The game of College Baseball continues to grow, and it is amazing to see! One of the biggest examples of the sport’s growth has been the College Baseball futures gambling market. In this article, I’ll list my best preseason College Baseball picks. College World Series betting odds on the favorites, the value picks, and longshots that I think should be in every bettor’s portfolio this NCAA Baseball preseason.
Currently, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, BetMGM, Caesars, and possibly others are offering College World Series betting odds. DK, FD, and Rivers are also offering a market for teams to make an Omaha Appearance.
College World Series Betting Odds And College Baseball Futures To Bet Right Now
Over on DraftKings Sportsbook, this is currently how the College World Series betting odds board reads for the Top 16:
+700 WAKE FOREST
+750 LSU
+900 FLORIDA
10/1 ARKANSAS
14/1 TENNESSEE
16/1 VANDERBILT
20/1 TCU / TEXAS A&M
25/1 OREGON STATE / VIRGINIA / TEXAS
28/1 CLEMSON
30/1 SOUTH CAROLINA
35/1 ALABAMA / UCLA
40/1 NORTH CAROLINA
College Baseball Futures Picks: The Favorites
Florida Gators (FanDuel: CWS Champ 11/1, Omaha App +140)
Florida’s roster has great balance between power pitching and power hitting. On the bump during the weekends for Florida will be two-way superstar Jac Caglianone, Cade Fisher, and super freshman Liam Peterson. Fisher is projected to get the ball on Friday nights. Last year he was 6-0 with a 3.10 ERA as a reliever last season.
Caglianone returns after a solid 7-4, 4.34 ERA, 87 K, 55 BB, 74.2 IP, .190 BAA 2023 campaign. At the plate, he also led the country with 33 home runs while putting up a .322 batting average with 90 RBI.
On BetRivers, you can currently get Jac Caglianone at +400 to win the Golden Spikes (College Baseball’s Heisman). Personally, I think that it’s a great bet because if you compare him to MLB’s Shohei Ohtani, that two-way star was +115 to win the MVP last year. That is more along the stratosphere of where I would list Cags to win the Golden Spikes this season.
Peterson is 6’6 with a high 90s heater and tooled out with very good breaking balls. Then add in trusty bullpen pieces Ryan Slater and Brandon Neely, who led the SEC in Saves last year (13).
The Gators will have five players in the lineup this year who hit double-digit homers a season ago. Cags had 33, Alabama transfer Colby Shelton had 25, and Cade Kurland had 17. Also, Luke Heyman hit 12 homeruns and didn’t consistently start last season. And lastly, Brody Donay transferred in after hitting 12 bombs for Virginia Tech as a freshman.
This group of power bats isn’t even counting Ty Evans. The outfielder rode pine all regular season and then broke out in Omaha with the most bombs ever by a single player in Charles Schwab Field.
Florida Gators To Win The College World Series +1100 (FanDuel)
Arkansas Razorbacks (FD: CWS Champ 11/1, DK: Omaha App +150)
In my opinion the weekend rotation of Hagen Smith, Brady Tygart, and Mason Molina is more talented, more experienced, and more trustworthy than any other trio in America and that is including Wake Forest.
Hagen Smith has the potential to be the best starting pitcher in College Baseball. The once lanky lefty has filled his frame and was touching triple digits in the fall, along with more developed off-speed offerings.
Tygart has battled injuries in his career, but he has a true four-pitch arsenal that 98% of the country can’t match at this level of baseball. Plus, the righthander is a wizard throwing breaking balls. Then, on Sundays, Mason Molina is projected to get the nod. When he was at Texas Tech in 2023 he was their SP1.
The Hogs lost a good chunk of production at the plate. Kendall Diggs is their top returnee after a .297 average, .981 OPS, and 63 RBI in the 2023 season. All the returnees behind him either didn’t get a steady diet of plate appearances or had a down year, in Peyton Stovall’s case.
We’ve seen head coach Dave Van Horn work his magic before. For Arkansas to hit their ceiling in 2024, they will need a couple of bounce-backs and breakout seasons. Keep your eye on shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. He is a transfer from Sacramento State on the cusp of a breakout.
Arkansas Razorbacks To Win The College World Series +1100 (FanDuel)
College Baseball Futures Picks: Value Picks
Clemson Tigers (DraftKings: CWS Champ 28/1, Omaha App +230)
Erik Bakich is a proven good coach. He had Michigan 1 game away from a National Championship in 2019. Now, he is with Clemson, a program with a more passionate baseball fanbase, better facilities, more resources, and more NIL.
Last year, Bakich had a super young team that flipped a switch in the middle of April and rattled off a 24-3 stretch to finish 44-19 and as the No. 4 National seed in the NCAA Tournament. This year’s pitching staff has plenty of depth. Clemson returns two of their three weekend starters (Austin Gordon and Ethan Darden).
Tristan Smith is the other projected weekend starter for Clemson this year. Smith was excellent last summer in the Cape Cod League. The southpaw had a 1.56 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 23 innings against some of amateur baseball’s best hitters. Bakich also has seven of his top eight relief pitchers returning from last year. All seven of those relievers had an ERA below 4.05.
2023 ACC Freshman of the Year, Cam Cannarella, is also back for Clemson. He had a .388 batting average while leading the conference with 24 stolen bases and was 4th in runs scored (64).
Former two-sport athlete Will Taylor was recruited to Clemson to play baseball and quarterback for the football team (played WR). This offseason was the first year where Taylor did not play football as he solely focused on baseball. MLB scouts say he has “massive untapped power.”
Taylor had a .362 batting average with a 1.082 OPS last season. His ceiling is super high after a fully concentrated offseason, as Taylor is also playing to boost his MLB Draft stock.
