No. 19 Oregon 2025 College Top 25 Preview
No. 19 Oregon 2025 College Top 25 Preview
Blog Article
Now entering his seventh season atop the Ducks program, head coach Mark Wasikowski has been at the forefront of Oregon’s baseball boom. He has led the program to four-straight regionals, including a program-first two-straight super regionals in 2023 and 2024. According to Wasikowski, the Ducks have seen a 500% increase in attendance over the last two seasons, sold out the 2023 Eugene Super Regional in 17 minutes and started an annual booster dinner that has gained significant traction.
All of it, Wasikowski said, has contributed to the team’s momentum on the field, where they return eight of nine offensive players who started against Texas A&M in supers last year. The Ducks also returned southpaw Grayson Grinsell, an all-Pac-12 honorable mention from a year ago who figures to lead their staff. Oregon did well in the transfer portal, too, securing Baseball America’s No. 10-ranked class, which featured three top-100 transfers: St. Mary’s righty Jason Reitz, Indiana State outfielder Parker Stinson and Washington lefty Sam Boyle.
The Bad News
With so much returning production in its lineup, Oregon pretty much knows what it has at the plate, where it expects to be very successful in the Big Ten. Things are somewhat less certain on the mound. The Ducks will be more reliant on newcomers outside of the ace spot in their rotation, which belongs to Grinsell, who threw 79.1 innings in Eugene last year. Reitz figures to be a part of the rotation but had a 6.00 ERA at St. Mary’s last year. Other rotation options include freshman Will Sanford and sophomore Cole Stokes, who are also very inexperienced.
Player To Know
While his aforementioned ERA might not have been terribly sightly, Reitz is generating a lot of excitement both from scouts, coaches and teammates entering his first year with the Ducks. The 6-foot-9 righty has tapped into new velocity this fall, according to his coach, who said that his prized newcomer sat 96-98 mph and topped out at 99 mph with his fastball, which already played up due to his height, in the fall. If Reitz can hang onto that heat and establish better command—he walked 28 batters in 48 innings—he could be one of the Big Ten’s best arms, which would stand to be reflected come draft time.
Path To Omaha
Oregon has come tantalizingly close to college baseball’s promised land the last two years with a pair of super regional losses. Those largely came at the hands of its pitching surrendering 10.2 runs per game in the NCAA Tournament’s second stage. If the Ducks can establish more depth on the mound this year and continue to swing the bat the way they have in recent seasons, it could be enough to get them over the final hurdle to Omaha. They’ll also have to handle a very rigorous regular-season travel schedule as members of the Big Ten.
Projected 2025 Lineup Pos Player Year AVG OBP SLG AB HR RBI Note C Chase Meggers Jr. .316 .396 .480 152 5 33 1B Jacob Walsh Sr. .254 .348 .548 228 18 56 2B Drew Smith Jr. .314 .422 .451 204 4 29 3B Carter Garate Jr. .289 .390 .402 194 3 27 SS Maddox Molony So. .315 .402 .566 143 10 31 OF Anson Aroz Jr. .281 .365 .466 146 6 25 OF Mason Neville Jr. .269 .369 .664 149 16 43 OF Jeffery Heard Sr. .299 .387 .469 177 4 30 DH Dominic Hellman Jr. .271 .318 .509 59 4 9 Pos Player Year GS IP ERA WHIP SO BB Note SP Grayson Grinsell Jr. 14 79.1 4.08 1.24 99 44 SP Jason Reitz* Jr. 6 48 6.00 1.58 65 28 St. Mary’s SP Will Sanford Fr. Point Loma HS – San Diego, Calif. RP Seth Mattox* Sr. 6 32.2 4.41 1.56 31 16 California Baptist RP Cole Stokes So. 0 8.2 11.42 2.31 7 10 * denotes transfer player