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College  | Rankings | 1/8/2026

2026 Preseason Top 25

With an interesting and action-packed fall behind us, a new college season is just around the corner. The college game continues to prove it is alive and well as the Division 1 team count has now ballooned to 308 teams for the 2026 season. With new legislation allowing teams 5-weeks to prepare for opening day, many student athletes have returned to campus and will begin skill related workouts soon. Opening Day, as usual, will fall on Valentine’s Day weekend and it is just six weeks away. After a fall of evaluation and months of research and discussion, we are ready to release our annual Perfect Game pre-season Top 25 poll.

After winning 53-games, hosting the NCAA Regional and Super Region, and sweeping their way through the College World, the LSU Tigers will debut the 2026 season as our No.1 ranked team. Head coach, Jay Johnson, has now led the Tigers to two national titles in the last three season and it was the program’s 8th overall. They wasted no time reloading for the 2026 season as they landed 13 of Perfect Game’s top 100 high school prospects on campus this fall and crushed the transfer portal as well. All of that will supplement an incredible returning roster of 13 heavy contributors from ’25, headlined by reigning SEC Freshman of the Year and potential first round pick, Derek Curiel. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets make a splash for first year head coach, James Ramsey, as they will open the season at No. 2 in the poll. The Rambling Wreck may very well have the nations deepest and most dangerous offense to go with a much-upgraded pitching staff. Another first-time head coach, Josh Elander, will have the spotlight directly on him as he leads the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers into the new season. The Vols will have a new look with longtime head coach Tony Vitello taking his personality to San Francisco as the new skipper of the Giants, but the cupboard is packed with talent in Knoxville. Coming off another heartbreaking run in Omaha, Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas Razorbacks will start the year at No. 4 in the rankings. They will field one of the most talented and balanced rosters in the nation and look like a national title contender. Rounding out the Top 5 will be the resurgent UCLA Bruins, as John Savage returns the best junior class in the nation and have another run to Omaha in their sights. Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky enters the ’26 season as the favorite to go 1:1 in this year’s MLB Amateur Draft and will set the pace for the Bruins high-octane offense.



The SEC once again leads the poll with a total of 9 members on the pre-season list, with 3 of the top 5 and 6 of the top 10 coming from the league. The ACC is right behind them with 8 teams while the Big 10, and Sun Belt both have 2 teams represented. After that the Big West and the American Athletic Conference have a team and Oregon State is in with another year as an Independent.

Rank
Team
Conference
Head Coach
25 Finish
25 Record
1
LSU
SEC
Jay Johnson
CWS Champions
(53-15)
2
Georgia Tech
ACC
James Ramsey
Oxford Regional
(41-19)
3
Tennessee
SEC
Josh Elander
Fayetteville Super Regional
(46-19)
4
Arkansas
SEC
Dave Van Horn
College World Series
(50-15)
5
UCLA
Big 10
John Savage
College World Series
(48-18)
6
Mississippi State
SEC
Brian O'Connor
Tallahassee Regional
(36-23)
7
Oregon State
Independent
Mitch Canham
College World Series
(48-16-1)
8
Texas
SEC
Jim Schlossnagle
Austin Regional
(44-14)
9
Florida State
ACC
Link Jarrett
Corvallis Super Regional
(42-16)
10
Auburn
SEC
Butch Thompson
Auburn Super Regional
(41-20)
11
TCU
Big 12
Kirk Saarloos
Corvallis Regional
(39-20)
12
Florida
SEC
Kevin O'Sullivan
Conway Regional
(39-22)
13
Oregon
Big 10
Mark Wasikowski
Eugene Regional
(42-16)
14
Virginia
ACC
Chris Pollard
No Postseason
(32-18)
15
Georgia
SEC
Wes Johnson
Athens Regional
(43-17)
16
Louisville
ACC
Dan McDonnell
College World Series
(42-24)
17
Coastal Carolina
Sun Belt
Kevin Schnall
CWS Runner-Up
(56-13)
18
North Carolina
ACC
Scott Forbes
Chapel Hill Super Regional
(46-15)
19
Vanderbilt
SEC
Tim Corbin
Nashville Regional
(43-18)
20
Clemson
ACC
Erik Bakich
Clemson Regional
(45-18)
21
UC Santa Barbara
Big West
Andrew Checketts
No Postseason
(36-18)
22
NC State
ACC
Elliot Avent
Auburn Regional
(35-21)
23
Southern Miss
Sun Belt
Christian Ostrander
Hattiesburg Regional
(47-16)
24
Miami
ACC
JD Arteaga
Louisville Super Regional
(35-27)
25
East Carolina
American
Cliff Godwin
Conway Regional
(35-27)
 

