The Big West is home to several baseball powers in the college baseball world, including the likes of UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and Cal State Fullerton. So, how does the Big West look for 2024? Here’s our 2024 Big West baseball season preview.
Related: 2024 College Baseball Season Preview: C-USA
Cal Poly
We start our 2024 Big West baseball season preview with Cal Poly. The Mustangs finished with the fourth-worst record in Big West play at 11-19. It wasn’t a strong season for Cal Poly but one bright spot from 2023 returns for this season.
Junior catcher Ryan Stafford, who finished second last season among Mustangs in hits (72) and was named to the All-Big West preseason team, returns for 2024.
Cal State Bakersfield
Cal State Bakersfield did not have an easy go of it in the Big West last year. The good news for the Roadrunners, though, is that several bright spots from last season are back for this season.
Junior infielder Cody Hendriks, who hit .343 last season for the Roadrunners, is back for 2024. Infielder/catcher Matt Kurata, who hit .369 in 2023, also returns for the 2024 campaign.
Cal State Fullerton
The 2023 campaign was a strong one for the Titans, who finished with a 20-10 record in Big West play. That record was good for second in the conference, one game behind the winner UC San Diego. This season, however, the Big West coaches have Cal State Fullerton finishing sixth in the conference.
Nate Nankil (Athletics) and Caden Connor (White Sox) are gone but the Titans do return pitcher Evan Yates. Pitcher Chris Hernandez, who made the Perfect Game Class of 2023 Top 500, is new to the 2024 roster.
CSUN
Cal State Northridge did very well a year ago. The Matadors finished with the third-best record (20-10) in Big West play in 2023 and the conference’s coaches have them pegged to finish fifth in the conference in 2024.
The Matadors did lose junior infielder Ali Camarillo, who hit .371 for CSUN in 2023, to the Texas A&M Aggies. Grad student Jakob Simons, who led CSUN in home runs (14) last year, is back.
Hawaii
The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors finished with a respectable 18-12 record in the Big West in 2023. Hawaii is expected to be competitive in 2024, as the Big West coaches projected the Rainbow Warriors to finish fourth in the conference.
Unfortunately for Hawaii, the Rainbow Warriors could not get commit Devin Saltiban to Hawaii. Salitban signed with the Phillies after he was selected in the third round out of high school. Ben Zeigler-Namoa, Alex Giroux, and Dallas Duarte do return for 2024, and Hawaii will welcome several new players, including catcher Austin Machado. Machado posted a career .467 OBP at St. John’s.
Long Beach State
Long Beach State has a new head coach for 2024. Former associate head coach Bryan Peters is now the head coach, replacing Erik Valenzuela, who resigned this past summer.
Sophomore pitcher Kellan Montgomery and junior outfielder Kyle Ashworth are among the returning Dirtbags. Outfielder Landon Greenhouse, rated #364 in the Class of 2023 per Perfect Game, joins Long Beach State for 2024.
UC Davis
UC Davis did not do well during the 2023 campaign, as the Aggies finished with the second-worst record in conference play at 7-23. Only UC Riverside had a worse record than UC Davis.
Junior pitcher Bryan Green, who led the Aggies in strikeouts (51) last year, returns for 2024. As does outfielder Damian Stone, who hit .306 for UC Davis last season.
UC Irvine
One of the teams that should compete for the top spot in the Big West in 2024 is UC Irvine. The Anteaters return a strong team for 2024, including Anthony Martinez, who hit .394 as a freshman last season. Dub Gleed, Caden Kendle, and senior Jo Oyama, the latter of whom did well in the Cape last summer, are among other notable names.
Among the freshmen at UC Irvine is pitcher Brandon Luu, rated as the 463rd-best player in the Class of 2023 per Perfect Game.
UC Riverside
UC Riverside is expected to have a tough 2024 campaign. The school finished dead last in the preseason coaches pool, in what will be a pretty deep Big West for this upcoming campaign. This comes after a 2023 campaign that saw UC Riverside finish with a 5-25 record in conference play.
Senior utilityman Anthony McFarland, who led the Highlanders in hits (57) in 2023, is back for 2024.
UC San Diego
UC San Diego had a tremendous 2023 campaign, as the Tritons won the Big West for the first time in school history. However, due to a mandated four-year reclassification period, UC San Diego — who are yet again ineligible for the tourney in 2024 — didn’t play for a shot at the NCAA title.
Leading the Tritons in 2024 is pitcher Ryan Forcucci, rated as the 55th-best prospect in the upcoming MLB Draft per MLB.com. Left-hander Izaak Martinez and infielder Matt Halbach are among other names to watch.
UC Santa Barbara
We end our 2024 Big West baseball season preview with UC Santa Barbara. UC Santa Barbara is the presumptive favorite heading into the 2024 campaign, as the preseason coaches’ poll predicts the Gauchos to finish atop the Big West.
Coming in at #18 on the USA Today/Coaches Preseason Coaches Poll, UC Santa Barbara has no shortage of star power, highlighted by two players in MLB.com‘s top 100 2024 MLB Draft prospect list: pitcher Matt Ager (#52) and third baseman Zander Darby (#95). Ager struck out 115 batters for the Gauchos in 2023, while Darby helped pace the Santa Barbara offense. Sophomore left-hander Hudson Barrett, who dominated in 2023, is another name to watch.