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This fall, we have counted down the Top 100 programs in college baseball, as they stand in 2024. For the purpose of this exercise, we don’t care what happened in the 1970s or 80s, or even the 90s — that’s ancient history to a potential recruit in 2024. Tradition is nice, but it’s more important to establish a tradition of consistent winning in the last decade, and especially in the last five years. Our ultimate goal here is to identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years.
Now it’s time to unveil the entire Top 100, in chart form. The chart below is sortable by state and by conference, which makes it easy to see how all of the Top 100 programs stack up relative to the other teams in their state and league. A few factoids:
• The newly expanded SEC and ACC are tied for the most current members in the Top 100, with 15 apiece. The SEC also occupies each of the top four spots in the rankings for the third time in a row, as well as eight of the top 10. All 15 SEC programs on this list are inside the top 40. The ACC has two programs in the top 10, along with 10 programs in the top 40.
• Here’s the full conference-by-conference breakdown of how many programs landed in the Top 100, with two more newly configured conferences — the Big 12 and Big Ten — joining the ACC and SEC in the double-digit club:
15: ACC, SEC
11: Big 12
10: Big Ten
7: Sun Belt
5: American
4: Big West, CAA, CUSA
3: Big East
2: ASUN, Ivy, MAC, MVC, SoCon, WCC
1: A-10, Horizon, MAAC, OVC, Patriot, Southland, Summit, WAC, Unaffiliated
• Here’s a list of the states with the most programs in the Top 100. There’s a three-way tie at the top, as California, North Carolina and Texas land eight programs apiece on the list. That’s a decrease of two teams apiece for California and Texas since our 2022 list, and a decrease of one team for North Carolina:
8: California, North Carolina, Texas
7: Florida
5: Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia
4: Georgia, Indiana, Ohio
3: Arizona, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma
2: Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington
• Eleven teams entered the Top 100 after being unranked in 2022, which matches the number of newcomers from our 2019 exercise, after turnover spiked in 2022 with 15 new teams. Out of our newcomers, Kansas State (fresh off a super regional appearance) made the biggest vault, landing at No. 61. Others that made big jumps into the Top 100 include Troy (No. 65), Boston College (No. 78) and Kennesaw State (No. 85).
• Of the teams that were already in the Top 100 in 2022, Southeast Missouri State made the biggest jump, catapulting 32 spots to No. 68 after making its third regional in the last four years. The other biggest climbers are Illinois (up 30 spots), San Diego (up 28), Kentuckcy (up 27) and UCF (up 25).
• The biggest fallers from 2022 are Baylor (from No. 45 all the way outside the Top 100), Houston (down 35 spots), Florida Atlantic (down 27 spots), Southeastern Louisiana (from No. 77 to outside the rankings), Rice (from No. 78 to out), Gonzaga (down 22 spots), South Alabama (down 21 spots) and Long Beach State (down 20 spots).
Program Analysis:
Teams 1-5
Teams 6-10
Teams 11-20
Teams 21-30
Teams 31-40
Teams 41-50
Teams 51-60
Teams 61-70
Teams 71-80
Teams 81-90
Teams 91-100
2024 Top 100 College Baseball Programs
TIP: If you enter a conference name or state abbreviation in the “search” field, you can see how programs stack up against their peers in their conference or state.
