A list of the top 10 college baseball programs who most benefitted from the recent transfer portal read like a list of the SEC baseball’s best.
The list, released earlier this week and compiled by On’s Pete Nakos, began with LSU at No. 1. The Tigers won it all in 2025 and will be trying to get back to the mountaintop in 2027 after a disappointing season trying to defend that title. If Nakos’ list is on target, LSU’s path toward a return to glory is well on its way to happening, thanks to a big boost via the portal.
The SEC was just getting cranked up on this list, with the only non-SEC program in the top 10 being No. 8 Miami.
That was it.
Every other team on the list was an SEC team, which is just a signal of the continuation of dominance that the SEC showed in 2026, when 5 of the 8 teams in the College World Series were from the SEC. The 5 SEC teams in this past season’s CWS set an all-time record, and a team from the SEC was the last one standing when Oklahoma captured its third national title.
Interestingly, the Sooners didn’t make Nakos’ top 10 transfer portal list, but South Carolina did at No. 2 and Tennessee also did at No. 3.
The SEC roll call by Nakos is a warning sign to the rest of college baseball that the conference which dominated the sport in 2026 is well on its way to doing the same in 2027.
Here is the complete On3 top 10 list with the heavy SEC flavor:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
