By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
Perfect Game released its Top 25 college baseball rankings in which it did not have West Virginia ranked inside the Top 25.
In fact, only one Big 12 team made it in the rankings, being TCU at No. 11.
TCU is my preseason favorite to win the Big 12 this season. The Horned Frogs finished the 2025 campaign with a 39-20 record.
Below is my full preseason Big 12 predicted standings:
TCU (‘25: 39-20)
AZ (‘25: 44-21)
WVU (‘25: 44-16)
KU (‘25: 43-17)
K-State (‘25: 32-26)
ASU (‘25: 36-24)
OSU (‘25: 30-25)
Cincy (‘25: 33-26)
BU (‘25: 33-22)
TTU (‘25: 20-33)
UCF (‘25: 29-36)
BYU (‘25: 28-27)
UH (‘25: 30-25)
Utah (‘25: 21-29)
Under first-year head coach Steve Sabins, the Mountaineers finish ranked in all the major polls for a second straight year, ranging from as high as No. 12 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll to No. 17 in the USA Today coaches’ poll.
In between, Baseball America ranked West Virginia No. 13, while Perfect Game and D1Baseball had the Mountaineers No. 14.
So, that brings up the question about if Perfect Game was so high on WVU at the end of the year, why not now? It’s quite simple — WVU lost its No. 1 thru 5 hitters with Armani Guzman, Gavin Kelly, Ben Lumsden and Brodie Kresser being the only bats left in a brand new, yet bolstered 2026 lineup.
With the newly built lineup that is coming in 2026, along with the new pitching rotation that also lost key spots in the draft or to the pros with UDFA deals, if WVU can come out of the gates quickly then don’t be surprised to see the Mountaineers ranked inside the Top 25 after the first couple weeks of the regular season.
Photo: Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post
