Texas A&M Baseball a Preseason Top-10 Squad; SEC Loaded As Usual
The initial D1Baseball preseason poll has dropped, and Texas A&M baseball is in the top 10. The Aggies come in at number 8 overall—of course, the SEC being what it is, that's also good for 5th in the conference behind Florida (2nd overall), Arkansas (3rd overall), LSU (4th overall), and Vanderbilt (6th overall).
Wake Forest nabs the top spot, with TCU (5th overall), Oregon State (7th overall), Tennessee (9th overall), and Clemson (10th overall) rounding out the top 10. That means the SEC makes up 60% of the entirety of the top 10. It's hard to believe, but the conference is even more dominant in baseball than they are in football—the grind of this conference is unbelievable.
Other placements of note: Texas comes in at 16th overall, Alabama at 19th, Texas Tech at 21st, and South Carolina at 25th. The Longhorns don't officially join the SEC until this summer, so they will play a Big 12 conference schedule this spring. The Aggies will travel to Austin to take on the Horns on March 5th.
Big things are expected of Jim Schlossnagle's squad this year. The addition of versatile Stanford transfer Braden Montgomery, ranked by D1Baseball as the top overall transfer in the nation, figures in prominently when it comes to this team's ceiling. Montgomery is one of the top hitters in the nation, and can also be a big time value add to the Aggie bullpen.
Another year under the belt for the stud out of Katy, Jace LaViolette, will help as well. If the pitching for the Aggies can take an upturn from what we saw on the mound last year, this is a team that can make another deep run into Omaha, similar to Schloss's first year, and even challenge for the national title.
The Texas A&M baseball season begins only one month from today, on February 16, with a home field series against McNeese.