We are about 48 hours from the much anticipated 2021 college baseball season to begin after the 2020 season ended abruptly due to COVID. Fortunately, college baseball has had plenty of time to learn from the fall and winter sports to prepare for a full season with fans in the stands. Like last season, the Cards are entering this year with high expectations, ranked in the top 10 in most of the major polls and returning a majority of their offensive weapons. Let's go ahead and dive in.

2021 Preseason Rankings

Louisville is ranked in the top 10 in five of the six college baseball polls. Why we have so many polls, I'll never understand, but they are all showing love to Louisville, so we'll take it. Here are where the Cards rank in all of the major polls:

Perfect Game - 2nd

D1 Baseball - 5th

USA Today - 6th

NCBWA - 6th

Baseball America - 7th

Collegiate Baseball - 11th

Although College Baseball Nation isn't one of the big six polls, they produce a lot of quality content and have Louisville ranked 7th preseason.

Preseason ACC Rankings

The preseason ACC coaches poll was released last week and it shouldn't be a surprise that Louisville was picked to win both the Atlantic Division and was selected as the overall favorite to win the ACC. The Cards received 11 first place votes in the Atlantic, followed by NC State, Florida State, and Clemson, who each received one vote apiece. The Coastal was lead with Miami at the top, receiving 7 first place votes, followed by Virginia with 5.

Speaking of the ACC, Louisville SID, Stephen Williams, tweeted this information out over the weekend. Since joining the ACC in 2015, Louisville leads the conference in batting average, runs, hits, doubles, extra-base hits, RBI's, total bases, stolen bases, ERA, shutouts, saves, strikeouts, and opponents batting average. Impressive.

Changes due to COVID

346. When the Cards take the field this Friday against Bellarmine, it will be 346 days since they laced up the spikes to play a college baseball game. Due to the shortened draft, the NCAA made a few changes this year to help with roster space, scholarships, etc. First and foremost, the 35-man roster cap has been lifted and there are no limitations for the upcoming season. They also increased the annual scholarship counter from 27 to 32 and lifted the 25% scholarship minimum. As these changes were important for the sport, they rejected the attempt to raise the amount of scholarships, which is much needed in college baseball as coaches have a total of 11.7 to spread around.

Schedule Changes

Due to COVID, the ACC decided to increase the number of conference games from 30 to 36, but they are still allowing non-conference weekend series and midweek games. The total amount of regular season games has been capped at 50, although Louisville has 51 on the schedule, but I'm sure a few games will be cancelled this year. Fortunately, Louisville will still play Kentucky twice and was able to keep Vanderbilt on the non-conference schedule, along with Bellarmine, EKU, WKU, Murray State, and Morehead. It is always good publicity for the smaller schools and I love that Coach Mac scheduled Bellarmine as their first ever NCAA D1 series. It shows how much he cares about baseball in the community, not just his program.

According to D1 Baseball, 7 ACC teams are in the preseason Top 25, one of them being Louisville. The Cards are scheduled to play each of the other 6 ranked teams, hosting Wake Forest, Miami, and FSU, while traveling to NC State, Georgia Tech, and Virginia. The Cards are also slated to play Notre Dame, Clemson, Boston College, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Duke, to round out the schedule. The only ACC team not on the schedule this year is Virginia Tech.

Key Losses

There's no sugar coating it that weekend rotation took a big hit. Losing two first rounders in Reid Detmers (10th overall) and Bobby Miller (29th overall) will be hard to replace, but if I could pick one coach in the country to build a pitching staff, it would be Roger Williams. This pitching staff may not have the name recognition as a year ago, but Coach Williams will have his squad ready to compete for an ACC Championship and the goals will remain the same.

Offensively, the Cards lost a few bats that will need to be replaced this year as well. Zach Britton was selected in the shortened 2020 draft in the 5th round (136th overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays. Due to the shortened draft, the MLB allowed undrafted players to sign non-drafted free agent deals worth $20,000. Both Danny Oriente and Justin Lavey signed contracts, with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners, respectively.

After the completion of the season, Andrew Benefield took advantage of the transfer rule and decided to transfer to Dallas Baptist.

Position Players Returning

Many people believe this Louisville team is the best position player group in the entire country, which is why the Cards are receiving so much praise in the preseason. So, who's returning?

Alex Binelas (3B) -Binelas suffered a hamate injury in the second game of the season last year in Oxford against Ole Miss and never made it back in the lineup before the season ended. As a freshman, Binelas was spectacular, batting .291 with 14 HR's, and 59 RBI. He was named to the Freshman All-American team by five different publications and All ACC Second Team. He has received many preseason accolades this year, as he was named First Team Preseason All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game, and selected to the second team by D1 Baseball. Teddy Cahill of Baseball America tabbed Binelas as his crystal ball national player of the year candidate. D1 Baseball also named him the 11th ranked collegiate prospect.

Henry Davis (C) - Like Binelas, Davis is entering the 2021 season with high expectations after two solid seasons behind the plate. The New York native was on a tear last season, batting .372, with 5 doubles, 3 HR's, and 13 RBI in the 14 games he appeared in. Davis is viewed as one of the best catchers in the country, named a First Team All-American by D1 Baseball, second team by Baseball America, and third team by Perfect Game. Davis was ranked the 8th overall college prospect, according to D1 Baseball. He will be serving as one of the four captains this season.

