KSR's 2025 SEC Baseball Preview: Alabama

With the 2025 College Baseball season just around the corner, KSR will be previewing all 15 SEC teams that will be competing with Kentucky for an SEC crown this season. Up first; the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The 2025 season will mark the second in the Rob Vaughn era, who was hired after the controversial Brad Bohannon was fired after he found himself involved with gambling activity in 2023. Vaughn, who was the 2022 and 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year at Maryland prior to his hire at Alabama, led the Tide to a 33-24 (13-17 record) in 2024.

Alabama made its third trip in four years to the NCAA Tournament last season as the No. 2 seed in the Tallahassee Region, but was bounced in just two games by No. 3 UCF and No. 4 Stetson. Along with its disappointing NCAA Tournament run, the Tide lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament as well.

Returning Players:

• So. INF Justin Lebron (2024: 57 G, .338 AVG, 9 2B, 12 HR, 37 RBI, .546 SLG%, .429 OBP%)
• Sr. INF/OF Will Hodo (2024: 56 G, .263 AVG, 12 2B, 11 HR, 38 RBI, .490 SLG%, .393 OBP%)
• R-Sr. OF Kade Snell (2024: 40 G, .324 AVG, 9 2B, 6 HR, 30 RBI, .507 SLG%, .389 OBP%)
• So. OF Coleman Mizell (2024: 11 G, .190 AVG, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, .381 SLG%, .320 OBP%)
• So. C Luke Vaughn (2024: 8 G, .000 AVG, 0 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 SLG%, .375 OBP%)

---

• So. LHP Zane Adams (2024: 16 APP, 13 GS, 4-5, 5.37 ERA, 71 2/3 IP, 68 K, 24 BB, .267 B/AVG)
• R-So. RHP Tyler Fay (2024: 23 APP, 0 GS, 1-2, 7.94 ERA, 34 IP, 32 K, 16 BB, .270 B/AVG)
• Sr. RHP Braylon Myers (2024: 20 APP, 0 GS, 2-1, 2.73 ERA, 33 IP, 29 K, 10 BB, .207 B/AVG)
• Sr. RHP Aidan Moza (2024: 20 APP, 3 GS, 3-3, 9.77 ERA, 31 1/3 IP, 40 K, 19 BB, .313 B/AVG)
• Sr. RHP Coulson Buchanan (2024: 19 APP, 0 GS, 2-1, 7.36 ERA, 29 1/3 IP, 20 K, 13 BB, .301 B/AVG)
• R-So. RHP Austin Morris (2024: 14 APP, 0 GS, 2-0, 4.74 ERA, 24 2/3 IP, 21 K, 9 BB, .290 B/AVG)
• So. LHP Matthew Heiberger (2024: 16 APP, 0 GS, 2-0, 5.24 ERA, 22 1/3 IP, 22 K, 7 BB, .304 B/AVG)
• So. RHP Sam Mitchell (2024: 5 APP, 0 GS, 1-0, 5.87 ERA, 7 2/3 IP, 3 K, 5 BB, .276 B/AVG)
• R-Jr. RHP Hagan Banks (2024: 4 APP, 3 GS, 0-1, 5.14 ERA, 7 IP, 9 K, 3 BB, .269 B/AVG)
• Jr. RHP Riley Quick (2024: 1 APP, 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 5 K, 1 BB, .000 B/AVG)
• So. RHP Ariston Veasey (2024: 1 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP, 0 K, 2 BB, .000 B/AVG)

Departing Players:

• Jr. OF Ian Petrutz (2024: 57 G, .321 AVG, 14 2B, 6 HR, 40 RBI, .479 SLG%, .447 OBP% – 12th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Sr. OF/INF TJ McCants (2024: 56 G, .306 AVG, 16 2B, 15 HR, 50 RBI, .583 SLG%, .374 OBP% – 16th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Jr. INF Gage Miller (2024: 55 G, .381 AVG, 12 2B, 18 HR, 56 RBI, .702 SLG%, .474 OBP% – 3rd Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Sr. C Mac Guscette (2024: 50 G, .321 AVG, 7 2B, 4 HR, 39 RBI, .442 SLG%, .418 OBP% – Graduated)
• Gr. OF Evan Sleight (2024: 47 G, .272 AVG, 9 2B, 6 HR, 29 RBI, .456 SLG%, .354 OBP% – Graduated)
• Sr. INF Bryce Eblin (2024: 44 G, .268 AVG, 5 2B, 6 HR, 24 RBI, .450 SLG%, .327 OBP% – Graduated)
• Gr. OF William Hamiter (2024: 34 G, .289 AVG, 6 2B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .483 SLG%, .384 OBP% – Graduated)
• So. INF Mason Swinney (2024: 29 G, .232 AVG, 3 2B, 0 HR, 6 RBI, .286 SLG%, .408 OBP% – Transferred to Dallas Baptist)
• Sr. INF Max Grant (2024: 20 G, .250 AVG, 0 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .500 SLG%, .270 OBP% – Graduated)
• R-Jr. C/INF Will Portera (2024: 18 G, .133 AVG, 0 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .133 SLG%, .250 OBP%)
• Gr. C Kameron Guangorena (2024: 13 G, .214 AVG, 2 2B, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .286 SLG%, .294 OBP% – Graduated)
• Jr. OF Camden Hayslip (2024: 7 G, .000 AVG, 0 2B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .000 SLG%, .154 OBP% – Transferred to UAB)
• Fr. INF/OF Parker Picot (2024: 3 G, .500 AVG, 0 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .500 SLG%, .500 OBP% – Transferred to Michigan State)

