Although the 2020 College World Series was canceled in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN still wanted to celebrate the baseball postseason that would have been.
Who is the best player of all time at every position in college baseball? We’re here to find out.
Voting will be available for each position for three days, and when it’s over, we’ll have a final lineup reveal.
Voting order is as follows: catcher, shortstop, second base, first base, third base, relief pitcher (all expired), left field, right field, center field, two-way player, left-handed pitcher and right-handed pitcher.
Players with an asterisk (*) are members of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Right field
Tonight’s programming on ESPN/ESPN App. All times ET.
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2016 NCAA baseball regional: Clemson vs. Western Carolina, 5 p.m. (featuring Seth Beer)
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2019 College World Series, Game 8: Vanderbilt vs. Mississippi State, 8 p.m. (featuring JJ Bleday)
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2018 College World Series, Game 2: Oregon State vs. Arkansas, 11 p.m. (featuring Trevor Larnach)
Seth Beer (Clemson)
Seth Beer was a two-time first-team All-American and in 2016 became the only freshman to win the Dick Howser Trophy. He led the ACC with 18 home runs in 2016 and 22 homers in 2018, becoming the first ACC player since J.D. Drew to lead the conference in home runs multiple times. His 56 career homers are tied for 10th most in conference history.
JJ Bleday (Vanderbilt)
Bleday was a consensus first-team All-American in 2019 after leading Division I with 27 home runs, breaking the previous Vanderbilt record by five homers. The SEC Player of the Year went 6-for-20 with five runs to earn All-CWS honors while helping the Commodores to their second national championship.
*Joe Carter (Wichita State)
Carter was a first-team All-American in 1981 when he broke the Division I record with 120 RBIs, a mark that still ranks fifth all time, in a season where he hit 34 doubles (tied for sixth most in D-I history) and 13 triples (tied for fourth most in D-I history). His .430 career batting average and .788 slugging percentage are both school records and in the top 20 in Division I history. His 312 RBIs are the fourth most by a D-I player.
Casey Close (Michigan)
Close was a first-team All-American and the Baseball America Player of the Year in 1986, when he hit .440 with 19 home runs and a school-record 72 RBIs. He hit 46 home runs and scored 190 runs in his collegiate career, both still Michigan records, and was a key piece in the Wolverines’ runs to the 1983 and 1984 College World Series.
Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison)
Kulbacki led Division I with 24 home runs and a .943 slugging percentage as a sophomore in 2006, when he was named Collegiate Baseball Co-Player of the Year. He’s the only player in CAA history to finish his career with 50 home runs and a .400 batting average, and he is the conference record holder with a .755 career slugging percentage.
Trevor Larnach (Oregon State)
Larnach was a first-team All-American in 2018, when he helped Oregon State to its third CWS title, going 15-for-36 with 10 runs and nine RBIs in Omaha. He finished that season with 19 home runs, 77 RBIs and 72 runs — all second most in school history.
Kyle Russell (Texas)
Russell is the most prolific power hitter in the storied history of Texas baseball, holding the school’s single-season (28) and career (57) home run records. He was the Big 12 Player of the Year and a Golden Spikes Award finalist in 2007 after leading Division I in home runs (28) and the conference in slugging percentage (.807).
*Mickey Sullivan (Baylor)
Sullivan is one of two two-time first-team All-Americans in Baylor history and is the only player in school history to hit over .500 in a season (.519 in 1954). He also spent 21 years in Waco as the Bears’ head coach, where he has the second-most wins in school history and was a five-time Southwest Conference Coach of the Year.
Left field
Barry Bonds (Arizona State)
Bonds still ranks in the top five in the Arizona State record books in single-season home runs (23, tied for fourth) and career home runs (45, tied for fifth). He made the All-CWS team in both his appearances in Omaha and recorded a hit in eight straight at-bats in 1984, tied for the longest streak in CWS history.
Michael Conforto (Oregon State)
Conforto was a two-time All-American and two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year during his time at Oregon State and went 7-for-16 during his one College World Series appearance. His 179 RBIs are the most in school history and he’s one of three Beavers to hit 30 career home runs.
Darin Erstad (Nebraska)
Erstad was a first-team All-American in 1995 after scoring 84 runs in 57 games while becoming the second Nebraska player with 100 hits in a season. He still ranks fourth on the school’s career list with 261 hits and is also in the top 10 in RBIs (182, sixth), home runs (41, seventh) and runs scored (188, tied for eighth).
*Mike Fiore (Miami)
Fiore had a decorated career at Miami, winning the Golden Spikes Award as a junior in 1987 before earning first-team All-America honors and playing for the U.S. Olympic team in 1988. Despite hanging up his spikes more than three decades ago, he’s still atop the Miami career record book in hits (341), runs (258) and RBIs (235).
1:55
The College World Series has had numerous memorable moments, from a hidden ball trick to a walk-off title win in old Rosenblatt Stadium.
*Terry Francona (Arizona)
Francona filled up the trophy case in 1980, when he won the Golden Spikes Award while leading Arizona to the national championship, which earned him CWS Most Outstanding Player honors. He finished his career with a .406 average against Pac-10 opponents, the highest in school history, and he’s one of three players in school history to drive in 200 runs in his collegiate career.
*Pete Incaviglia (Oklahoma State)
Incaviglia is the only player in Division I history to hit 100 home runs during his career, and he also holds D-I single-season records with 48 home runs, 143 RBIs and a 1.140 slugging percentage. Oklahoma State reached the CWS in all three of his collegiate seasons and he went 15-for-42 with four home runs. He was named college baseball’s Player of the Century by Baseball America in 1999.
*Tom Paciorek (Houston)
Paciorek was a two-time first-team All-American and helped lead Houston to the national championship game in 1967, where he earned All-CWS honors. His .435 batting average that season is the highest in school history and his .375 career mark is second; he led the Cougars in all three Triple Crown categories in both 1967 and 1968.
*Rafael Palmeiro (Mississippi State)
Palmeiro led the SEC with a .415 batting average, 29 home runs and 94 RBIs in 1984, making him one of two Triple Crown winners in conference history. He was a two-time first-team All-American and Baseball America’s Freshman of the Year in 1983; his 67 home runs are a Mississippi State record and fourth most in SEC history.
