The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Futures Bets

The first weekend of the 2023 College Baseball season was a goodie. Watched a ton of games, many with exciting prospects and chances to make a deep run throughout the year. You can track my bets in every sport here for the season. Before I dive into my favorite futures bets for the season, let me just say they are difficult to get down. I had to go to an obscure book located in Arkansas (Oaklawn Sports) to find a lot of them, but there are a handful any bettors can place in a legalized sports betting state. Following up on the tweet I sent last week, here's what JohnnyVTV is looking at this season. 

*These odds are via DraftKings Sportsbook. Click here for a FREE bet upon your first deposit with your promo code*

Teams to Make the College World Series

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+300)

Wake is a WAGON! They are right up there with Tennessee in terms of a starting rotation (and bull pen) that is headlined by future first round pick Rhett Lowder. The Demon Deacons were a team I was looking out for coming into the year after their abrupt ending after losing in the 2022 regionals to Maryland. In addition to their loaded pitching, they have a front runner for the ACC player of the year (and dark horse for the Golden Spikes award) in firstbasemen Nick Kurtz that spearheads and great offensive attack. For a team like Wake, who is even better than they were last year during a 41-win season, their combination of playmakers and depth is right up there with the likes of LSU and Florida. There is no reason this team does not have a realistic chance to make the final eight. This is a team you will be hearing a lot of about in 2023.

Campbell Camels (+4000) 0.25u

The Camels were a huge sleeper last year. I hammered them in the early part of the season, but in typical fashion, it's difficult to find lines for every game, particularly the smaller schools, once in-conference play starts. I was in love with that team, and thought they had real potential to make a lot of teams uncomfortable. Long story short, they end up getting the worst possible draw by having to play in the Volunteers region. If they played in any other one, I believe they make the College World Series. Fast forward to 2023, the Camels lose star SS, Zach Neto, and star SP Thomas Harrington, both first rounders in the 2022 MLB draft. This season though, they still have loads of talent and potential. A lot of their lineup, which hit 118 taters last season (top five in the country) is still in tact. Their number two arm (Saturday guy) from a season ago, Cade Keuhler, now their Ace with first round potential. Although the team is not as good as it was last season, this is still a unit that can come out and surprise a lot of people if they get a better draw than they did in 2022.

South Carolina Gamecocks (+1000) 0.5u

I watched a fair amount of SC baseball in 2022, which was largely unimpressive. Fast forward to 2023, the 5-0 Game Cocks have scored 80 runs and hit 23 bombs. They have also won five straight games by double digits, something they had not accomplished since March of 1997. And the best part for them is their schedule remains extremely generous for the next month or so. I'm sure a lot can be credited to the easy opponents they have played so far, but right now they have a confidence and swagger about them. What if what we are seeing is real? The Rake Cocks could be a team to make a lot of noise for the rest of the year. Their pitching seems to be extremely capable as well, led by first round prospect Will Sanders. At some point, they will regress to the mean, but if they end up winning 35 games this season, they should be in a good position come time to suit up for the regionals. Keep a look out for South Carolina (100/1 to win it all). 

 

Teams to Win Their Conference

SEC Florida Gators (+650)

We just talked about Wake being one of the best programs in the country with talent and depth. Florida is probably right there with LSU being the best in that department. The Florida pitching has some serious firepower despite the loss of their 2022 ace, Hunter Barco, who was drafted over the summer as senior after tearing his UCL. The current ace is Brandon Sproat, who took over as the Friday guy last season when Barco went down. Sproat turned down his third round draft pick by the Mets to come back to school for another year. The Gators also brought in one of the best hurlers in the country, a likely top 20 pick in this summer's draft, in Southern Miss transfer, Hurston Waldrep. Then of course, they are transforming their big boy lefty slugger, Jac Caglianone into their Sunday guy. After making his debut against Charleston Southern in the opening weekend, throwing 6.2 innings of shutout baseball, Cags hit in the high 90's consistently as a Southpaw. Of course their hitting is elite too, led by one of the top prospects in America, Wyatt Langford. The point is this team can compete with ANYBODY. Taking LSU at +200 right now is short sided when you consider a team like the Gators can run with them. This is going to be a team that makes a deep run in 2023.

