College baseball 2024 preview: LSU Tigers looking to defend their College World Series title as season gets underway

Baseball is back … kind of.

The return of MLB spring training doesn’t deliver actual game action for another week, and those exhibition contests aren’t exactly scintillating television. Spring games have about as much tension as an episode of “CoComelon.”

But if you’re looking to watch high-energy, competitive baseball before Opening Day, there’s another option: college baseball. That’s right, folks, the Division I season starts Friday, with all the best teams in the country in action.

Now, for a novice, the world of college ball can be overwhelming in its vastness. And yes, the quality of play is inferior to the bigs, and yes, the ping of an aluminum bat is a crime against humanity. But once you overcome those roadblocks, college baseball is a true joy that has quite a bit to offer fans of all stripes.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2024 MLB season]

Besides, it’s baseball on Feb. 16.

To get things rolling, here’s a quick primer for the uninitiated.

Who won the championship last year?

The LSU Tigers.

But the purple and gold didn’t just win their first College World Series title since 2009; they put together a generational season that broke into the mainstream baseball consciousness, thanks to the scintillating duo of Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews. The pair of All-Americans then became the first college teammates in baseball history to be taken first and second in the MLB Draft, and both should be impact big-league players within the next few seasons.

Don’t expect anything like that again. What Skenes accomplished on the mound (1.69 ERA with 209 punch-outs in 122⅔ innings) was historic, as was Crews’ performance at the dish (.426/.567/.713 with 18 bombs). Yet despite those departures, the Tigers are still a top-five team in the country, thanks to an impressive list of returning players headlined by Tommy “Tanks” White and an imposing incoming crop of NIL transfers. They’re definitely worth a watch.

Does the SEC win every year?

It certainly feels like it. The past four national champions and five of the past six have come from the conference where “it just means more.” And this year could be more of the same. Six of Division I baseball’s top 10 teams and three of the top four are from the SEC.

In recent years, NIL money and the transfer portal have only strengthened the South’s grip on the sport, with mega-programs such as LSU, Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee capitalizing on the capitalism. Perennial powerhouse Vanderbilt was a bit slower to adjust to the new reality, but the Commodores have started to catch up and remain a top-10 club. And with Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC in 2025, things are only going to become more imbalanced.

Who has the best shot to dethrone the SEC?

The No. 1 team in America: the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Last year, the Deacs delivered the most successful season in program history, going 54-12 before falling to LSU in a nail-biting CWS semifinal. And even though Wake lost two of its best players, Rhett Lowder and Brock Wilken, in the first round of the MLB Draft, it might be even better in 2024. The offense is led by two more likely first-rounders in lanky, big-slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz and Division II transfer outfielder Seaver King. The pitching staff is similarly imposing, with three arms set to go in the top 50 picks: Josh Hartle, Michael Massey and Tennessee transfer Chase Burns.

Over the past few seasons, Wake Forest has risen from a respectable but forgettable program to one of college baseball’s most fearsome juggernauts. But that ascension won’t be complete until it wins the whole thing. This year, it has a great shot to do it.

How is conference realignment impacting baseball?

Football has been, understandably, the dominant force behind college sports’ dramatic, high-stakes game of musical chairs. That leaves secondary sports such as baseball in an uncomfortable spot, particularly when it comes to geographic distance. Once Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA join the Big Ten next season, they’re likely to be saddled with cross-country treks to face their Midwestern and East Coast conference foes. For football and basketball, those lengthy trips often pay for themselves, but that’s not the case for smaller sports, which have smaller budgets.

But in this, the final season with the traditional alignment, one particularly compelling story to watch is Oregon State. The Beavers were one of two institutions left out in the cold — Washington State is the other — when the Pac-12 disbanded. And while Oregon State’s football program has generally been an afterthought, its baseball program has been one of the best in the country the past few decades. The Beavers are stacked again in 2024, with a potential top-five pick, Aussie slugger Travis Bazzana, leading the way. The baseball Beavs have one last shot to run the conference before trudging toward an uncertain future.

Who are some other top players to know?

University of Florida two-way player Jac Caglianone is the guy with the best shot to become “actual” famous because, well, he hits and pitches. The 6-foot-5 dynamo was one of the best hitters in America last year, whacking 33 homers with a .323 batting average. His pitching was more solid than spectacular — 74⅔ innings with a 4.34 ERA and 55 walks leave room for improvement — but there aren’t many dudes throwing fastballs in the upper-90s with their left arms. If “Jac-Wagon” hones his command and cuts down his chase rate at the dish, he’ll be in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick and the inevitable comparisons to Shohei Ohtani.

Brody Brecht, a right-handed pitcher at the University of Iowa, is probably the most exhilarating pitcher in the country this year. His fastball sits at 100 and touches higher. Last year, he threw a pitch clocked at 104.

Previously a two-sport athlete, Brecht gave up football before the 2023 baseball season, which means this past fall was his first focusing on baseball. There are still questions about the depth of his arsenal, his durability, his command, etc., but there’s a world in which Brecht one day challenges Aroldis Chapman’s record for the fastest pitch ever thrown (105.8 mph).

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