2025 Big West Baseball Season Preview

Projected Standings (2024 Record)

1. UC Santa Barbara (44-14; 26-4)
2. UC Irvine (45-14; 22-8)
3. Hawaii (37-16; 20-10)
4. Cal Poly (35-22; 20-10)
5. UC San Diego (30-23; 17-13)
6. Cal State Northridge (30-24; 16-14)
7. UC Davis (29-27; 13-17)
8. Long Beach State (25-29-1; 10-20)
9. Cal State Fullerton (15-38; 8-22)
10. Cal State Bakersfield (16-36; 6-24)
11. UC Riverside (16-38; 7-23)

Top 10 Draft Prospects For 2025

1. Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
2. Anthony Martinez, 1B, UC Irvine
3. Hudson Barrett, LHP, UC Santa Barbara
4. Riley Kelly, RHP, UC Irvine
5. Carson Turnquist, RHP, Cal Poly

Team To Beat: UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara dominated the Big West in 2024 on the back of excellent pitching, as its staff ranked third nationally in ERA (3.84) behind Lamar and Big West conference mate Hawaii. Head coach Andrew Checketts is rightfully optimistic that his pitching factory will pick up where it left off in 2025 with ace righthander Tyler Bremner, a candidate to be selected with a top-five pick in this year’s draft, at the front of its rotation. The Gauchos also returned sophomore righty Jackson Flora, a 2026 first-round hopeful, and junior righty Frank Camarillo, who figure to round out their rotation. All-Big West honorable mention lefty reliever Cole Tryba returns in the Gauchos’ closer role. The question for UC Santa Barbara will once again be whether or not it can produce at a high level at the plate, where it could be somewhat reliant on home runs and extra base hits to do damage due to a lack of speed and pure athleticism. The Gauchos’ pitching should still be enough to push them to the top of their league.

Player Of The Year: Anthony Martinez, 1B, UC Irvine

Selected by MLB scouting departments as a Baseball America Preseason Third-Team All-American, UC Irvine first baseman Anthony Martinez enters his junior year as arguably the top hitter in the Big West and has early-round draft potential. The lefthanded hitter batted .316/.422/.492 with nine home runs, 18 doubles, more walks (36) than strikeouts (29) and a conference-leading 74 RBIs in 2024 en route to first-team all-conference honors and a stint with the US collegiate national team. Martinez is expected to play a significant role in the Anteaters’ efforts as they look to secure back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since they reached the postseason six-straight times from 2006-11.

Pitcher Of The Year: Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara

Tyler Bremner enters his junior season as arguably the top righthander in college baseball after posting an 2.54 ERA and 104 strikeouts against just 21 walks in 88.2 innings as a sophomore last year. Ranked No. 4 on BA’s 2025 top 200 draft rankings, the Collegiate National Team alum sat in the 93-96 mph range and topped out at 98 out of a high three-quarters delivery and backed up his heater with a plus slider and changeup that drew an impressive 46% miss rate last season. It would come as a serious surprise if anyone but Bremner finished as the top pitcher in the Big West, as he’s expected to contend for national awards, including the Golden Spikes and National Pitcher of the Year.

Freshman Of The Year: Ian Fernandez, C, UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts told Baseball America that he quickly became quite bullish on freshman backstop Ian Fernandez throughout the fall and preseason, as the Gaucho newcomer demonstrated advanced feel for his position defensively and signs of productivity at the plate. Fernandez is our pick for Big West Freshman of the Year, as he figures to be on the field about as much as any first-year player in the league, though it should be noted that junior Nate Vargas is expected to get the first crack at starting behind the dish for the Gauchos. Long Beach State’s Ka’imi Kahalekai, a 6-foot-8 righty from Wailuku, Hawaii, is also a name to keep a close eye on.

Notable Storylines

●  The Big West could be in line for one of its most prominent seasons in quite some time. It has a great shot at being a multi-bid conference in the NCAA Tournament with mid-major powers UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine jockeying for rank at the top of its standings and should be quite relevant come draft time with Tyler Bremner looking like a top 10 pick—if not a contender to go first overall—and Anthony Martinez also being an early-round hopeful. Both were Preseason All-Americans. The conference’s success comes at an important time with the strength of Power 4 teams rapidly increasing. Programs like Irvine and Santa Barbara are keys to maintaining college baseball’s parity.

●  The Big West has a bonafide Pitcher of the Year and Golden Spikes contender in Bremner, who has a chance to go down as one of the best arms in UC Santa Barbara history. The advanced righty last year ranked 10th in program history in single-season strikeouts (104) and fourth in wins (11), marks he could surely best in his draft year. Bremner has a chance to become the highest draft selection in UC Santa Barbara history, a title that currently belongs to righty Dillon Tate, who was picked fourth overall in 2015.

●  Gaining multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament has been a serious challenge for the Big West in recent years, having accomplished the feat just twice since 2018. As stated above, the league has a great chance to pull it off this season with No. 23 UC Santa Barbara and No. 24 UC Irvine opening the year with rankings. Now, three-bid status is a lot to ask for. But perhaps this could be the year. Hawaii, which led the nation in ERA in 2024, has put together one of the hardest-throwing pitching staffs in program history. Fifteen Hawaii pitchers hit 90 mph or harder on the radar gun in preseason camp, which is believed to be a team record. The Rainbow Warriors ranked third in the Big West in scoring last year and could be a sneaky pick to make some noise in 2025.