The 2018 College Baseball season is almost underway as Clemson kicks off their season in less than a week. The Tigers will enter the season with a lot of question marks, yet, a lot of promise in what has shaped up to be a stacked Atlantic Coast Conference.
After sending seven teams to the College World Series last season, the ACC is poised to be amongst the best in the nation once again. The ACC currently has five teams ranked in the top 25, according to Baseball America, which is second only to the Southeastern Conference.
The undisputed top team in the ACC going into this season is the Florida State Seminoles. Coming off a 46-23 campaign last season, the Noles are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and are looking to defend their title as ACC champions
this season.
Last season, Florida State was fourth in the nation in runs, fifteenth in home runs and forty-first in earned run average, and they appear to have only improved this offseason. Their pitching staff is headlined by Junior lefty Tyler Holton who is projected to be amongst the best starters in
the nation.
Holton finished the 2017 season with a 10-3 record and a 2.34 ERA over 119.1 innings. With Holton leading the rotation and a formidable offense to back him, the Noles are primed to make a run for the College World Series.
After being upset in the Regional round of last year’s College World Series, the No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels are looking to rebound from what was a disappointing end to a promising season. The Tar Heels posted a 49-14 record before being eliminated by Davidson at their home stadium.
The Tar Heels dominated last season with a pitching staff that was fourth in the nation with a 2.96 ERA and twentieth in runs with 496. Two-thirds of North Carolina’s weekend rotation, Tyler Baum and Luca Dalatri, will return, but they will have to find a way to make up for the loss of star pitcher J.B. Bukauskas, who went 9-1 with a 2.53 earned run average last season.
Despite losing Bukauskas to the Houston Astros, the Tar Heels pitching team will remain a strong point in 2018.
The Clemson Tigers are currently ranked No. 12 by Baseball America and are hoping to compete for an ACC title again this season. It’s no secret that the Tigers will be led by junior first baseman Seth Beer. Beer has compiled a .333 batting average, 34 home runs and 124 RBIs over the past two seasons for the Tigers, and he will likely compete for the 2018 National Player of the Year.
Beer headlines what projects to be an explosive offense for the Tigers that includes Logan Davidson, Chris Williams and Kier Meredith, all of whom are expected to make big contributions again this season. The biggest question mark for the Tigers lie within their starting rotation.
The staff is currently led by Owen Griffith who shined last season during a short stint in which he recorded a 1.12 earned run average in 12 appearances. The Tigers will need some unproven players to contribute to the rotation this season if they want to compete for the ACC title in 2018.
Currently ranked No. 15 in the nation, the Virginia Cavaliers will be another competitive team in the ACC. The Hoos had a strong regular season last year going 43-16 in which they had the fifth best batting average in the nation at .321.
Virginia will miss Pavin Smith and Adam Haseley who were drafted seventh and eighth respectively in the 2017 MLB Draft. With the loss of Smith and Haseley, the Cavaliers lose two hitters that batted .342 and .390 last season.
Virginia will look to replace the impact of Smith and Haseley through players like utility outfielder Jake McCarthy who batted .338 with 27 steals and Cameron Simmons who hit .352 last season. Speed was a big asset for the Cavaliers as they compiled 77 steals as a team, ranking them forty-second in steals in the nation. The Cavaliers will also have to replace their top two starting pitchers, but will look to Derek Casey and Daniel Lynch amongst others to pick up the slack this season.
While the Cavaliers will be losing some key contributors from the 2017 season, they have plenty of young players ready to take the reins this year.
The final ACC team ranked in the preseason top 25 is the Louisville Cardinals who will enter the season at No.19. After finishing the 2017 season ranked No. 5 in the nation with a record of 53-12, the Cardinals will be looking to replace Brandon McKay and Drew Ellis, two of their best players from last year’s team, who were both selected in the 2017
MLB Draft.
Louisville will have to make up for the losses of McKay and Ellis, who hit .345 and .351 respectively, while combining for 38 home runs and 118 runs batted in. In addition to his superb offensive stats, McKay also posted an 11-3 record and 2.56 earned run average from the mound.
The pitching staff will also lose reliable started Kade McClure who turned in an eight-win season for the Cardinals in 2017. Despite these losses, their pitching staff will retain sophomore Nick Bennett while adding one of the most promising players in the freshmen class, Reid Detmers. With these starters and an elite stash of relief pitchers, including All-American Sam Bordner, the Cardinals will be in hunt for the ACC title this season.
The ACC title will be heavily contested for again this year. Even outside of the five ranked teams, Duke, Miami, NC State and Wake Forest all project to make it to the tournament this year. The conference’s quality and quantity will ensure that whoever is crowned champion come May will be deserving of this title.
