been at the school and have stayed. [00:18:24] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll tell you guys on. On. I did the Austin P. First pitch banquet with Jack the Long Shop. It was so fun. And the, you know, Roland Fanning is obviously Roland is the best. Their number one assistant, John Littell, who played Oklahoma State. That's a rising star. That's a name to put in your back pocket. But I remember I was chatting with John and he was like, man, I was kind of counting on Evan Dempsey not being back for another year. Like, what's this kid got to do to get out of here? And you know, like, there's not a better compliment he could pay Evan Dempsey. Like what are you still doing in our league? But you're right, Fitzy, he's fun. [00:19:03] Speaker C: Yeah, he's a dude. [00:19:04] Speaker A: I also like the turnaround grid that you put put out. Whereas. So who you guys felt like is going to have the. The biggest win total. [00:19:11] Speaker B: Oh, the stock market game. [00:19:13] Speaker A: The stock market game. Shout out to you. Joe Healy had the aces as he did walk. But. But you talk about a guy at Stay Deverman at Evansville still there. [00:19:25] Speaker C: Yep. [00:19:25] Speaker A: Who was the Valley pitcher of the year's freshman year and. And beating ace of a super regional team and yep. Super regional thing. But neverman's there. He was a little banged up last year, but he's all the way back. So that's another one guy that. That maybe should have not should have left but could have but didn't it stayed and he's in his junior year now. [00:19:45] Speaker B: Who was your best pick in that draft? Do you remember? Who was your team? Mine was Texas Tech, I think is my. That's my buy low. [00:19:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. That's a good one. That's a good one. Runes. I. You know, I don't. I don't think I had a great year this year. You know, it's. I'm still gonna win because I win every year. [00:20:03] Speaker B: That's right. [00:20:03] Speaker C: But like last year I had UCLA and it was like money in the bank, you know, like, it's just sometimes you just know. I mean, I crushed all my picks last year. God, I'm a juggernaut. This year we're just gonna. We're gonna grind it out. [00:20:17] Speaker D: I love it. [00:20:18] Speaker A: You guys want to go through the top 25 a little bit? [00:20:20] Speaker B: Sure. [00:20:22] Speaker A: Aaron, you want to go first? [00:20:23] Speaker C: Yeah, let's do it. Sure. Yeah. So, I mean, what do you want to start? You want to start at the top? [00:20:28] Speaker A: Whatever you feel like. You guys are the experts. [00:20:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I mean, I'll just. I'll talk about our. Our process a little bit. It really came down to UCLA and LSU for preseason number one when we cast our ballots as a staff. And it was very close between those two teams at the top. And, you know, we. We met and talked it out a little bit, and I just think you say he's got so much back from an Omaha team. I mean, I just love the way they built this, this roster with taking their lumps two years ago with a young team with a bunch of freshmen. And, you know, they struggled, but they gained valuable experience from that process and came back and. And as sophomores, they were dudes. And. And now you've got three preseason All Americans on your infield, you know, with obviously Rock Chalowski, but also Mulu and Roman Martin and, you know, just about everybody back in the lineup. Most of them are juniors who've played together for three years now, which I just think is. Is rare and special right now in this era. And then, of course, you make yourself even better in the mound. I mean, they brought back again almost all their key guys on the mound, but you add a Logan Redman and an Angel Cervantes, who's the number one freshman in the country and quite possibly the number one, you know, transfer arm in the country. Like now they've got a real rotation, too. I mean, last year is more of a kind of mix and match staff now. I think they've got A real legit weekend rotation, plus incredible depth. They can still mix and match as much as they need to, but they've got some horses, I believe, that can go deep. So I, I just think they're the most complete team. [00:22:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's like Fitzy said, UCLA had the best returning team in the country, and then they won the off season. Right. Like, it was like they just added on to that. I would say with lsu rb, like, I think we've had this discussion internally. We all have to kind of prepare ourselves for. Is the. Is version 2.0 of the LSU baseball dynasty upon us. You know, they won two out of three. J.E. johnson at LSU feels like Nick Saban in Alabama, like an elite coach at an elite place at the peak of his powers. And, you know, I could also make an argument, if I really wanted to, you know, take on this theory, is that the biggest threat to J.E. johnson building another dynasty here is. Has left was Tony V at Tennessee, and now he's with the Giants. Now, of course, there are other threats like the teams and the rest of the top five. Like Texas has got pitching for days and Mississippi State, you know, Brian o' Connor's got a national championship ring, and their roster is very enticing. And then Georgia Tech, besides ucla, that is the best offense in the country. So there's, you know, and James Ramsey, you know, can he take Georgia Tech, you know, to another level? I think he can. So, yeah, it's fascinating. But the LSU thing is just, man, they're, they're. It, it just, you know, that old rinse and repeat, that's what it feels like right now. [00:23:20] Speaker A: Who. Who's the best player you saw this fall? Aaron. [00:23:25] Speaker C: Drew Burris, I would say. I didn't, I didn't see ucla. It's, you know, that's an easy answer, but it's just. Drew Person, Rock Chalowski are the two best players in the country. They're both going to be Golden Spikes Award finalists. You can just go ahead and write that down now. I mean, why even, you know, why even have the process. Just those two guys are. They're. They're in the finals. It's just. Burris is sensational. I mean, it's just like you show up for a fall ball, you know, game, and it's like he's Getting multiple balls, 110 mile an hour plus, you