baseball-d1 flag

d1baseball.com staff | January 31, 2025

Top 10 catchers entering the college baseball season, according to D1Baseball

Tennessee baseball wins the 2024 Men's College World Series | Final out

Editor's note: The following . Right now, you can get  with code: PREVIEW25. 

When we put together our , we followed one guiding principle: If we were building a team to win the 2025 national title, which players would we choose? We use the same philosophy to construct our Player Rankings — think of them as an extension of our Preseason All-America teams.

⚾️ MORE BASEBALL ⚾️
🚨 
🎥
🍎 

These are NOT professional prospect lists, though they do take pure talent into consideration. Players who proved themselves against top competition in summer ball and look poised for breakout years might rank higher on the list than other players who had gaudier stats from last spring. We considered past performance and offensive statistics, but we also try to keep the numbers in context, because some leagues or ballparks are more offensive than others, and some leagues simply have more talent than others — so all stat lines are not created equal. So we take an amalgam of past numbers, raw talent, defensive ability (especially at premium positions), makeup and reports of development over the summer and fall. We also make use of more advanced metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and WAR, courtesy of our partners at .

Finally, remember that there are more than 300 Division I teams, and we’re ranking roughly the top 15 percent at each position. These lists reflect our projections of which players will be the best of the best this spring, but many good players in the remaining 85 percent just didn’t make the cut. We’ll revisit the Player Rankings over the course of the season and make adjustments as players prove themselves on the field.

Preseason rankings: Texas A&M tops 2025 D1Baseball preseason top 25 rankings

With all that said, here’s a look at the top 50 catchers in college baseball heading into the 2025 season. Preseason All-Americans Jacob Ference (Virginia), Caden Bodine (Coastal Carolina) and Luke Stevenson (North Carolina) lead the way.

(Readers may have to scroll to read the entire table)

Rank Name, School Class AVG/OBP/SLG OPS PA 2B HR RBI BB-K SB SB
1 Jacob Ference, Virginia RS SR .350/.465/.710 1.175 245 13 17 43 33-47 12 12
2 Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina JR .328/.411/.523 .934 285 20 9 71 31-23 3 3
3 Luke Stevenson, North Carolina SO .284/.420/.535 .955 269 8 14 58 48-55 2 2
4 Grant Jay, Dallas Baptist JR .300/.414/.653 1.067 261 12 21 57 34-82 7 7
5 Ike Irish, Auburn JR .319/.403/.627 1.030 218 11 14 59 23-29 4 4
6 Brooks Bryan, Troy JR .279/.381/.589 .970 265 10 18 85 31-60 2 2
7 Easton Carmichael, Oklahoma JR .366/.406/.563 .969 288 19 7 64 20-43 12 12
8 Jimmy Keenan, Wake Forest JR .335/.403/.615 1.018 253 21 12 57 25-67 1 1
9 Logan Sauve, West Virginia JR .308/.379/.484 .863 207 8 8 37 17-30 2 2
10 Luis Hernandez, LSU SR .359/.421/.694 1.115 279 14 23 76 17-50 5 5

Read the rest of .



📊 POLLS: | 
FOLLOW ALONG:  | 
🎧 

The 62 Cy Young Award winners who played college baseball

With the presentation of the 2025 Cy Young Award on Wednesday, Nov. 12, we've accumulated a list of 62 MLB Cy Young Award winners who played college baseball. One Cy Young standout from each decade will be featured and include a brief summary of their college career.
READ MORE

Which players have won both a College World Series and an MLB World Series?

Former Virginia standout Josh Sborz is the most recent player to have won both a College World Series and MLB World Series.
READ MORE

Game times for Final Four, NIT, DII and DIII championship games announced

Three Indianapolis venues will help crown four champions over a five-day period when the Men’s Final Four and National Invitation Tournament semifinals and championship games, as well as the Division II and III title games, are staged April 2-6. It will mark the first time all four champions will be determined in a single city.
READ MORE
Division I
Baseball Championship
June 12 - 22, 2026
Charles Schwab Field | Omaha, NE