This week, D1 Baseball released their first, second, and third-team preseason All-Americans. Here are four observations from these All-American lists.
The first-team preseason All-American list has all the big-time players in college baseball.
Players like Jace LaViolette from Texas A&M, Jamie Arnold from Florida State, and Cam Cannarella from Clemson were clearly going to make the list.
However, the Virginia Cavaliers are the only team with two position players with first-team All-American status.
Catcher Jacob Ference makes the list after batting .350 and having 17 home runs in his first season in Charlottesville.
His teammate and second baseman Henry Godbout also made the cut as he batted .372 and had an on-base percentage of .472.
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the only team with two first-team All-American pitchers.
Tyler Bremner makes the list as one of the pitchers in the country with top-five MLB draft stock in 2025. In 2024, he had an 11-1 record with a 2.54 ERA in 19 appearances.
His counterpart in the UCSB starting rotation, Cole Tryba, also made the first-team list. He had a phenomenal sophomore season in 2024 with a 3.64 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 47 innings of work.
The second-team All-American list is stocked with mid-major talent. Half of the position players are from mid-major schools.
This category includes catcher Caden Bodine (Coastal Carolina), first baseman Tanner Thach (UNC Wilmington), outfielder Nick Dumesnil (California Baptist), designated hitter Grant Jay (Dallas Baptist), and utility man Austin Smith (San Diego).
It is unique to see that even in this new-found day and age of college sports with NIL incentives, mid-major schools still have lively baseball talent.
These players will have a major impact on their teams. They will look to cause trouble for the bigger teams during the season and even in the NCAA Tournament down the road.
The Texas Longhorns, Duke Blue Devils, and Vanderbilt Commodores have multiple players on the third-team All-American list.
The Longhorns have shortstop Jalin Flores and outfielder Max among the position players.
Flores had a spectacular 2024, batting .340 and hitting 18 home runs. Belyeu, who was named Big 12 Player of the Year, also hit 18 home runs while batting .329.
Like Texas, Duke also has two position players on the third-team list. This includes outfielder A.J. Garcia, who batted .305 and had an on-base percentage of .440. He was on D1 Baseball’s All-American freshman team at the end of last season.
Another Duke player on the list is third baseman Ben Miller. He was super talented at the plate in 2024, with a .360 batting average and an on-base percentage of .438. Last season, he was on Golden Spikes Award Watchlists.
Vanderbilt has two pitchers among the third-team All-Americans. These arms are J.D. Thompson and Miller Green.
Thompson had a 5-2 record and a 4.15 ERA in 12 starts in 2024. He was also very successful at obtaining strikeouts, with 74 in 52 innings.
Green was a phenomenal freshman reliever in Nashville last season with a 3.16 ERA and three saves in 31.1 innings.
Looking at these All-American lists, it is clear why D1 Baseball and many other college baseball news outlets rank the Texas A&M Aggies as the country’s top team.
Texas A&M has two players on both the first-team and second-team All-American lists.
Golden Spikes Award front-runner Jace LaViolette and returning ace Ryan Prager represent the Aggies on the first-team All-American list. Both players were D1 Baseball All-Americans to end last season.
On the second-team list, Texas A&M has reigning SEC Freshman of the Year Gavin Grahovac and Penn transfer Wyatt Henseler. He is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year and batted .360 a season ago.
______
CLICK HERE for D1 Baseball’s Full Preseason All-American Teams
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
