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Georgia Baseball enters 2025 campaign in top-10 per preseason rankings

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•01/13/25•

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Leighton Finley (1)
Kari Hodges / UGA Sports Communications

Georgia Baseball season is just around the corner, and the Bulldogs look to have a talented team in 2025. Preseason polls are out for both D1Baseball and Perfect Game, placing UGA in the top-10 of each at No. 8 and No. 4 respectively.

Wes Johnson’s squad looks strong for the upcoming season, his second on the job in Athens. While the 2024 recipient of the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy and SEC Player of the Year, Charlie Condon, is gone, Georgia has a group returning from its Super Regional appearing team that brings confidence for what could be this spring.

In the field and at the plate, Kolby Branch, Slate Alford and Tre Phelps each finished top five on the team in home runs (17, 17 and 12). Branch, who started all but one game, knocked out a school-record four grand slams on the season while Alford was second on the team behind Condon with 69 RBI. Phelps, a true freshman last season, fell just short of the necessary number of plate appearances and games played for his .353 batting average to be considered third on the team. He enters 2025 as a preseason All-American and with sky-high stock as a draft-eligible sophomore for this summer’s selection process.

Those aren’t the only returnees either. On the mound is a group that got better as the season went along and has now had amble time to work with their head coach and pitching guru. Leighton Finley made a team-high 16 starts. Brian Zeldin took the bump 23 times. Kolten Smith struck out 105 batters. All three, plus others including Charlie Goldstein, Zach Harris and Matthew Hoskins, return to give Georgia confidence in what it should get out of its pitching staff each time out.

Of course every year there’s going to be newcomers, and in the age of the transfer portal, that number seemingly grows greater and greater with each campaign. Freshmen Bryce Clavon (Kell HS), Erik Parker (North Gwinnett HS) and Nate Taylor (Buford HS) have the potential to make an impact early in their respective careers, however, true excitement surrounds one of the nation’s top transfer classes headlined by the likes of Ryan Black (UT-Arlington), Alton Davis (Alabama), Robbie Burnett (UNC Asheville), Brian Curley (VCU), Nolan McCarthy (Kentucky), JT Quinn (Ole Miss), Ryland Zabrowski (Miami, OH), Zach Brown (Ohio State), Devin Obee (Duke) and Daniel Jackson (Wofford) with several other possible difference makers in the mix as well.

Georgia gets the season started February 14th in Wilmington, N.C. versus Quinnipiac University. The Bulldogs and Bobcats will play a pair before UGA takes on UNC-Wilmington twice in a rematch of last year’s winner’s bracket game against the Seahawks.

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