College | Story | 1/9/2026

LSU Reloads & Returns; Opens No. 1

Vincent Cervino
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“How do you get to success? You have to honor the process that you built to get to that success…The standard is how we operate, train, and get better each day.”” Process-oriented leadership is a popular coaching strategy here in the mid-2020s but no one exemplifies that more than LSU head coach Jay Johnson. He’s won the Tigers two national titles during his time in Baton Rouge and expectations won’t be any lower in 2026 as LSU is the No. 1 team in the country in Perfect Game’s Preseason Top 25.  Johnson is heading into his fifth season at the helm in Baton Rouge and it’s fair to say that he has already experienced enormous success. There have been two national titles in four years (2023, 2025), a Golden Spikes winner (Dylan Crews, 2023), a first overall MLB Draft pick (Paul Skenes, 2023), and five first-round MLB Draft picks during...
Tournaments | Story | 1/9/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2030

Jheremy Brown
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Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 | Class of 2029 Today we wrap up our reviews of the 2026 thru 2030 class where we looked back on some of the eye opening metrics we saw from around the country, both in a showcase and tournament setting. To those not inside the youth baseball world, some of the metrics below would seem truly unattainable from current 8th graders, from the pair of 90 mph heaters courtesy of Amani Tuiasosopo and Kingston George, to upper-80s velocity from all over the field and multiple players north of 90 mph on the exit velocity testing (with wood), this 2030 class is one that has a chance to be special as we continue to watch it unfold moving forward.  Top Fastball Velocity  Rk Player FB Event School Hometown 1 Amani Tuiasosopo 90 2025 WWBA 14U World Championship Renton...
Tournaments | Story | 1/8/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2029

Jheremy Brown
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Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These players below are just entering their freshmen year's of high school, a scary though as you scroll through the 11 categories and see some of the eye opening numbers from the fastballs to the infield and outfield velocities, down to the Diamond Kinetic testing and their three sub-categories.  Top Fastball Velocity Rk Player FB Event Commitment School Hometown 1 Brody McCorkle 92 2025 18U PG Mid-Atlantic Fall Elite Championship Uncommitted Ranney Forked River, NJ 1 Caleb Polk 92 2025 14U Perfect Game Select Festival Uncommitted IMG Academy Dallas, TX 1 Knox Myers 92 2025 PG WWBA Freshman World Championship Uncommitted East Bay Riverview, FL 2 Alex Bello 91 2025 16U PG Fall World Series Uncommitted Montverde Academy Orlando, FL 2 Alex Bello 91 2025 14U Perfect Game...
Press Release | Press Release | 1/7/2026

PG Announces Naming Rights in Chesterfield

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME AND FIRST COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION ANNOUNCE CHESTERFIELD ATHLETIC COMPLEX    Landmark Partnership to Center on Community, Inclusion and Youth Sports    Chesterfield, Missouri (Wednesday, January 7, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, along with the City of Chesterfield, today announced  an exclusive naming rights partnership with First Community Credit Union (FCCU) for the Chesterfield Valley Athletic Complex. Effective immediately, the venue will be known as the “Chesterfield First Community Athletic...
College | Story | 1/7/2026