know, just bang, bang, bang. He's making sliding catches in center field. He's, you know, racing around the bases. He's just, he's the Guy. He's the guy and he's been for since the second he. He stepped on campus, you know, freshman, didn't he? Yeah. Two years of all America production, you know, already under his belt. And he's just awesome. He's a really, really special player. [00:24:19] Speaker A: What about best arm? [00:24:23] Speaker C: Best arm for me, that's a good one. Trying to think of who I saw in the fall. I mean, a lot of the good arms were shut down. Like I, I saw East Carolina, but did not see Ethan Norby. I saw Oregon State, did not see Dax Whitney. You know, those guys were down Fluky. I saw Coastal, but he didn't throw like it's, you know, a lot of that stuff. Hayden Johnson, though, speaking of Coastal, it's the guy that jumped out to me, you know, I mean it's a big lefty who's in their bullpen last year. Now he's probably gonna be their Saturday guy. Six foot five downhill and it's the, you know, it just explodes on you and it's like mid-90s, you know, call it 91 to 96, something like that with a plus lighter. And I think he is going to be the next like stud for them on the mountain. I still love their, their pitching staff. So that Flukey Johnson duo is. Has got a chance to win a lot of series. [00:25:16] Speaker A: Is there a better slider in college baseball than Norby's? [00:25:20] Speaker C: I don't think so. I, I think it's. [00:25:22] Speaker A: That slider is real. I was surprised back. [00:25:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you know, I know. [00:25:27] Speaker A: He'S not big, but that slider is real. [00:25:31] Speaker C: Yeah. All loyalty guy for sure. I'm sure he could have gone somewhere else. [00:25:34] Speaker A: That's a bullpen slider for. For in the big leagues. Like you can put him in the big leagues right now with that slider from the left side. [00:25:42] Speaker C: He spins it because. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Right. He's having a hard time getting it to it too. [00:25:46] Speaker C: And he apparently's worked on his change up so, you know, becoming more of a complete pitcher. Another weapon against righties. So you can run that cutter in on the heads of righties. Pl. Plenty of vo too. I mean, again, he'll show you 95ish, you know, and from the left side with ride and, and spin that slider 3,100 rpm, like 30. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Cliff, don't come for me. I was saying back because of the draft. I wasn't saying back because of transfer and I was saying back because the draft. Don't. Don't come for me on that. I don't Think anybody should transfer. I'll go. I'll go in. I don't. Unless you're getting abused by somebody, then you should leave. But, like, I'm. I'll. Don't come for me. I'm saying because of the scouts. [00:26:23] Speaker C: If he were draft eligible last year, last year, he would not be back. No, he's short, coach. He's going to be a good pick. [00:26:31] Speaker A: This stuff is real. [00:26:32] Speaker B: That's my favorite thing about Coach Godwin. He's looking. He's looking for things to be upset about. Yeah, he's not one to be happy. [00:26:38] Speaker A: Cliff was a player at ecu. He knows I love him. I go. I usually go to the Claire Classic. And so, yeah, don't. Don't come for me on that. That's not what I meant. So. And you know, we've had some Chicken Little with nil and all that, where it's only going to be the same teams that make it to Omaha. But then last year, Coastal Place for the national championship and Murray State makes it. And I thought last year was a down year for the Valley and Murray still made it. Who do you have this year that maybe hasn't been. Can we get a first timer in there? Because, I mean, we had Oral Roberts a couple years ago, Ed Murray. [00:27:12] Speaker B: You know, I got two things along those lines for Erb. So first, like, my philosophy on what you just said is that we were coming off of back to back outlier seasons. Like, I think four ACC teams and four SEC teams in Omaha and 24, even though those leagues are dominant, that's still an outlier. Like, that's kind of bonkers. And then last year, seven different leagues. That feels like an outlier too. But I mean, it's been fun. What a. What a ride, right? I think, like, the Big west really has my attention right now. Cal Poly is excellent again. Irvine keeps rolling. Santa Barbara keeps rolling. Fullerton is much improved. Hawaii is the program in that league that just keeps getting. Bridge Hill's doing an awesome job there. So I. One of my bold predictions is that the Big west will have a team in Omaha this year. And then the other thing that a hot take I want to. The acc, as good as that league is, has not had a team in the finals since 2015 when Virginia won it. That's over a decade. And I'm calling that this year that the acc, you know, basically, in fairness to the accident, the SEC basically has had a blockade on the finals. Right. It's like we've had Michigan in 2019, OU in 2022, when they were still in the Big 12 and then Coastal last year. But I, I just have this gut feel that the ACC is going to have a team in the finals this year. [00:28:31] Speaker A: And I mean that's, that's your home league. You feel the same on that acc. [00:28:38] Speaker C: I mean every year they have. Yeah, I mean every year they have teams that are capable of doing it, you know, and usually they got somebody in the final four and they just get beat, you know, like Wake Fore was the best team in the country a couple years ago in 2023 and they lost a 11 inning classic all time classic game against LSU in the semifinals, you know, and like what are you gonna do? It doesn't mean, you know, it's not like they were a fraud because they were in the ACC and just lost a epic game, you know, against another legendary team. Louisville last year was, was in the final Four. You know, I mean they're just. Yeah, sure. I mean they could break through any year and certainly there's a ton of talent in the acc. We've got more first team preseason all Americans than the SEC has. I mean the, you know, if you look around the, the position rankings, like there's a lot of ACC guys sitting there at number one, you know, and, and so, and I think there's, there's, I would say usually