SEC Arkansas Razorbacks (+700) 

Arkansas was in the final four last year after a hard fought chess match to the eventual winner in the semi finals, Ole Miss. My knock on the Razorbacks in 2022 was a severe lack of starting pitching. Their ace Connor Noland was good for most of the year before nose diving in May, only to reappear like a Pheonix for the rest of June. With him gone, it was supposed to be Jaxon Wiggins and Hagen Smith holding down the fort. However, Wiggins tore his UCL the week before the season started, so he's done with Tommy John. Now with Smith as the de facto Friday guy, they are using a combination of guys right now featuring Junior LHP Hunter Hollan, and starter-reliever hybrid Will McEntire (one of the top RHP prospects in the 2023 draft). I'lll say the same thing about Arky this year that I did last year, they have an elite bullpen. One of the best in the nation. That's one of the reasons they made it so far last year, and historically teams that have deep pitching, make deep runs. With a solid enough offense that is featuring a possible superstar breakout in Creighton transfer, Grad Student Jared Wegner.  The Razor Backs have a good team that is definitely capable of sneaking up on everybody in the SEC.

BIG 12 Oklahoma Sooners (+700)

I was so hurt when the Sooners lost in the CWS Finals last year. I dished them out at 60/1 right before the tournament started. They had an absolute wagon for a team, both hitting and pitching. After getting absolutely gutted in the draft, Coach Skip Johnson brought in a ton of transfers to asses the damage. The Big 12 is one big question mark. TCU is the rightful favorite for a reason (+250), but again, this early in the season is not something I'm into, usually. Not to mention, I have questions about the Frogs pitching. The Sooners slow start is not a concern to me, the same thing happened last year before they got hot. This is a new team that needs time to gel. The conference has a lot of uncertainies with Texas, Texas Tech, and OK State. I'm looking for value, and the Sooners could be a sleeper this season.

Big South Campbell Camels (+150) 2u

The Camels are the class of their conference. This is maybe the only large favorite I feel comfortable taking in any conferece. It's more than likely only one team is making the tournament from this conference, so if that's the case, then the Camels would have to win it. 

PAC 12 UCLA Bruins (+400) 0.5u 

Okay, let's run it back. Stanford is and has been the class of the Pac 12. They are like the Dodgers. And like the Dodgers, they usually don't show up in the postseason. While it's like the Cardinal manges to win the conference, it's definitely not bad to try and shop around this early in the year. Besides, Stanford is one big red flag in the pitching department after stud lefty, Quinn Matthews. The UCLA Bruins were more pitching focused last season. They had an absolute stud in Max Rajcic (drafted), as well as a promising young arm who got hurt extremely early in Thatcher Hurd (now with LSU). A lot remains to be seen with this team once conference play actually starts, but they are a storied program who has a couple of good pieces that can contend in this conference. That's why it's only worth half of a play.

PAC 12 Arizona Wildcats (+900) 0.5u

Okay, this is a little more unlikely to hit, but you can't count out the Arizona Wildcats. It's a top heavy team, but one that can sneak up on you. After losing their Friday guy from 2022, Garrett Irvin, they call on hard thowing TJ Nichols to step into that role. Their solid offense lost stud catcher, Daniel Susac in the first round to the A's (19th overall, second catcher taken), and OF Tanner O'Tremba (accounted for 11 homers and 56 RBI's). However, they still have OF Chase Davis remaining. Davis is also a highly touted prospect with loads of power. If Zona hopes to accomplish anything of note this year, Davis is going to have to have the best season of his young career.

