The season just ended in Omaha, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead to next season. The SEC should be loaded once again. Will they capture an eighth consecutive national championship?
Baton Rouge Bounce Back
Never waste a loss. Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Michael Jordan. Those guys refuse to let the sting of a loss go unused as motivation for getting back to the top. While I don’t think Jay Johnson could hit a stepback over Byron Russell or install a 3-4 defense, he definitely falls into the same category as those guys.
Johnson wasted no time to start preparing for 2027. With a month left in the season, he began playing younger guys, getting them more experience for next season. He sent assistant coaches on the road during midweek games to recruit their current class instead of coach first base. Then he attacked the transfer portal harder than anyone else and brought in the top position player in Bino Watters (Notre Dame) and pitcher in Landon Hood (Gonzaga).
LSU will have plenty to replace and will once again have to fight the MLB Draft for a great deal of their recruiting class. That won’t stop them from having one of the most loaded rosters in the country next year.
Schnall Ball
South Carolina got tired of watching others do what they used to do in Omaha. After the two worst seasons in program history happening in back-to-back years under Paul Mainieri, the Gamecocks went and found a new leader.
Coastal Carolina’s former head coach heads to Columbia with a $1.3 million contract and new life breathed directly into the program. The Gamecocks have brought in 12 players from the portal, including eight Coastal players that will follow their head coach from Conway to Columbia.
Schnall has hit the ground running, and most likely isn’t done yet. The roster turnover is the highest of anyone in the SEC with 23 players leaving, but they’re leaving a team that finished with 13 total SEC wins in the last two years.
The goal is simple in year one, win more than that. A regional would be great, but getting back to double digit SEC wins and not ever being mentioned in the same breath as Missouri again is a win in and of itself.
Star Power
The SEC is always loaded with talent, but the 2027 draft prospects from this league are significantly more abundant than the 2026 cycle. In the current Baseball America top 50 draft prospects, 23 come from the SEC.
The class is loaded to the gills, including six players in the top ten.
SEC Baseball Tiers
Three Up (3 Teams trending up for 2027)
1. LSU
2. Tennessee
3. South Carolina
Three Down (3 Teams trending downs for 2027)
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Ole Miss
Not going anywhere
1. Auburn
2. Texas
3. Mississippi State
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Arkansas
Who Cares
1. Missouri
2. Kentucky
3. Vanderbilt
4. Texas A&M