the separator, like those are the two best leagues. Everyone knows that the separator usually is the SEC has better arms as a whole. And maybe that's still the case. But like there are some pitching staffs in the ACC that really have my attention. I mean, you know, North Carolina, North Carolina State, I think Florida State, Clemson, Wake Forest all stand out to me for the quality of their arms. Now those teams aren't. Is sure thing offensively is Georgia Tech and Louisville are. Or Miami, you know, and so like there's not one team that I feel like at this point that I look at and say, oh they, they combine everything. Like they're, they're complete, complete like UCLA or LSU is in my opinion. But there are some really good pitching teams that if their lineups cl, they're going to be great. And there's some really good hitting teams that if they're pitching clicks, they're going to be great. So we'll, we'll see how it shakes out. I do think the ACC feels super wide open to me. I mean, you know, last year the, the league was decided the last day of the season. I think Georgia Tech winning Duke, winning game against Duke was the Difference and they got, they won the race season title. But right now, I mean like you asked me who's the top tier in the acc. I think it's nine teams deep. Like I think those top nine teams could finish in just about any order. Like it's, it's, it's wide open. [00:30:47] Speaker A: What about the Big 12? They gonna come back? [00:30:51] Speaker B: I, so I, One of my other. I'm in hot take mode right now. Rb. This is the week of hot takes. I like our good friend Chris Burke has an expression, the low oxygen zone. You know, like we've all seen these teams that they just start. It feels like they press in the postseason and like so one of my, my hot takes was Georgia, Oklahoma State, Clemson and Arizona State. I mean that's some brands in college baseball, right? Georgia, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Arizona State. One of my picks was that two of the four of them. Now two of them are big 12 teams are going to be in Omaha this year that they're going to break through. And I do think, you know, my broader point on the Big 12 is TCU was easy to pick up there because there's, I think it's the best sophomore class in the country. But man, that leg's got depth. Man, it just like there's everybody like with Cincinnati having a Jordan Bishell, you know, BYU's got five seniors in the lineup. You know, UT's got an ace and seven left hand hitters. Like I can make a case for all these teams, but I just, I'm really. Arkansas, I think was was really fun to see where they had lost three straight home post seasons and, and then they just broke through last year. I see a couple more of those instances happening this year too. [00:32:08] Speaker A: I still want Arkansas to this year. I do. [00:32:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:13] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:32:13] Speaker B: Hard not to root for dvh. [00:32:14] Speaker A: I've loved him forever. I'm just, I'm pulling for him. [00:32:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:32:18] Speaker A: Any other outside picks then for Omaha or who, who do you, who do you think's going to play for last? [00:32:23] Speaker C: Well, I'm gonna give you this. I'm gonna give you this. You asked for a potential first timer that could get there. We say this every year but like one of these years East Carolina is going to break through and you talk about, you know, some of the great sophomore classes in the country. I'll nominate East Carolina. I mean they're not, maybe not quite tcu, but gosh, I mean Austin Irby and Braden Burris are dudes, you know, and, and we'll see what, what Sean Jenkins can do in year Two. But Colby Weber, another great young arm. Like, they've, they've got this nice lineage of, of real, real dudes, as our friends Chris and and. And Runes would say on the Mount, you know, that they've Gavin Williams and you know, Agnos and Jenkins is in. [00:33:07] Speaker A: That crew, by the way. [00:33:08] Speaker B: He's. [00:33:09] Speaker A: He's got a chance if he stays healthy to be. [00:33:11] Speaker C: Got a chance. [00:33:11] Speaker A: That next line of. Of arms that gets the big leagues very quickly. [00:33:15] Speaker C: He. He's got a chance and so does Colby Weber, you know, and right now they've got Norby, you know, so it's like their best teams, they usually have a dude dude at the top. Treyus average. Of course, you know, like there's so many, so many of these guys and they got that guy, they got Norby and they got some, some more guys behind them and I like their athleticism and I, I just think this is going to be. After a rough regular season last year, they found it at the end. I think they gained confidence. It's kind of like UCLA two years ago where they took their lumps with those freshmen and by the end, you know, they benefited from that and as sophomores and I think we're going to see East Carolina do similar thing and be back to a vintage ECU team this year. [00:33:52] Speaker A: I, I saw them early. I give them a lot of credit for what they did throughout the season because early they were still trying to get their feet underneath them. And then you look up and they still had a great season, you know, taking their lumps early, but you could tell they were trying to figure it out. But like, there's pieces there. They always do a great job. [00:34:08] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Right. And. But it's, you know, it really wasn't until the last two weeks, you know, they finished tie for fifth in the American after winning it five or six years in a row. But last two weeks, I mean, I saw them in the regional coastal say, oh, okay. Like this is a regular ECU team, man. They're. They're dangerous. So yeah, I'm excited to see what they could do. Week two against North Carolina. That traveling series that should be a. Be a fun one. [00:34:28] Speaker A: And Runes mentioned Coach Vitello. Any other intriguing storylines and we got Brian o' Connor obviously is one. That's what I put down. Tony was. Was the other one. And then maybe the amount of college coaches we had go to pro jobs in the off season seemed like every other week there was another college coach going to the pro side. [00:34:47] Speaker