ACC Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+400) 2u

You saw what I wrote about Wake above. This team is on the right side of being legit. I need to see a little bit more against better competition to make sure what we're seeing is real, but given that they have been here before last season, it's probably a safe bet. The ACC is good, not great. Teams like Miami, UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech are solid, but they don't have nearly the talent and depth. The real team that could challenege for the conference is Louisville, but even they don't tickle my fancy. The Cards lost their two biggest boppers in Cam Masterman and Dalton Rushing who combined for 41 bops last season. This conference is the Deamon Deacons to lose.

Teams to Win the College World Series

Tennessee Volunteers (+800)

This is my team. I LOVE the Vols. They were an absolute DADDY WAGON in 2022. They broke the 50-win mark, were one of the best teams in College Baseball history, and still didn't make the College World Series. Unfortuantely they ran into the worst possible matchup they could have gotten, Notre Dame in the Super Regionals. Looking at the 2023 team, nearly their entire lineup got cleaned out via the draft. They had to bring in a lot of transfers, and elevate some of the younger guys. Still with some real bangers in that offense, like Sophomore Firstbasemen Blake Burke (hit 14 tanks in only 95 at-bats in 2022), Kansas transfer SS Maui Ahuna, Cincy transfer OF Griffin Merrit etc. The offense has and is taking time to gel, the slow start is not a worrying factor. Their real power this year, like last year, is the pitching. The Vols were extremely fortunate to keep 75% of their starting rotation in tact, only losing 2nd round draft pick, Blade Tidwell to the Mets. The Friday guy, the ace, is none other than Chase Dollander. Dollander is not only the best pitcher in the country, but he's probably the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg or Gerrit Cole. He's the real deal with asbolutely everything you can ever ask for in a pitcher. In my opinion, if he doesn't win at least two Cy Young awards as a pro, his career was a let down. And then the best part is, they have another one coming right behind him next year in Sophomore Chase Burns. Burns would be the ace on almost any other team in America. That's their Saturday guy. Then of course, there's Drew Beam, probably a top 15 pitcher in the country, and best Sunday in all of College Baseball. Once the offense catches up, this team will be back to being the force of nature they are.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (+6000) 0.25u

I had my eye on the Bulldogs for the last month. After winning it all in 2021, they got ransacked by injuries in 2022, which obviously correlated with a brutal season. Now in 2023, their team an extremely young team with 26 Freshman/Sophomores. For an SEC team with championship pedigree and a fantastic coach in Chris Lemonis, I thought 60/1 was a little wild. Some books have them at 50/1 (which is more fair in my opinion), and others priced them between 25/1-35/1 (also a little wild). Though my preseason prediction was there would be some early season growing pains, I thought they would start to gel and ignite a fire. Part of the reason I was high on this team was their freshamn phenom, switch-hitter AND switch-pitcher, Jurrangelo Cijntje (who a lot of people probably have heard of by now). He sits 95 as a righty, and 92-93 as a lefty. A kid like that provides a tremendous advantage to a ball club, especially when it comes to not having to worry about pitching on short rest... because he can just throw from the other side. I threw a small piece on the Bulldogs because I think they will be a team that will get stronger as the season goes on.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+2500)

The Demon Deacons are a popular team for me this year as you can see. I did a podcast the week before the Super Bowl headlining an overall preview of 2023. Of course, I had been checking out the futures prices for a week or so before that. One team that caught my eye was Wake Forest at 40/1. On my podcast, I brought in a great guest in Joe Doyle of Prospects Live. He also thought Wake was a great look, betting aside. I thought 40/1 was an unreal number, and of course within a day or so, it got crushed to 25/1 in some places, and even down to 18/1-20/1 in others. Somebody also could have hit it hard, which caused it to drop. But the point is I think Wake has a real chance to make a lot of noise this season. 25/1 is the fair price right now, so I wouldn't bother dipping too low on other places to get them. While I'm high on them, I don't think it's fair to start overrating them in the market.

 

Enjoy the taste, cuzzadeech.

Catch all of my baseball plays (College and MLB) all season long right here on Bet Karma. And don't forget to tune into my podcast, Breaking Bet, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1pm ET here.