The West Virginia baseball team put together their best season in program history this past year, and a lot of that was thanks to head coach Steve Sabins and his ability to put together a winning team in the transfer portal.
From Chansen Cole and Dawson Montesa on the mound to Paul Schoenfeld, Matthew Graveline, and Sean Smith in the field and at the plate, the Mountaineers were led by some elite-caliber play from their portal pickups. And while they will be returning some critical pieces of their rotation next season, they will also once again likely be counting on some significant contributions from their portal class.
But despite the on-field proof last year that Sabins can put together an elite portal class which performas at a high level on the baseball diamond, it appears that many don't consider this current portal class for the Mountaineers to be among the top in the country.
West Virginia Mountaineers outside Top 25 portal rankings
64 Analytics have released thir final transfer portal rankings for this offseason, and WVU baseball was on the outside looking in when it came to the Top 25.
🚨Final Top 25 Rankings🚨
— 64Analytics (@64Analytics) July 29, 2026
The rankings are somewhat fluid as we add a handful of prospects over the next few months, but this will be our last team graphic.
We'll provide some class superlatives, class highlights, and player spotlights on the site in the coming weeks pic.twitter.com/Ivd9aafU07
If this ends up being an accurate assessment, it may not bode well for the program making a return to the College World Series next season. As mentioned above, the Mountaineers will certainly need at least some portal contributions at a high level if they want to replicate their 2026 effort.
But given what Sabins put together last year in the portal, it's also possible this class is just being overlooked. It's clear the rising young coach understands how to put together a portal class that elevates a program to the next level, and last season's squad was filled with portal acquisitions from the mid-major, low-major, and Division 2 level that were relatively unproven.
So it's entirely possible that at this time next summer, analysts are talking about what an impressive portal class the Mountaineers put together, despite initial judgements. But only time will tell if that turns out to be the case.
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