Baseball Transfer Portal Update: June 25
The portal closes in six days, and with the College World Series coming to an end on Monday, there has been more activity since we last checked in. Here’s the latest in the college baseball transfer portal.
By the Numbers
The total number of players of course rose once again, but not nearly as much as one might think. There were 1,400 players that entered the portal on the first day it opened. A little over 400 entered in the next ten days. According to D1Baseball, the total is now up to 2,474. That’s up 135 players since the last update on June 10.
Transfer or Draft?
There have been several interesting pickups over the last few days, mainly guys who are high round draft prospects. The latest was LHP Jake McCoy from South Carolina. McCoy was slotted to be the opening day and Friday night starter for the Gamecocks this year. He’s a lefty that throws 98 mph, but wasn’t able to ever toe the rubber this season before an injury shut him down for the entire year.
Surely new head coach Kevin Schnall would’ve loved to get him on board, but a fresh start was wanted, needed, and more than anything, deserved, after his time in the Paul Mainieri era. McCoy announced earlier this week that he intended to sign with another SEC school, Tennessee. That’s a huge pickup for the Vols who struggled on the mound at times, but the only issue is that McCoy is the No. 148 draft prospect for next month’s draft. That would all but guarantee him a spot in the top five rounds which would garner around $490,000 in slot value.
Will he make it to campus? I doubt it.
SEC Team Rankings
This should be a surprise to no one, but the same conference that perennially leads everyone in ranked teams, recruiting rankings, and draft picks is also at the top of the heap for portal rankings. According to 64analytics, six of the top seven portal classes are ranked in the top seven nationally.
Here’s a look at where SEC teams rank in their current Top 25 Transfer Portal classes.
No. 1 – Arkansas
No. 2 – Mississippi State
No. 4 – Texas A&M
No. 5 – Kentucky
No. 6 – Oklahoma
No. 7 – LSU
No. 10 – South Carolina
No. 11 – Ole Miss
No. 12 – Alabama
No. 15 – Florida
No. 18 – Missouri
No. 25 – Tennessee
Those 12 teams account for 122 players lost. However, of those 122 players, just 16 rank in the top 250 players according to 64analytics. Nearly half of those (7) came from just one team, South Carolina. Even more impressive is that those 12 schools have brought in 54 players in the top 250. That includes 33, or 13.2 percent of the top 250 committing to the top six ranked schools.
SEC Team Totals
After day one the SEC had 49 players enter the portal. That number more than doubled over the first ten days up to 107 around the league. With the College World Series ending, all 16 teams finally have at least one player in the portal after Alabama had zero for the first two full weeks that the portal was opened. The number is now at 152.
Alabama: 2
Arkansas: 8
Auburn: 7
Florida: 10
Georgia: 5
Kentucky: 12
LSU: 7
Mississippi State: 12
Missouri: 14
Oklahoma: 6
Ole Miss: 4
South Carolina: 23
Tennessee: 20
Texas: 9
Texas A&M: 4
Vanderbilt: 9