B: I think Chris Pollard to Virginia is huge. You know, like he's gonna have more resources there than he had at Duke. And I think, you know, and again, like, it's easy to forget Chris Pollard took Duke to four super regionals. It almost feels like a, like four super regionals. They hadn't been to a regional since the 60s. And then I think James Ramsey, I mean, Brian O', Connor, of course, like the Mississippi State fans don't need much to get excited. And you know, of course Brian o' Connor is a lot to get excited about. And they have 10,000 people at a fall game, their fall alumni, whatever game that was, it was amazing. But I think James Ramsey is one of the most fascinating storylines this year. Like I, we, we're doing our bold predictions this week. RB for D1 and national title was a tough, like I just mentally was not going to pick UCLA or lsu. And so the two teams I started really playing around with were Florida State and because it's a link Jared team with pitching and Georgia Tech. And I'm thinking, okay, can James Ramsey pull Danny hall first year as the head coach, take them to the finals? I don't know that I trust Georgia Tech's pitching enough to pick them as my national champ. I trust them enough to get to Omaha. But I ended up settling on Florida State. But James Ramsey I think is going to do an awesome job. And you know, we all agree Georgia Tech is that that is 100% an Omaha roster. [00:36:07] Speaker A: And I had Corey Mascara and then Josh Elander too is kind of the other intriguing ones, really high profile assistant coaches now taking over. And but as Kevin Schnall proved any, you know, if you're a good assistant, you can be a really good head coach too. [00:36:22] Speaker C: Yeah, no doubt. And you know, all these guys we're talking about are kind of no doubters. You know, like these are guys that all were, were going to get their chances to lead a major program. It was only a matter of when. And you know, I do think the fact that Ramsey had a full year plus where he knew he was the guy and like they were grooming him to take over the program as the head coach and waiting and the fact that he has the continuity with his pitching coach, with Matt Taylor back, which is something that, you know, that Eleonor didn't get. I mean, he didn't get either of those luxuries. His, his thing came together late in the fall and he had to replace Frank Anderson. So, you know, I'm very interested to see how that goes in year one. I mean, I couldn't Be more bullish on the Elander era. Overall. I just think he's a superstar in the making. But, you know, I think Josh Randall's. [00:37:10] Speaker A: Been there for a while. [00:37:11] Speaker C: He's. He's really good. [00:37:12] Speaker A: He's really sharp through the wars like that. That's a good thing with Josh. Like, he's, he's been through the wars and he's been there for a long time, too. [00:37:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I think he's really sharp. I think he's a great hire. So we'll, you know, we'll. We'll see how that goes. In year one at Tennessee, the expectations are going to remain high like they always are. They're very talented, but they also have some more question marks on that roster than they have in recent years. So, again, another great sophomore class, like, and I do love to bet on sophomores, you know, teams that are sophomore heavy. More. More than junior heavy even. A lot of times, like, those are the ones that, to me, they just, they don't have draft itis. They're just like, they're out there and just. They got the swagger. They got some confidence. Now you. That's, that's intriguing to me. They could wind up being a lot better than we have them ranked. [00:37:56] Speaker A: I do want to give Tony Vitello a shout out, by the way. I spoke at the Ohio clinic. He actually flew in and spoke at the Ohio Clinic because he had, they had put him on there when he was at Tennessee. So he flew from Arizona, which he had. No, he didn't have to do that. And that's like the greatest thing about the baseball industry is he actually got on a flight from Arizona and San Francisco and came to Ohio two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, and spoke, which he didn't need to do. And like, you know, no matter what anybody thinks about Tony, like, I do really feel like he cares about the game and I do want him to do great, by the way. I think it would be great for college baseball if they do well with the Giants. [00:38:36] Speaker B: I just think it's fascinating that he. That whole situation has forced me to think of that. Think of it, the big leagues managing the big leagues in a different way. And I, I just. Where I landed on it is like, these Division 1 head coaches that have been in the game at the high level for. And, you know, even for Tony, whatever it was eight years. I think think about all the regional games and super regional games and Omaha games that Tony Vitello managed in and think about the pressure of the MLB playoffs and this is not me taking a shot at minor league baseball. But minor league baseball does not offer a manager or head coach that type of pressure cooker. But if you're, if you're an SEC head coach, you're getting that 10, 15, 20 games a year easy. And so the, you know, again, there's a lot of different paths to, to the top of the sport, but being, being a coach of, of that ilk sure is incredible preparation. [00:39:31] Speaker A: And your former boss has proven out with the brewers too. [00:39:35] Speaker B: That doesn't hurt. [00:39:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean I, Yeah, that's got to be in the back of a front office. Mind you look at what Murph's done with the Brewers. I cut his teeth for a long time on college baseball. [00:39:47] Speaker B: Big leaguers are younger too, by the way. Like, I think it's another factor. Right. [00:39:50] Speaker A: And a lot of college guys now. [00:39:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And they, they get to the big leagues quicker and they're just, you know, that 33 year old journeyman big leaguer is kind of a unicorn now. Like that's not, that's not the way they're doing it anymore. Like those guys are priced out. So anyway, yeah. Am I proud of Murph? Yes, very much. That was, it's been awesome to watch. [00:40:10] Speaker A: Now my favorite staff