This article is part of our College Baseball Picks series.
College World Series 2024 Preview, Futures Odds and Best Bets
The College World Series is here! Over 300 D1 baseball programs started their quest to glory back in the third week of February, and now the final eight best teams comprise the Omaha field. We will see Florida State, Tennessee, UNC, Virginia, Kentucky, NC State, Texas A&M, and Florida battle it out for their chance to be etched in history.
There is no doubt, this is the best sport we have available today. And no postseason matches what we're going to continue seeing. Here's what to look for in each team at this year's College World Series.
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College World Series Bracket
Bracket 1 (Friday/Sunday/Wednesday)
North Carolina (-135) vs. Virginia
Tennessee (-175) vs. Florida State
Bracket 2 (Saturday/Monday/Wednesday)
Kentucky (-145) vs. North Carolina State
Texas A&M (-195) vs. Florida
College World Series Odds
- Tennessee Volunteers +260
- Texas A&M Aggies +350
- Kentucky Wildcats +470
- North Carolina Tar Heels +700
- Florida State Seminoles +750
- Virginia Cavaliers +950
- Florida Gators +1000
- North Carolina State Wolfpack +1200
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College World Series Preview
Florida State Seminoles
STAR POWER. FSU was one of the teams I really liked coming into the season. Personally, I felt in Year Two under Link Jarrett would be a coming out party after the Seminoles snapped a 44-consecutive streak of making the NCAA Tournament last year. If not for having some of the best players in the sport, who knows where they would be.
Both 3B Cam Smith and RF James Tibbs III (ACC Player of the Year) are likely to be top 15 picks in this summer's draft. They combined for 44 of the teams' 123 homers. Of course, the team has a lot of producers in this lineup, which was what makes them such a dangerous offense.
On the mound, they're led by one of the top arms in the country, Jamie Arnold. Arnold, the second best LHP in the country behind Hagen Smith, is the next Chris Sale with his long lanky cross-fire lefty delivery. He can run his heater up to 97-98 MPH, and drop an elite 81-85 MPH slide piece in to create a lot of swing and miss. It's likely that he is the first arm off the board next summer. FSU has a couple good arms, but it's not the team with the most pitching depth, so if they want to win, they can't come out of the loser bracket.
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Tennessee Volunteers
The OmaVols have led the country with 173 taters this season with EIGHT players in double figures. It's been one of the elite programs under HC Tony Vitello. Now with Texas A&M losing Braden Montgomery, there is no challenge to Tennessee having the best 1-3 part of a lineup in the nation. Christian Moore, Blake Burke, and Billy Amick have combined for 74 home runs and 191 RBI's. All three have real first-round juice next month, especially Christian Moore, whose major improvement every year has carried him into questioning if he's better than Travis Bazzana, an arguable number-one overall pick. With Moore's 32 long balls and .375 average, he sets the tone for this offense.
The lineup is elite, no doubt. Although, the park dimensions and wild winds of Omaha are not exactly what they deal with in their own bandbox home park. The pitching has been pretty good on paper with a team ERA of 3.83. Personally, I believe the pitching isn't as good as what we have really seen. It's been a lot of butter matchups against offenses that aren't great, but when the played UGA, they allowed 27 runs in three games. And Evansville's offense last weekend was able to expose them a bit for 16 runs in the first two contests with a ton of runners left on base.
It's hard to explain, but ultimately this staff is nothing close ot what we saw in 2022 when they had four legit number one arms. Blade Tidwell, Chase Dollander, Chase Burns, and Drew Beam speaheaded one of the truly elite starting rotations we've seen in a long time. Only Beam is left, but with regression hitting this year, I think it's a staff that can get got.
UNC Tarheels
What a surprise UNC was this year, at least for me. Pitching was the biggest question mark for me, but it's been solid/good enough. Their two key starters all year in Shea Sprague and Jason DeCaro have been 3.75-4.00 ERA guys all season, which is fine when you have a lineup like the Heels have. The big draw on the mound has been a few big bullpen pieces that can settle down a game.
