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D1 baseball staff | February 5, 2024

The top 20 third basemen entering the 2024 college baseball season

Prime Time on the diamond: Deion Sanders College World Series highlights

Editor's note: The following was first published on . .

When we put together our Preseason All-America teams, we followed one guiding principle: If we were building a team to win the 2024 national title, which players would we choose? We use the same philosophy to construct our Player Rankings — think of them as an extension of our Preseason All-America teams.

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These are NOT professional prospect lists, though they do take pure talent into consideration. Players who proved themselves against top competition in summer ball and look poised for breakout years might rank higher on the list than other players who had gaudier stats from last spring. We considered past performance and offensive statistics, but we also try to keep the numbers in context, because some leagues or ballparks are more offensive than others, and some leagues simply have more talent than others — so all stat lines are not created equal. So we take an amalgam of past numbers, raw talent, defensive ability (especially at premium positions), makeup and reports of development over the summer and fall. This year, we also made use of more advanced metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and WAR, courtesy of our partners at ;.

Finally, remember that there are more than 300 Division I teams, and we’re ranking roughly the top 15 percent at each position. These lists reflect our projections of which players will be the best of the best this spring, but many good players in the remaining 85 percent just didn’t make the cut. We’ll revisit the Player Rankings over the course of the season and make adjustments as players prove themselves on the field.

👀 MORE RANKINGS: D1Baseball ranks their top 20 catchers

With all that said, here’s a look at the top 20 third basemen in college baseball heading into the 2024 season. Preseason All-Americans Tommy White (LSU), Billy Amick) Tennessee) and Carson DeMartini (Virginia Tech) lead the way.

Rank Name School AVG/OBP/SLG OPS PA 2B HR RBI BB-K SB
1 Tommy White LSU .377/.435/.729 1.164 310 24 24 105 23-41 0
2 Billy Amick Tennessee .413/.464/.772 1.236 193 17 13 63 13-32 2
3 Carson Demartini Virginia Tech .323/.455/.593 1.048 246 13 10 57 46-42 9
4 Joey Loynd Delaware .392/.454/.692 1.146 282 27 14 80 29-47 4
5 Justin Starke VMI .387/.483/.651 1.134 263 15 13 52 39-44 32
6 Peyton Powell Texas .339/.431/.548 .979 269 16 10 46 37-42 2
7 Sean Keys Bucknell .339/.444/.679 1.123 205 16 13 61 24-30 3
8 Jay Thomason Air Force .344/.439/.722 1.161 269 21 21 74 31-40 6
9 Jac Croom UNC Wilmington .361/.427/.521 .948 252 12 7 34 24-22 7
10 Brandon Eike VCU .345/.395/.608 1.003 264 24 11 71 21-39 6
11 Wyatt Henseler Pennsylvania .321/.383/.660 1.043 240 17 18 63 15-45 0
12 Cam Smith Florida State .258/.326/.517 .843 230 8 12 36 21-66 3
13 Sam Antonacci Coastal Carolina JC transfer              
14 Gavin Grahovac Texas A&M Freshman              
15 Trent Caraway Oregon State Freshman              
16 Tony Santa Maria Rutgers .429/.429/.429 .858 7 0 0 2 0-4 2
17 Trace Willhoite Lipscomb .309/.428/.618 1.046 279 17 17 66 42-67 2
18 Drew Smith Oregon .354/.421/.542 .963 107 5 3 18 8-20 6
19 Andrew Fischer Ole Miss .289/.404/.595 .999 208 12 11 33 29-53 1
20 Javon Hernandez Auburn .397/.479/.567 1.046 266 11 7 49 33-29 11

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June 13 - 23, 2025
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