because Spencer Allen's their first base coach now. [00:40:13] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome. [00:40:15] Speaker A: Matt Eric. Matty Erickson's their third base coach now. Who's a Arkansas legend. Appleton, Wisconsin legend. [00:40:21] Speaker B: That's great. [00:40:21] Speaker A: That's my favorite staff in the big leagues. Where are you guys going to be at early or where are you calling games at early? Runes. [00:40:27] Speaker B: I got. So the, the first three weekends. First weekend in Phoenix is awesome. Like if you're, if you're listening, you're a college. If you're just a baseball junkie, the opening weekend in Phoenix is incredible because you got surprise and you've got the Desert Invitational all over the spring training sites. ASU's home, Oregon State comes as a surprise. It's awesome. And then I've got the Peak events tournaments, the weekends two and three. I've got Round Rock and then I've got the, the Vegas tournament this year is bonkers. Vandy, Oregon, Irvine and Arizona. [00:41:00] Speaker A: Wow. [00:41:01] Speaker B: Yep. And those guys at peak events do an awesome job. [00:41:04] Speaker A: Aaron, where are you? Where are you gonna be at? [00:41:06] Speaker C: So I'm starting at. Gosh, I'm going down to Hattiesburg. We got a fun little kind of intersectional UC Santa Barbara at Southern Miss, which I just think is a neat matchup. And you know And I love going to Hattiesburg. Those people down there just go nuts for college baseball. And, and I may, I may get down to see Missouri State at Louisiana as well later in the weekend. And then week two, we've got East Carolina, North Carolina, traveling series, and week three, I'll be at Globe Life. So, you know, our staff is going to be all over the place. We got all these great early season tournaments. The peak events, of course, the, the Rev events. And it gives us a chance to see a lot of teams, you know, in, in a condensed period. It, you know, without going to as many places, you can sit in one one spot and see a whole bunch of good teams. And so we'll have a presence at most of those major. [00:41:57] Speaker A: And you guys are streaming early too, right? I read that you guys are streaming games early. [00:42:01] Speaker C: Yeah, we're streaming all the peak events. So Vegas, Jacksonville, Frisco, Round Rock. Am I forgetting one? Rude. [00:42:09] Speaker B: I think that's, I think those are the four. Yep. [00:42:11] Speaker C: Okay. [00:42:11] Speaker A: Guys are gonna be the next ESPN. [00:42:15] Speaker B: Covering, covering Dodgeball on the Ocho. Let's go. There we go. [00:42:20] Speaker A: What else do we need to cover? What do you got? What else you guys looking forward to? [00:42:23] Speaker B: Year of the shortstop rb. [00:42:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:25] Speaker B: Incredible shortstops this year in college baseball. You know, we, we talked about this on a recent podcast, Fitzy and I, but you know, obviously Rock Chalowski's like Dansby Swanson 2.0. And then you've got, you know, Tyler Bell, 66 pick overall, turned down God knows how much money and comes to school bets on himself. Justin lebron, you know, is. It feels like a generational talent and that's just the tip of the iceberg at that position. It's really an incredible year for shortstops. [00:42:52] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:52] Speaker A: And what about you? What do you got? [00:42:55] Speaker C: You know, I think it's the, the year of Michael Patrick Rooney. I think it's a great redemption story heard in the preseason. Going to battle through adversity and turn in a career season in his age 50. What? I'm not on this. I'm not going to say it. How old, how old he is. It's going to be a career season. [00:43:12] Speaker B: You don't want me showing up in your regional RB as a. I finally got healthy three seed. Yeah, I'm your worst nightmare. [00:43:18] Speaker A: A lot of fifth year, six year seniors that are ready to go. [00:43:22] Speaker B: Yes. [00:43:22] Speaker A: Guys, thank you. I can't, can't thank you enough for doing this. I always love gets me going. I do the other previews first, but I always look forward to finishing up with you guys. So thanks for jumping on with me again. [00:43:32] Speaker B: Super fun. Love it. Thank you. [00:43:37] Speaker A: Here with Vincent Serino. Pg. What year is this for you now, Vincent with. [00:43:43] Speaker D: Oh God, probably 10. Year 10. [00:43:46] Speaker A: Year 10. I'm actually gonna see, I'm gonna see the Atlanta offices tomorrow actually. [00:43:53] Speaker D: Oh, nice. [00:43:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to watch Kennesaw U of E and Marshall play, so. And I, Taylor obviously is on our, he's our travel chair. So I'm gonna go down there and hang out with him and then go watch practice at Kennesaw after that, so. [00:44:07] Speaker D: Nice. Yeah, Taylor's the best. [00:44:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And I haven't seen Tyson Kim since probably when I left Iowa. Honestly, it's been a long time since I've seen Tyson, so. [00:44:15] Speaker D: Yeah, Tyson, he's still the mad scientist. [00:44:18] Speaker B: So. [00:44:19] Speaker A: Yes. What have you enjoyed about covering D1 baseball? [00:44:24] Speaker D: So to me it's a, it's, it's an entirely different aspect of the sport or I guess a different category. Almost like you look at high school ball. I watch obviously a ton of high school ball, youth baseball, sort of stuff like that. College is so much more of a next step for a lot of those guys. You see a lot of, I think, things that high school guys would need to work on moving forward. Guys that like, this is what it takes to be a D1 athlete. This is what it takes to be a college athlete. And this is what they do on a day to day basis. Just kind of creating that ability for those guys to kind of set, set check marks, set benchmarks, to be able to grow and continue to elevate his baseball players. