Big Ten baseball coaches picked Minnesota as the preseason favorite to win the 2019 Big Ten Baseball Championship on Wednesday. The coaches picked the top six teams and selected three players from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list. That way all of the sportswriters outside of Nebraska in the Big Ten might have a clue as to who they should talk about should they perhaps cover a college baseball game or two.

The preseason poll is as follows:

It’s understandable Minnesota gets picked as the preseason favorite. They not only made the NCAA tournament with a 44-15 record last year, but they made it into a Super Regional were they lost to eventual College World Series champion Oregon State. The Gophers will feature some damned good returning pitching, including Patrick Fredrickson, who was the 2018 Big Ten Pitcher and Freshman of the Year. Fredrickson had a 9-0 record and a 1.86 ERA. They also have Max Meyer, who had 16 saves and a 2.06 ERA.

Remember that last year was somewhat of a banner year for Big Ten baseball as FOUR teams made the NCAA tournament. Indiana, Ohio State and Purdue made it as well as aforementioned Minnesota.

Nebraska had a pretty lousy season last year. They started out losing most of their pitching staff and everything went to hell after that. They finished the season with a 24-28 overall record and everyone complained about Darin Erstad and how the Huskers should be destroying what they still perceive as an overall weak conference.

Should they picked six?

Yeah, probably at least that low. Nebraska has a lot of POTENTIAL coming in this season. Let’s see how they start the season, which is coming up this Friday!!!!!!!

Please Remember That Wisconsin Does NOT Have A Baseball Team

2019 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS LIST

• Andy Fisher, LHP, Sr., Illinois
• Michael Massey, 2B, Jr., Illinois
• Quinn Snarskis, RHP, Sr., Illinois
• Tanner Gordon, RHP, Jr., Indiana
• Matt Gorski, OF, Jr., Indiana
• Matt Lloyd, UTIL/RHP, Sr., Indiana
• Jack Dreyer, LHP, So., Iowa
• Cole McDonald, RHP, Sr., Iowa
• Chris Whelan, OF, Sr., Iowa
• AJ Lee, SS, Sr., Maryland
• John Murphy, RHP, Sr., Maryland
• Hunter Parsons, RHP, Sr., Maryland
• Dominic Clementi, DH, Jr., Michigan
• Jesse Franklin, OF, So., Michigan
• Jordan Nwogu, OF, So., Michigan
• Marty Bechina, SS, Sr., Michigan State
• Indigo Diaz, RHP, Jr., Michigan State
• Mason Erla, RHP, So., Michigan State
• Patrick Fredrickson, RHP, So., Minnesota
• Max Meyer, RHP/OF, So., Minnesota
• Ben Mezzenga, OF, Sr., Minnesota
• Angelo Altavilla, SS, Sr., Nebraska
• Chad Luensmann, RHP, Jr., Nebraska
• Luke Roskam, C/INF, Jr., Nebraska
• Hank Christie, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
• Jack Dunn, SS, Sr., Northwestern
• Alex Erro, 2B, Jr., Northwestern
• Dominic Canzone, OF, Jr., Ohio State
• Dillon Dingler, C, So., Ohio State
• Conner Pohl, 1B, Jr., Ohio State
• Dante Biasi, LHP, So., Penn State
• Parker Hendershot, DH/IF, So., Penn State
• Ryan Sloniger, C, Sr., Penn State
• Zac Fascia, C, Jr., Purdue
• Skyler Hunter, OF, Jr., Purdue
• Ben Nisle, OF, So., Purdue
• Mike Nyisztor, OF, So., Rutgers
• Harry Rutkowski, LHP, So., Rutgers
• Kevin Welsh, INF, Jr., Rutgers