---

• Sr. LHP Greg Farone (2024: 17 APP, 16 GS, 4-3, 5.02 ERA, 71 2/3 IP, 68 K, 24 BB, .267 B/AVG – 7th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Jr. RHP Ben Hess (2024: 15 APP, 15 GS, 5-5, 5.80 ERA, 68 1/3 IP, 106 K, 35 BB, .234 B/AVG – 1st Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• So. LHP Alton Davis II (2024: 21 APP, 0 GS, 4-2, 5.61 ERA, 33 2/3 IP, 38 K, 17 BB, .273 B/AVG – Transferred to Georgia)
• Sr. RHP Zane Probst (2024: 11 AP, 0 GS, 0-0, 5.60 ERA, 17 2/3 IP, 15 K, 9 BB, .250 B/AVG – Graduated)
• So. RHP Pierce George (2024: 12 APP, 0 GS, 1-0, 4.76 ERA, 11 1/3 IP, 10 K, 11 BB, .222 B/AVG – 13th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Fr. LHP Jansen Kenty (2024: 10 APP, 0 GS, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 10 2/3 IP, 4 K, 5 BB, .182 B/AVG)
• Fr. RHP Jackson Baker (2024: 1 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, .000 B/AVG – Transferred to USC)

Incoming Transfers

• Sr. INF Garrett Staton (2024: 58 G, .319 AVG, 19 2B, 19 HR, .633 SLG%, .390 OBP% – Transferred from Samford)
• Jr. C Brady Neal (2024: 44 G, .276 AVG, 8 2B, 9 HR, 31 RBI, .578 SLG%, .408 OBP% – Transferred from LSU)
• Sr. INF Brennen Norton (2024: 42 G, .318 AVG, 5 2B, 12 HR, 39 RBI, .578 SLG%, .406 OBP%- Transferred from Jacksonville State)
• Jr. INF Jason Torres (2024: 39 G, .331 AVG, 7 2B, 8 HR, 32 RBI, .529 SLG%, .385 OBP% – Transferred from Miami)
• Gr. DH Carson Ozmer (2024: 32 G, .328 AVG, 10 2B, 1 HR, .454 SLG%, .444 OBP% – Transferred from Penn)

---

• Sr. RHP Aeden Finateri (2024: 16 APP, 16 GS, 6-4, 6.24 ERA, 75 IP, 80 K, 22 BB – Transferred from Georgia Tech)
• Sr. RHP Packy Bradley-Cooney (2024: 25 APP, 0 GS, 2-0, 6.00 ERA, 39 IP, 53 K, 28 BB, .193 B/AVG – Transferred from Campbell)

Alabama returns budding superstar shortstop Justin Lebron, who was one of the best freshman in all of College Baseball last season. Lebron earned an array of accolades, including 2024 First Team Freshman All-American Honors and 2024 First Team All-SEC and 2024 Freshman All-SEC Team selections. Lebron will likely shine as one of the conference’s best all-around players once again this season, as he was also selected to the 2024 SEC All-Defensive Team.

Retaining Lebron was huge for the Tide, which lost 70% of its at-bats and 70.1% of its hits from last season over the offseason. Redshirt senior outfielder/DH Kade Snell (2024: 40 G, .324 AVG) and senior first baseman Will Hodo (2024: 56 G, .263 AVG) are Alabama’s only other two returning offensive players to have played in more than 12 games last season.

The Crimson Tide also lost two of their three leading inning eaters to the 2024 MLB Draft, but return sophomore left-hander Zane Adams for his second season of College Baseball. Adams joined Lebron on the 2024 Freshman All-SEC Team after accruing a 5.37 ERA over 71 2/3 innings pitched last season. He will likely anchor the Tide starting pitching rotation this season.

Coach Rob Vaughn’s squad is currently scheduled to face seven SEC teams present in D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25 Rankings this season (No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 8 Georgia, No. 10 Florida, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Mississippi State).

Kentucky is currently not scheduled to face Alabama in the regular season, but could meet the Tide in the SEC Tournament or the Men’s College World Series. Alabama leads the all-time series against Kentucky 48-66, although the Cats swept the Tide in three games last season.