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Over the last 10 years, which high school guys have you liked the best? [00:45:12] Speaker D: Oh man, this is, this is a fun one. I mean it's hard to, it's hard to ignore what Bobby Witt was when he was in high school. That guy was the superstar the first time he got on a baseball field. You know, I, I think Hunter Green was obviously pretty special in his own right. There's a lot of play. I think Hunter Green and Jack Cagle really stand out because those were two guys. If the sport was in a different place, like they might not be doing what they were doing. You know, if Jack, if Jack gets drafted out of high school, he's probably a pitcher only and we never get to see him hit 500 foot home runs. And the, the same can kind of be said for Hunter Green. If Hunter Green and doesn't get drafted as a pitcher, like he probably would have been a first round shortstop any Guy. [00:45:58] Speaker A: Any guys you saw along the way in high school that, you know, obviously aren't pro ready, but go to college and then you look up later on, they're. They're in the big leagues. [00:46:09] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I, I think there's a ton of really good examples. I think Paul Skeens is probably the best example of that. Yeah, no, he was, he was a catcher when he came to PG national, he didn't even pitch it. The national showcase goes to Air Force for two years, then LSU for one. And then you blink and you miss it and he's in the big leagues winning Cy Youngs. [00:46:27] Speaker A: Going over your top 25 great list. You guys got UCLA at 5. So I'm intrigued to ask about that because obviously it's just preseason does not matter, but obviously I think the intriguing thing for me now with college baseball is when you look at the preseason and top 25s, you're like, okay, yep, yep, yep, yep. And then realistically you might look up and all 25 of those have a legitimate chance of maybe making it to Omaha. Honestly now. [00:46:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:56] Speaker D: And I think, I think ucla, I think the thing that stuck out most, stood out most is the returning. The returners. What, what they have product just production wise, they have the best returning core of the country. We can sit here, like you said, preseason rankings or preseason rankings for a reason. We. And we. That's literally what we do is sit there and look at the roster quality, the roster makeup, that sort of thing. But in terms of strictly returning production, I don't think UCLA is in a league of their own. [00:47:24] Speaker A: Craig on his way down to watch Texas this weekend? [00:47:27] Speaker D: Yeah, I believe he. I believe Shout out Craig. Yeah, shout out. Cozy. [00:47:32] Speaker A: I believe the office. But then I like, obviously we were down in Austin for a youth summit, so we went to UT's practice and. And so I got to talk to Sam for a while, but I'm a little slow on some of that stuff. But Sam looks good, man. I watched some of the alumni stuff with the UT alumni game. That Sam pitch, he looks good, man. So hopefully he gets an opportunity to get a lot of innings, which I think he will. [00:47:57] Speaker D: Yeah, I saw some of that alumni game too. He looked good. He looked sharp. But I mean, Texas pitching is going to be really, really good. [00:48:03] Speaker A: So who else are you excited about in the top 25? I know everybody's talking about LSU and Georgia Tech. Tech, but who else are you excited about in the top 25? [00:48:14] Speaker D: I was gonna say Georgia Tech. I feel like this is the, the best Roster that they've had in some time. Like when you're talking about, like offensively, I think that they really stand out for me. Florida is another team that really stands out for me. I think this is kind of the best shape their pitching staff has been in in a couple of years when it comes to just horses at the top of the rotation. But also I think that they're. I think they're older than a lot of other SEC teams for the first time in a long time. And I think that that senior leadership, that senior experience, I think that's proven to be a winning formula in recent years. [00:48:47] Speaker A: We do an office pool. I actually picked them to win it last year. [00:48:52] Speaker D: I picked them to win this year. [00:48:53] Speaker A: So I know we do. For people don't know that we do actually pick. Our office does actually pick an office pool that. Eight teams to make it. I pick a little bit earlier than probably I should out of everybody else. But I was better last year. I waited a little bit longer than then some other guys in the office, so it actually worked out fine. So anybody on the outside looking in on the top 25 that might have a chance after these first couple weekends to pop in? [00:49:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I think obviously the SEC is so deep, but Ole Miss is one of the teams that stood out. When you have a guy like Hunter Elliott coming back like that makes Friday nights a lot easier than that conference, you know. And outside of that, Arizona is a team I was really bullish on kind of going through the preseason. I think. I think the. They have a pretty good position in the Big 12, and I think they have a good roster top to bottom. [00:49:54] Speaker A: I think this might be a comeback year for the Big 12, actually. [00:49:58] Speaker D: Yeah, no, me too. I think it's. I think there's a lot of depth. [00:50:04] Speaker A: Looking at the draft wise, who are some of the top position players we need to pay attention to? I know with Rock Chalowski at ucla, but. And Burris Said at Georgia Tech. Who else do we need to pay attention to? [00:50:16] Speaker B: Yeah, those are. [00:50:17] Speaker D: Those are the two big ones, obviously. Two. Two more kind of big position player names. I'll give you AJ Gracia at uva, followed that coaching staff over to Charlottesville, and Justin lebron at Alabama are two other really big names. You're probably talking about Derek Curry out from LSU in that category as well. [00:50:37] Speaker A: What about top pitchers. [00:50:40] Speaker D: Right now? I think on our draft board we have Cameron Fluke from coastal at 1. So some other guys that would kind of fit that category would be Liam Pearson of Florida, Jackson Flora at UC Santa Barbara is another name. And then you get into kind of your Tommy Lepores at tcu, Gabe Gackle at Arkansas. Hunter D. Said, Arkansas is another guy who has a chance to really climb up boards if he could show he's healthy. Owen Kramkowski in Arizona, some other big, big names there. [00:51:11] Speaker A: Santa Barbara just keeps pumping them