The offense is one of the best and most explosive units in the game. Led by superstar CF Vance Honeycutt, the Diamond Heels have launched 113 homers with a .304 batting average as a team. Honeycutt is one of the few true 5-tool players the game has, and one of my favorite players the last three years. The thing that is holding him back from being the best player in the country and maybe the slam dunk number one overall pick in this year's draft is the brutal swing and miss (80 strikeouts in 59 games). He's definitely a first-rounder though. This season Honeycutt is up to a .314 average while pushing for the coveted 30/30 season with 26 homers and 28 steals not to mention the best defender in the sport regardless of position. He is this generation's Trea Turner with a splash of Julio Rodriguez.
There's a lot of other juice in this offense, but when Honeycutt is rolling the way he has been, they are an extremely tough out.
Virginia Cavaliers
Rain or shine, it seems like UVA is always here. HC Brian O'Connor (I know, RIP Paul Walker) runs a top flight program in Charlottesville. And it all starts with the offense. Basically, all this team does is hit. As a team, they are hitting .336 (2nd in country behind Austin Peay) with eight on their starting nine hitting .300 or better. Only Harrison Didawick is batting below .300, and he's at .297! The 116 homers ain't too bad either. Bottom line is the offense will do its thing.
Pitching is a different story. They have one solid/reliable starter in Evan Blanco. Blanco has been solid this year, but in my opinion, isn't a true ace. With a team ERA of 5.39, the Cavs could be in trouble in the postseason if their pitching doesn't live up to the billing, especially in the bullpen. There's a lot of holes in this staff, and if they lose to UNC in game one, it will be extremely difficult for them to emerge from the loser's bracket.
Florida Gators
What a season it's been for the Gators. Slaughtered most of the regular season to finish at 28-27 just so their daddy's golf buddy on the committee could bail them out and give them a free ride to the tourney. Well, everybody's nightmares have come true. The Gators have made the most of their bid, running through the Stillwater Region and Clemson Super Region. It's a team that is ultra-talented this year despite a lot of huge losses after losing in the CWS Finals last season like Wyatt Langford, Hurston Waldrep, Brandon Sproat etc.
The offense is led by none other than the best player in College Baseball, Jac Caglianone. Also helps that he's an Italian from Tampa. May just have to adopt this 21-year-old kid. Cags not only repeated last year's success at the dish, but he was even better! His average is almost 90 points higher (.411) along with the rest of his slash line, the walks are up by more than double, the strikeouts were cut in half, and he has the same amount of homers (33) in 11 less games to this point. Florida has other producers in this offense, but make no mistake, if they want to make a run here, then Cags has to be on point.
The pitching was a huge letdown all year. When you lose two high-octane arms that were first and second rounders, that can happen. Trying to replace Waldrep and Sproat, UF went with freshman Liam Peterson and last year's mid-week starter Cade Fisher for a time. Now Fisher is out at the moment, and Peterson has turned on the jets in the second half of the season. Cags on the mound has been subpar with his 4.71 ERA. The true X-Factor has been Brandon Neely, the starter turned reliever turned starter again turned reliever again. The hybrid role has been the saving grace for Florida as Neely can go five innings or three outs for a save. He's been a huge piece for the Gators in June.
Texas A&M Aggies
Lightning has struck for the Aggies last week. They lost their star OF and top-five overall pick, Braden Montgomery, to a broken ankle in the Supers. Then they lost one of their starting pitchers in Shane Sdao with a UCL injury. TAMU has been one of the best teams all season long, so now we'll see what they're made of under HC Jim Schlossnagle.
