With the 2025 college baseball season in the books, World Baseball Network takes an early look ahead at the 2026 college baseball season and breaks down some early predictions.
The SEC had just two teams in the field of eight at the 2025 College World Series in Omaha. Nonetheless, the LSU Tigers won their second national championship in three years.
This marked the sixth straight season an SEC team has won the national championship.
It is hard early on to pick against that trend for 2026, especially when the odds were stacked against the SEC this season. But LSU, Arkansas, and Tennessee are all early favorites to lift the Dick Howser Trophy next season.
The freshman season Myles Bailey had for Florida State entails what kind of play he can show in 2026.
This season, the former White Sox draft pick had a .327 batting average, 19 home runs, and 56 RBI.
Bailey was recognized by Baseball America as a first-team Freshman All-American. He will enter 2026 as one of the more prolific hitters returning to play college baseball.
This should put him well in contention for the Golden Spikes Award next season.
The Georgia Bulldogs are retooling with great transfer portal pickups in the offseason ahead of the 2026 college baseball season.
They have brought in players like Alabama State’s Juan Cruz, who led the country in hits, and Seattle’s two-way talent, Kenny Ishikawa.
They have one of the best transfer portal classes thus far. With the extension of Wes Johnson’s contract made during this season, the Bulldogs are eyeing a trip to the College World Series next season.
Paul Mainieri will be back in Columbia for the 2026 college baseball season. After a letdown season for South Carolina in 2025, he and the rest of the coaching staff went to work in the transfer portal.
South Carolina has made many big additions like Florida’s Alex Philpott and Wake Forest’s Josh Gunther.
The Gamecocks also have plenty of players from last season’s team returning such as KJ Scobey, Beau Hollins, and Jake McCoy.
The first season for Mainieri and company was a tough one. However, South Carolina looks to have a healthy mix of solid returners and great transfer portal talent to make a push at the NCAA Tournament next season.
The Texas Longhorns have a legit, big-time arm on their hands in Dylan Volantis.
In 2025, the southpaw won the SEC Freshman of the Year award. In 51 innings, he finished with a 1.94 ERA and had 12 saves. He struck out 74 batters over that same stretch of play.
Volantis had quite the statline for his freshman season, pitching in a closer type of role for most of the season. The 2026 college baseball season can show he is one of the best pitchers in the country.
The biggest coaching carousel move happened in Starkville. Brian O’Connor is headed to Mississippi State after a long tenure coaching the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Bulldogs have not been to a super regional since 2021. Despite a rough 2025 season in Charlottesville, O’Connor got Virginia to a super regional three times this decade.
The experience and winning ways of O’Connor with the winning culture behind Mississippi State baseball make this a match made in heaven. The Bulldogs can be primed for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tennessee Volunteers landed former Virginia Cavalier Henry Ford in the transfer portal.
Ford is an elite hitting talent who played two seasons in Charlottesville. During those two seasons, he had 28 total home runs. He had double figures in home runs in both 2024 and 2025 individually.
In other words, he can hit for power. This fits the bill of Tennessee baseball. Ford can put up his best season yet playing in one of the biggest hitters’ parks in college baseball in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
As a reminder, Ford is a top 75 MLB draft prospect. Therefore, he could end up taking the professional route instead of playing the 2026 college baseball season in Knoxville. But, these are World Baseball Network’s bold predictions and Ford is predicted to have a great 2026 in Tennessee orange.
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
Photo: Florida State infielder Myles Bailey (12) walks to first base during an NCAA regional baseball game against Bethune Cookman on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)