out. [00:51:13] Speaker D: It's a factory, man. [00:51:15] Speaker A: I think it's just a matter of time for them before they punch their ticket. [00:51:18] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so, too. That's gonna be. [00:51:23] Speaker A: They were one of my picks a couple years ago with that squad they had that got beat by Oregon. [00:51:28] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. [00:51:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:29] Speaker A: Because I saw them early at Campbell and I was like, they're having a hard time. But their catcher got hurt was the biggest part of that. He came back right here. But, but I, I put them in as an Omaha team after I saw him that first weekend at Campbell. [00:51:43] Speaker D: Yeah, and obviously I mentioned Florida, but they're Jackson, Florida. But, you know, they have a ton of, ton of arms with that staff and watching them and Irvine go out of the seat is going to be fun. [00:51:53] Speaker A: Are you tracking the portal much? Who are the, who are the main Portal transfer guys that bounced? [00:51:59] Speaker D: You mean like guys that are coming in this year? [00:52:01] Speaker A: Yeah, guys that switch schools? [00:52:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:04] Speaker D: So obviously Gracia kind of followed Pollard and the staff to the uva. [00:52:08] Speaker A: That's kind of a, that's an old school one, though. That's a. [00:52:11] Speaker D: That's. [00:52:11] Speaker A: Yeah. That's not a po. That's not a poach. That's a coaching change one. Yeah. [00:52:16] Speaker D: You know, same thing with like some of the Mississippi State guys following or Virginia following o' Connor to Mississippi State there. Some of the, some of the other ones that we got, obviously Chris Akopian going from Maryland to Texas A and M, I think is a, A pretty significant one. When you talk about kind of just the SEC schools grabbing some of the top, top guys in the portal. Trey Beard going to Florida State is another significant one. He was the first team All American for us last year at Florida Atlantic. He'll be going to the ACC now. And then, you know, just kind of. There's some of the top schools, I think, in the SEC ACC kind of making big portal classes. It's definitely added a new wrinkle to the sport, that's for sure. [00:53:12] Speaker A: You have any sleepers to get to Omaha? Maybe people that aren't paying attention, sleepers or maybe teams that haven't made it yet? [00:53:26] Speaker D: I mean, it feels like for me, Oregon, you know, I think we Were obviously pretty high on Oregon in our preseason rankings, and then they haven't been as high in a couple other publications I've seen. But I think that's a very veteran roster and I think they bring back some big pieces on the mound that can compete. And I think especially when you're talking about kind of the top half of the Big Ten, I think that's an extremely winnable conference for them. Obviously UCLA is ucla, but, you know, it looks like a two horse race between those guys right now, and I'm just really bullish on their roster. [00:54:01] Speaker A: I still have a hard time with the conference realignment, with the amount of teams that are in the Power 4 conferences. [00:54:07] Speaker D: It's kind of crazy. [00:54:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I looked up some of these rankings, just popped across one of my feeds and they're like starting from the bottom and it's like 16 and I'm like, It just, my brain had a hard time like just wrapping its head around that. That. Okay, there's. There are 16 teams in, in these leagues now. [00:54:28] Speaker D: Yeah, it's, I mean, you know, a little inside baseball on our end when we do the, the conference previews and everything. It's like when there's 16 teams in the conferences, it's like, all right, well, maybe we got to split these up a little bit. Like get, get a couple guys working on this instead of just one person. Exactly. [00:54:45] Speaker A: Are you going to be out watching games early? [00:54:49] Speaker D: Yeah. My point. So not this weekend, but next weekend. My plan is to hopefully be up in Jacksonville. The land area. [00:54:59] Speaker A: Nice. [00:55:00] Speaker D: Stetson's team's coming and then Jacksonville has that kind of classic going on, so hopefully be able to hit some of those games that weekend. [00:55:08] Speaker A: So go ahead, keep going. [00:55:10] Speaker D: Oh, sorry. I was just gonna say we have this weekend we're going to have some of our guys over at Shriners and then surprise Arizona and then we'll, we'll have guys kind of covering those early season Texas tournaments throughout the first couple weeks. Believe we're going to have some coverage from the, the Vegas Classic in a couple weeks too. [00:55:33] Speaker A: So they wouldn't let you go to Puerto Rico? [00:55:36] Speaker D: Oh, man, I wish. I love going to Puerto Rico. I go there a couple times a year that. I love that place. [00:55:43] Speaker A: Do you really? [00:55:44] Speaker D: Oh, it's awesome. It's awesome. Just the, the, the, the food, the people, the baseball's awesome. [00:55:51] Speaker A: Oh, that's tremendous. So if you had to pick right now, who are your, who are your two to play for the national championship? [00:56:00] Speaker D: Oh, I would, I'll say. Let's Go with, go UCLA and Arkansas. [00:56:10] Speaker A: Love it. [00:56:11] Speaker D: Feel like people are sleeping. [00:56:12] Speaker A: I'm calling for Arkansas. I, I said this with the D1 baseball guys. I love Coach Van Horn. I got to be back with Coach Van Horn. [00:56:19] Speaker D: So, yeah, I do. [00:56:21] Speaker A: I have a soft spot for, for him as a human being. So I do want. That's, that's not saying against any of my other friends in college baseball and Division 1 baseball, but I, I'm pulling for Coach Van Horn and I just. [00:56:33] Speaker D: I, I think Arkansas is like universally like the last couple years, like a top five preseason team, a top program, all this and that. But for this year, for whatever reason, I feel like they're getting a lick slept on and it's like, guys, this is still a really, really good team. [00:56:46] Speaker A: And maybe that's the year that they do it, honestly. [00:56:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:50] Speaker D: That's when you least