The offense had arguably the best 1-3 part of the lineup in the country with three top ten picks in the next three drafts. Gavin Grahovac, a capable top 10 pick in 2026, is one of the best freshman in the sport. Jace Laviolette looks like the next Matt Olson, he is my number one overall pick next year. And Montgomery had (and maybe still does) top five written all over him this year. Out of the Aggies 132 tater this year, those three combined for 77 of them. Without Montgomery, this offense might look a little different. They do have some other guys in this offense, but it remains to be seen if somebody can fill B-Mont's shoes in the interim.
The pitching is also top heavy. The ace, Ryan Prager, has been nails most of the year, but he's been a little off lately. He just got touched for six earned in 1.2 innings against Oregon last week, so if he doesn't come out with a big outing, A&M could be in trouble. The team now his virtually no reliable number two or three starters with their original arms Tanner Jones and Justin Lamkin struggling in the second half. The bullpen has one of the top relievers in the sport in Evan Aschenbeck. Chris Cortez is pretty good as well. The problem is if their top arms have a bad day then it could be tough for the Aggies to rally this weekend. Not to mention, they have been trending down lately.
Kentucky Wildcats
It's wild to see Kentucky make it this far. I'm shocked, to be honest. It's a team with virtually no star power where all seven of the other teams have "the guy." The best way to describe Kentucky is a machine. When every cog does its job, the machine operates like clockwork. But when one or two cogs don't work, the machine collapses. The way the Wildcats have succeeded this year has been a bit of a statistical anomaly. Despite the lack of high-end talent, they are a team that doesn't make mistakes, does the little things right, and capitalizes when their opponent makes a mistake.
With a .289 batting average and 84 homers as a team, the MO is getting runners on, over, and in. This offense will steal bases (117 on the year) too. We would categorize their best player as Ryan Waldschmidt, who owns a .346 batting average and 14 Jimmy Jacks to go along with 24 bags. I am curious to see how their game translates in the pressure moment under HC Nick Mingione's leadership. The offense has found different ways to score runs.
Pitching wise, they are decent. Friday guy Trey Pooser has been solid this year, but hit a new gear lately. In his last three starts, he's allowed just one run and nine hits in 19 innings. If Pooser continues this run, then the Wildcats will be tough to beat in game one. The rest of the rotation though is a bit hit or miss with Dom Niman and Mason Moore.
NC State Wolfpack
Maybe the most overlooked team in the whole Omaha field, NC State isn't one to dismiss. A team with a lot of veterans and horsepower, the Wolfpack are still angry about getting robbed by the NCAA three years ago when they were one win away from the CWS Finals only to be ineligible because of a few Covid cases.
The offense has a strong trifecta in Jacob Cozart (likely first catcher off the board in '24), Alec Makarewicz, and Garrett Pennington. With those three setting the tone at the top of the order, the Wolfpack has contributors throughout that can continue to move the line and produce. The big key will be to put the ball in play and limit the strikeouts. But ultimately, this offense went into Georgia and outslugged one of the top lineups in the game in a three game set.
The pitching has a lot of talent, though the stats won't support it on paper. Arms like Sam Highfill, Dom Fritton, and Logan Whittaker all have potential to be shut down when they are on their game. It's a staff that allows a lot of homers, but given how big the Omaha park is, they may be able to limit them. The bullpen has a few big dogs that need to nails like Ryan Marohn, Derrick Smith, Jacob Dudan, and Cooper Consiglio. A lot of people haven't given NCST their due, but it's a dangerous group.
The CWS Matchup and Pick: Florida State Seminoles over Florida Gators
Ultimately, FSU is a team I really liked coming into the year, and am holding a big ticket on them. There's a ton of a talent on FSU, but like I mentioned they need to come out and go 2-0 to start the weekend because I'm not sure they have the pitching depth without Cam Leiter to come out of a loser's bracket. They play in the tougher of the two sides, but given the stars they have, I believe FSU can take down whichever teams get in their way. Jamie Arnold needs to continue his dominance.
Florida has been a great story this year. They have been playing for their lives for the last two months with backs against the wall. The Gators have been finding ways to win games, and with the easier path, I believe they can emerge out of their side of the bracket.