Preseason Collegiate All-Americans

Vincent Cervino
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The transfer portal, JUCO gems, 6th year waivers and impact freshman; following the college game and figuring out rosters is basically a fulltime job nowadays. This is the new norm, and while the baseball purist may not like it, the college game has never been more exciting. It looks like 2026 is shaping up to be an incredible season with the balance of power seemingly spread out evenly from coast to coast. Like we seem to say every year, the depth and quality of talent has never been better, and the 2026 Perfect Game Pre-Season All-American teams will attest to that fact.With the 2026 College Baseball season is just around the corner, the Perfect Game college staff will have you loaded with coverage heading into the new year. On the heels of our Pre-Season Top 25 poll, the All-American list will be headlined by a banner sophomore class on the 1st team. The sweet lefthanded swings of...
College | Recruiting | 1/6/2026

Recruiting Notebook: January 6

Michael Albee
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Griffin Boesen (‘27, IA) shoots this one backside down the line. Adds his second hit of the day. Picked up a base knock. Physical LH bat w/ an ability to drive the baseball here. @IowaPG @PG_Uncommitted @CanesMidwest #WWBAWorlds https://t.co/pmpIzaAbLz pic.twitter.com/Qz0CHiS3P1 — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) October 13, 2025 Griffin Boesen, Class of 2027 Commitment: Duke Another top 100 prospect is off the board as the Corey Muscara led Duke Blue Devils picked up a physical two-way prospect in Boesen out of Florida recently. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Boesen looks the part of a middle of the order type slugger and he's just that, showing lots of looseness and bat speed in his left-handed stroke and is coming off a Jupiter where he hit .700 (!!) as an underclassman while driving in 10 runs. The bat-to-ball skills are obvious as he simply hit at all the big stops in 2025,...
Tournaments | Story | 1/7/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2028

Jheremy Brown
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Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 Well, the fastball department is dominated by two arms in particular with Striker Pence and Dexter McCleon Jr. combining for almost 200 mph of velo between them on their peak heaters in 2025. That's just absolutely insane. The freakiness of the class continues down the boards with a 6.26 60-yard from Colton Fitzgibbon to the 88 mph hand cannon of Grant Arnold behind the plate to Christian Lux's 106 (!!!) mph exit velocity, this class has out of this world chart toppers. Even scarier? They don't graduate for another three years... Top Fastball Velocity Rk Player FB Event Commitment School Hometown 1 Striker Pence 101 2025 PG WWBA World Championship Uncommitted Santiago Corona, CA 2 Striker Pence 99 2025 PG 17U World Series - National Uncommitted Santiago Corona, CA 2 Striker Pence 99 2025 PG 16U WWBA...
Showcase | Story | 1/6/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2027

Jheremy Brown
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Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 To think this group still has another two years of high school is a scary thought given what some of the category leaders already are. Samir Mohammed up to 97 mph on the mound, Bryce Fontenot with a max exit velocity of 103 mph and a 6.22 60-yard out of Dylan Seward are all otherworldly numbers that you'd expect to find on a college campus, much less a junior in high school.  Below we check in on several categories for the Class of 2027 and will continue to do so through the week, taking in the top 10 for each, from both Perfect Game showcases and tournaments.  Top Fastball Velocity Rk Player FB Event Commitment School Hometown 1 Samir Mohammed 97 2025 PG WWBA World Championship Louisiana State Tampa Jesuit Trinity, FL 2 Connor Salerno 96 2025 PG WWBA World Championship Mississippi State Sun Valley Indian Trail, NC...
Draft | Mock Draft | 1/9/2026

MLB Mock Draft: January 9

Tyler Henninger
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As we turn the calendar to 2026, we move one step closer to draft day. With the lottery behind us and the order now set, we wanted to take one final stab at a preseason mock draft before players take the field. The talent at the top of this class stands out and feels as deep as it has been in quite some time. There is solid depth in the first round, with real value extending later into the round. While things are certain to shift once the season gets underway, this is how we see things going for now.  1.  Chicago White Sox: Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA The White Sox come away with one of the most polished profiles in the class and one of the better draft prospects we’ve seen in a while. Cholowsky gives Chicago a high-level college shortstop with a refined offensive approach, quality in-game power, and advanced defensive actions. There’s a strong blend of floor and...
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