expect it. [00:56:53] Speaker A: What other storylines are you, you following? Because, I mean, we had quite a bit in the off season with coaches switching. [00:57:00] Speaker D: Yeah. So obviously some of the new, new, new coaching hires are super interesting to me. Interested to see kind of what Tennessee looks like. [00:57:09] Speaker B: Yep. [00:57:10] Speaker D: You know, big, big fan of Coach Elander. Think they do a great job over there at Tennessee, but very interesting when we have a very similar case study the year prior with Michael early at A and M and kind of how that went. Obviously Tennessee's not like the unanimous number one team in the preseason, so a little bit different expectations. But, but on the flip side of that, Mississippi State, I think is super interesting because they're almost like a universal top five preseason team in one off season. Obviously, you know, Coach Oak's going to do a really good job and has done a really good job building that roster. But, but seeing kind of where they can go. Another thing that stands out to me is Oregon State. I think this is the second year in a row they've done a really tremendous job with their scheduling, obviously the roster construction and building the roster, that sort of thing. But like, you know, they got a guy like Dax Whitney to campus, they got a guy, they got him to turn down first round money to go to school, and they're still like, there's, they're still an elite baseball program and showing that kind of the second year in a row now being quote unquote independent, but showing that they can schedule like a top 10 team, like a national title contending team, I think is hats off to them. Kudos to them. [00:58:24] Speaker A: A little bit of that early 2000s Oregon state feel to it. [00:58:27] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah, it does. I mean, that Once you punch of Whitney and Kleinschmidt's gonna be that's gonna be tough to beat for anybody. [00:58:34] Speaker A: One of my other outside. I think TCU is going to get there too. [00:58:38] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. TCU is really good. That that sophomore class they got there is really, really special. [00:58:46] Speaker A: What else do we need to touch on before I let you go? [00:58:52] Speaker D: So Jay Johnson's got two national titles of four years of Baton Rouge. That's pretty good. [00:58:58] Speaker C: We. [00:58:58] Speaker D: We had a conversation a couple weeks back doing the. The obviously they're our number one team in the preseason. Talk about. I didn't know if you know this or not. It was like I told him, you know, he won two national titles but you've actually never won the SEC. So speaking of like super conferences and 16 team leagues now, I thought that was kind of funny. Me. [00:59:19] Speaker A: It's really hard to do though, especially with that league. You know, that's a grind to try to get through that schedule. But he's so good and you know, obviously it matters way more in the postseason than it does in the regular season. Obviously the regular season matters, but it's so hard with that amount of teams try to win that thing, especially the two sides. [00:59:44] Speaker D: The, the other thing I think is that I think this is going to be a banner year for the accurate. I think the ACC is really, really deep this year. I think we had eight, eight teams ranked in our preseason top 25. That could have easily been, you know, 10 or 11 probably. But other sports notwithstanding, I think ACC is absolutely a 1A 1B with the SEC. Yeah. [01:00:08] Speaker A: As it should be. Makes for better. Makes for better paying attention to it 100%. What else, anything else we need to cover? [01:00:19] Speaker D: Just kind of looking at my sheet here, you know, like I said with the Big Ten, like I'm interested to see kind of how that shakes out outside of like the top top. Hopefully some of those schools in the middle of the pack, like I guess top end, middle ish. Like your Nebraska's, your Rutgers, that sort of thing. See kind of how they shape up up. Vanderbilt might be the most interesting in the team in the country to me. [01:00:44] Speaker A: Love it. [01:00:46] Speaker D: You know, this is kind of. They're kind of. They're not sexy for lack of a better term. [01:00:52] Speaker B: Right. [01:00:53] Speaker D: Like they don't have like the number one pick on their roster or this. But I think they're a very good club and I think that their pitching in particular doesn't get enough love. I think they have some, some, some very, very good pieces in that, in that rotation. I think. I think Austin Nye is going to explode to be a superstar this year. Year, personally, that was a big Austin Nye guy back in high school, and it sucked. He got. He got injured, so he missed his senior summer, so we didn't get to see him. He came back and pitched, I think, in the spring, but I think he's gonna explode this year. [01:01:23] Speaker A: Love it. Love it. All right, sir, well, enjoy this opening weekend here. Appreciate you. [01:01:29] Speaker D: Yeah, you as well. [01:01:30] Speaker A: With me. Yep. I look forward to it. And I'll give the PG office a shout out. [01:01:36] Speaker D: Yeah. Tell Taylor and Tyson I said hello. All right, sir. [01:01:40] Speaker B: All right. [01:01:40] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:01:41] Speaker A: The game of baseball has grown at all levels, in large part to what our sports writers are doing to shine a light on every level. Thanks to all our sports writers for. [01:01:48] Speaker D: All their hard work. [01:01:49] Speaker A: And covering the game of baseball is your yearly reminder to get out there and support all your local colleges. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale and Matt west and the ABC office for all help on the podcast. Feel free to reach. Reach out to me via email r brownleypca.org Twitter, Instagram or TikTok at coachbca. Direct message me via my app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off with the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks. And leave it better for those behind you. You know that way Yep. Wait for another day and the world. [01:02:37] Speaker C: Will always return as your life is never for yearning and you know that. [01:02:47] Speaker A: Way Wait for a night other.