Levi Usher (OF) - After one season at Kirkwood Community College, Usher came to The Ville last year and did not skip a beat. Usher started 15 games, at least one in each OF position, while batting .411, with 3 doubles, 2 HR's, and 11 stolen bases. Usher has also received many preseason accolades, named a preseason Second Team All-American by both D1 Baseball and Baseball America. Perfect Game named him to the third team.

Jared Poland (UT) - Poland is the fourth position player to receive preseason honors, as he was named a Second Team All-American by Perfect Game as a utility player. With the limitations on scholarships in college baseball, a player like Poland is invaluable. He started last year with a hot bat, hitting .281, with 7 RBI, 1 HR, and two stolen bases. He struggled on the mound last season, but I think he will settle into a middle relief role this year and his productivity will increase from last year.

Lucas Dunn (SS) - Dunn, like Binleas, suffered a hamate injury prior to last season that kept him on the bench for the first 9 games. He only made an appearance in 8 games, recording 11 at bats prior to the end of the shortened season. In 2019, Dunn had a breakout year, batting .309, with 10 doubles, 2 triples, 25 RBI, and 15 stolen bases. Since his arrival at Louisville, it seems like Dunn has played about every position defensively, but it looks like he will be settling into the SS role this season. He will also be a captain for the 2021 season.

Tim Borden II (2B) - Borden is the type of player that could have a huge breakout year. If you look down the lineup, opposing pitchers are going to pitch around guys like Binleas, Davis, Usher, which means they have to pitch to someone. Borden could likely be one of the beneficiaries and see a ton of good pitches. He was impressive last year, batting .444, with 2 doubles and 9 RBI.

Luke Brown (OF) - After spending a season at WKU and then John A. Logan College, Brown came to Louisville and impressed the coaching staff from day one. He fits into Coach McDonnell's system to a tee, as a threat on the base paths and covers a lot of ground in the outfield. Brown started off last season hot, with a .328 average and 11 stolen bases.

When it comes to position players, this team is loaded. You have guys like Ben Metzinger, who took advantage of a few injuries last year by hitting .349 with 8 RBI and 2 HR's. Where does he fit in this year? Will he be used as a DH? Then you have Dalton Rushing who could spend some time behind the plate and backup up Ben Bianco at first base. The same could be said for Cameron Masterman, he would start for most programs across the country, but there simply just aren't enough positions for all of these guys to be everyday starters. I also look for Trey Leonard to compete for the other OF spot, aside Luke Brown and Levi Usher.

Coach McDonnell stated yesterday that two freshman, Jack Payton (C) and Christian Knapcyzk (SS), could both make an impact this season. He even went on to compare Knapczyk for former card, Devin Hairston. Sign me up for that.

Weekend Rotation

Luke Smith - After spending two years at Parkland College, Smith has compiled a 9-1 record with a 4.03 ERA at Louisville. During his two year span, he has recorded 71 strikeouts while allowing 28 walks. Smith is known for his high energy, plays with a lot of emotion, most notably in the 2019 CWS game against Vanderbilt when he threw 8.1 innings. Smith was recently named a captain for the 2021 season and will remain the Sunday starter.

Glenn Albanese - Although Albanese didn't have a start last year, he will begin the 2021 season as the Friday night starter. In 2020, he appeared in 5 games, compiling 18 strikeouts in 8.2 innings with a 2.08 ERA. His stock has been on the rise, with his fastball elevating to 94-96 on a consistent basis. D1 Baseball ranked Albanese the 35th best collegiate prospect.

Adam Elliott - Elliott returns to Louisville for his second consecutive senior season. During his time at Louisville, he has tossed 86 innings with a 1.88 ERA, with an opponents batting average of just .201. Elliott is also a captain on this years team, for the second year. He is slated to begin the season as the Saturday starter, which will be a much different role than we are used to seeing him in the past.

Other Pitchers Returning

Michael Kirian - Kirian has been lights out in the closer role. In 2019, he threw 32 innings with a 1.69 ERA and was off to an even better 2020 season, not allowing a single earned run in his first 6.1 innings. Due to his recent success, Kirian has been named a preseason All-American by many publications.

Michael Prosecky - As a freshman last season, it seemed like Prosecky was going to settle in the midweek starter role, getting better as his young career progressed. Depending on the weekend rotation, Prosecky could find himself in the same role this season, but he will have a little competition. He ended up last year with a 4.50 ERA and a record of 1-1.

Evan Webster - Although Webster didn't start last season, he was excellent in the situations he was put in. In the short season, Webster recorded 5 appearances, with 8.2 innings, only allowing one run. Look for Websters role on this team to increase this season.

Anthony Silkwood, a 28 year old marine veteran, Jack Perkins, who is recovering from Tommy Johns, Kellan Tulio, Garrett Schmeltz, and Tate Kuehner are a few other names that we will likely see on the mound this season in expanded roles. One name that most fans won't be as familiar with is Luke Seed. Seed, a Paducah native, spent two seasons at Joh A. Logan prior to transferring to Louisville and put up ridiculous numbers. Seed was 9-1 with a 2.20 ERA and recorded an impressive 16.6 strikeouts per nine innings. I don't know how he fits in the rotation, but if he can put up numbers similar to those, he will be on the field.

Injury Report

Louisville is set to begin the season with a few players on the shelf, but seem to be fairly healthy. Ben Metzinger is having some back issues and will be out around 30 days, Ryan Hawks is out for the season, and Kerry Wright is going to miss a little time as well.

The Cards are set to open the season Friday afternoon against Bellarmine. First pitch is scheduled for 3pm. For those interested in ticket information, see this link for more information.