As the conclusion of SEC baseball season draws near, fans and analysts alike have a great understanding of who the best players in the league are. This is an attempt to construct the perfect team of 2025 SEC players.
Lineup
The SEC lineup is stacked. The biggest challenge was narrowing it down to just one hitter per position.
For reference, a .300 batting average is good. Only elite hitters have an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of 1.000, a high on-base percentage (OBP) shows a hitter’s ability to reach base and a slugging percentage of .500 or better indicates a hitter excels in getting extra base hits.
Rylan Galvan is the catcher for Texas. He is the best offensive backstop in the SEC. His OPS of 1.180 is fourth best among catchers in the country. He has 11 doubles and 12 homers in 41 games for the Longhorns.
Andrew Fischer, the former Rebel who transferred to Tennessee, is the top offensive first baseman in the SEC. In 45 games, the junior is batting .309, he gets on base in more than half of his plate appearances and is a prolific power hitter.
Luke Hill is primarily a third baseman, but for this dream team he will play at second base. The junior has an OPS of 1.033 and a batting average of .349. In 216 plate appearances, Hill has 15 stolen bases, 13 more walks than strikeouts and 59 hits.
The third base battle for this team was very tough, but Georgia’s Slate Alford just beats out State’s Ace Reese for the position. Alford has racked up 64 hits in 47 games, good for top-10 in the SEC. He has an OPS of 1.074 and has a slugging percentage of .628.
His game is a good combination of power and average, and he only has seven more Ks than walks — a notable ratio for a hitter with his pop.
Justin Lebron is a shortstop for Alabama. The counting stats are all there for sophomore — he has 12 stolen bases, 15 homers, 14 doubles, 60 runs driven in and 48 runs scored. He has a .315 batting average.
Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan begins the outfield portion of the lineup. In 224 plate appearances, the sophomore has eight more walks than punch outs, 70 hits, 61 runs and 12 home runs.
Despite a rough start to the season for the preseason No. 1 Texas A&M, centerfielder Jace LaViolette’s play has helped right the ship in College Station. He’s batting .291 with a .455 on-base percentage. He has 15 homers on the campaign.
Right fielder Robbie Burnett is having a great first year with Georgia after transferring from UNC-Asheville. He leads the SEC in home runs with 19 along with 57 RBIs and has stolen 13 bases so far. Even with the majority of the attention being on his teammate Ryland Zaborowski, Burnett has shown that he can step up and drive in runs when needed.
Rounding out the lineup is a third Georgia player, Zaborowski. The designated hitter has an OBP of .500 and a slugging percentage of .822. He has hit 16 homers and driven in 58 in just 39 games.
Bench
Similar to pitchers, there is a plethora of hitters to choose from in the SEC. Given how stacked the starting lineup is in this dream team, these four hitters that occupy the bench spots are nothing short of fantastic at the dish.
Tennessee centerfielder Hunter Ensley is batting .342 with an OPS over one. He has 15 doubles and 53 RBIs on the season. He has solidified himself in the clean-up spot for the Vols and has given them some very solid production in that role.
Rebel center fielder Isaac Humphrey takes the starting position on the dream team. In 44 games, the Louisville transfer has 41 RBIs, 11 doubles and 47 hits. His OPS is north of one.
This selection may be controversial, but Austin Fawley has been on a tear as of late for the Rebels. While his stats are not on par with some others on the list, even on his own team, he has cemented himself in the lineup and behind the plate. He has 13 homers in 32 games. Plus, the lineup needs a backup catcher.
Corner outfielder Mitchell Sanford rounds out the bench for the dream team. The former LSU Tiger has accumulated 54 hits in 45 games for the Rebels. His 12 homers and 12 swipes show a good combination of speed and power.
Rotation
As the season is nearing its end, there have been several deserving pitchers to be named in an “all-star” rotation, so to speak. The SEC is ripe with elite arms that can shut down opposing hitters and who can keep their teams in games. While there are many players that could’ve been added to this list, here are the top five best arms in the conference thus far.
For pitchers, earned run average (ERA) is one of the most basic stats that reflect performance. The lower the ERA, the better.
While Ole Miss fans certainly will not want to hear it, Liam Doyle has been the best pitcher in the conference and the country. This was evident in his return to Swayze when he went 8.1 innings pitched with a whopping 14 strikeouts and just three hits and two runs conceded. He currently boasts an ERA of 2.23 through 64.2 innings of work. Doyle won back-to-back conference pitcher of the week awards in April and will surely be a first-round draft pick this summer.
Kyson Witherspoon has been on par with Doyle this season. With 65 innings pitched, the junior has an ERA of 2.35. Most recently, Witherspoon held Georgia to just five hits and one run with eight punch outs. Witherspoon is a power-heavy pitcher sitting at 95-98 mph on his fastball which he combines with a healthy pitch mix that continues to keep hitters off-balance.
Samuel Dutton transferred to Auburn from divisional rival LSU this past offseason and has not disappointed the Tigers. He is 5-2 on the year and has a 2.48 ERA with 73 total strikeouts this season as Auburn sits at No. 10 in the country, according to D1 Baseball. Dutton’s most impressive outing of the season thus far was in the Tigers’ 10-0 win over Alabama where he went seven innings and surrendered just two hits to the Tide.
In his first full season since having Tommy John surgery, Hunter Elliot has provided much needed quality in his Friday night starts. While his ERA (3.83) is higher than his counterparts on this list, he is a dominant southpaw. Opponents are only batting .209 against Elliott, so while he might work himself into some trouble, he is elite at getting outs.
LSU ace Kade Anderson has had a tremendous year so far and has set himself up for a potential first-round selection in this summers MLB Draft. Anderson is a prototypical crafty left-hander that has a four-pitch mix which he pounds the strike zone with.
In his sophomore season, Anderson has taken command as the leader of the Tigers pitching staff. He has pitched 64.2 innings thus far, including a complete game shut-out over Oklahoma on April 3 in a 1-0 win for the Tigers. Anderson gave up five hits and struck out 14 Sooners.
Bullpen
Without a good bullpen, teams will blow games in the final innings. Luckily, the SEC has plenty solid, talented relievers.
Perhaps the best reliever in the SEC this season is LSU’s Zac Cowan. The Wofford transfer has pitched 40 innings and struck out 49 batters.
Cowan’s teammate, Casan Evans, is a close second. Evans has a 1.09 ERA. Despite pitching seven innings fewer than Cowan, he boasts just two fewer strikeouts. Evans has not allowed a home run on the season.
Texas is currently ranked No. 1 by D1 Baseball; the Longhorns’ best reliever is Max Grubbs, who has 38 strikeouts through 38.2 innings pitched along with a 1.40 ERA. No. 11 Arkansas’s top reliever, Carson Ozmer, also makes this team. Despite walking 16 batters on the season, Ozmer has allowed only four earned runs with an ERA of 1.24.
No. 15 Vanderbilt’s Sawyer Hawks has pitched 33.2 innings in 12 appearances. He has allowed only five earned runs, and his ERA is an impressive 1.34.
No. 23 Ole Miss’s Mason Morris posts an ERA of 2.75, the worst of any reliever on this list, and his 16 walks are a bit concerning. But he still gets the nod due to his strikeout numbers — Morris has struck out a staggering 55 batters this season.
Rounding out this list are Texas A&M’s Weston Moss, who has pitched in 17 games this season (two as a starter) has an ERA of 2.37, and No. 18 Alabama’s Aiden Jimenez, who has only given up one homer and posts an ERA of 1.88.