Clemson Tigers To Win The College World Series +2800 (DraftKings)
Oregon State Beavers (DraftKings: CWS Champ 25/1, Omaha App +300)
College Baseball’s national championship is the last thing to take place on the academic calendar each year. This would be the perfect Disney ending for a solid baseball program that is getting screwed over by the changing landscape of college sports. I can assure you that this team will be playing with an “Oregon State vs. Everybody” type of attitude all season long.
Head Coach Mitch Canham has the best returning lineup west of Texas. The Beavers will have five guys in 2024 that hit double-digit home runs in 2023. Gavin Turley hit 14 longshots during his freshman season, Mason Guerra and Brady Kasper also hit 12. Washington State transfer Elijah Hainline batted .337 with 12 dingers in the PAC 12 last year.
The last guy that is a part of the list above is Australian five-tool superstar Travis Bazzana. Entering his junior season, Bazzana has built a “no-later-than-5th-overall” 2024 MLB Draft reputation. Bazzana batted .372 with an 1.122 OPS, 78 runs scored, 55 ribbies, and 36 swipes.
If you’re trying to poke holes against Oregon State, one point you could make is that the Beavers lack an ace. My counter would be you could be right, however their pitching staff has tremendous depth and is full of experience. Junior Jacob Kmatz and senior Jaren Hunter return from last season’s weekend rotation, and junior Arizona transfer Aiden May is set to join them.
Oregon State Beavers To Win The College World Series +2500 (DraftKings)
College Baseball Futures Picks: Longshots
Northeastern Huskies (DraftKings: CWS Champ 200/1, Omaha App 20/1)
First off, let’s start with the head coach, Mike Glavine, brother of Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Tom Glavine. So, obviously, this pitching staff is going to be an elite group that focuses on control and limiting hard contact.
The Huskies had the 3rd best Team ERA in the nation with a 3.75 last year. Northeastern’s weekend rotation of Aiven Cabral, Wyatt Scotti, and Jake Gigliotti is one of the best in the country. Cabral is a certified ace, and last year, as a freshman, he was All-CAA First Team with a 9-4 record and a 2.58 ERA.
Offensively, the Huskies returned 90 of their 106 home runs hit a season ago, and the team also stole the 9th most bases per game (94-133). A major contributor to those totals was surefire Day 1 MLB Draft pick returns for the 2024 season Mike Sirota.
Sirota had opportunities to jump into the transfer portal and cash in through NIL, but he chose to stay in Brookline, Mass, to chase something bigger. In 2023, Sirota had a .346 batting average, an 1.150 OPS, 18 home runs, & was 19 for 21 stealing bases.
Sirota’s sidekick, Cam Maldonado, is another speedy outfielder with power at the plate. Maldonado is benefitting from all of the attention and spotlight being on Sirota. The sophomore is bound to be another high draft pick himself. Maldonado was 32 for 33 in the stolen bases department last year with 13 bombs, a .353 average, and a 1.076 OPS.
Northeastern Huskies To Appear In Omaha +2000 (DraftKings)
Northeastern Huskies To Win The College World Series +200000 (DraftKings)
Lastly, another aspect of this play is the Huskies’ regionality. The College Baseball NCAA Tournament begins with a “Regional round” and it’s exactly what you think it is. There is a rule for the selection committee when creating the field of 64 teams to limit travel to the best of their ability in order to save the NCAA and its programs money.
Northeastern could get the benefit of a good draw that could have them potentially avoiding an SEC team, just like Oral Roberts did last year.
We’re targeting the Boston College’s, the Rutgers’, the West Virginia’s of the world for the Huskies to have an easier shot to advance through the first round. Lastly, if you can get to Omaha, you can win in Omaha, sprinkle a couple of bucks on a National Championship future.
Besides the year 2000, a mid-major has won the CWS every 8 years since 1984
✅1984 – Fullerton
✅1992 – Pepperdine
❌2000- LSU (Louisiana-Lafayette was a semi-finalist)
✅2008- Fresno St
✅2016- Coastal Carolina
✅2024-?
We release our Mid-Major Power Rankings tomorrow
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) January 21, 2024
Troy Trojans (FanDuel: CWS Champ 110/1, Omaha App 31/1)
Skylar Meade’s Troy program has some true momentum. Their facilities have seen some really nice upgrades lately and the Trojans have been attracting some high major transfers because of it.
Troy has a super-balanced roster when it applies to hitting and pitching. RHP Grayson Stewart (91.1 IP, 3.65 ERA) is the best returning pitcher in the Sun Belt Conference and will get the ball on Friday nights. Stewart possessed an outstanding 94 strikeout to 25 walk ratio.
Any combination of Garrett Gainous, Dylan King, LHP Logan Ross, Florida transfer Clete Hartzog, and Clemson transfer Jay Dill are expected to fill out the weekend rotation and be key pieces out of the bullpen.
Sun Belt Player of the Year Shane Lewis also returns for the 2024 season. Lewis smoked 27 tanks with a .286 AVG, 1.141 OPS, and 77 RBI. Catcher Kole Myers is also a standout returnee. Myers hit 13 bombs with 21 stolen bases while recording a .297 batting average. Two more seniors in Ethan Kavanagh and Tremayne Cobb Jr, come back for the Trojans after .300 average campaigns, too.
Troy Trojans To Appear In Omaha +3100 (FanDuel)
The College Baseball Experience
For more analysis and entertainment on college baseball gambling, make sure you tune into The College Baseball Experience. During the season, Colby Dant and Noah Bieniek will talk about and pick the winners of the biggest series of each weekend.
