Image credit:
Kumar Rocker (Andrew Woolley/Four Seam Images)
Opening Day is an annual reminder of the diverse and far-reaching pipeline that helps fuel professional baseball: college programs.
From perennial powerhouses to small junior colleges, the collegiate baseball landscape leaves its fingerprints all over big league rosters.
Excluding all players currently on the injured list, this year there are 204 different colleges represented across Opening Day active rosters.
Vanderbilt leads the way with nine MLB players. The Commodores helped to boost the SEC’s nation-leading total of 62 former players in the majors right now, followed by the ACC (55), Big 12 (35), Big Ten (31) and Sun Belt (30). No other league eclipsed 25. Here’s a complete breakdown of each Division I conference:
| Conference | Total Count |
|---|---|
| Southeastern (SEC) | 62 |
| Atlantic Coast (ACC) | 55 |
| Big 12 | 35 |
| Big Ten | 31 |
| Sun Belt | 30 |
| Atlantic 10 | 22 |
| Conference USA (C-USA) | 15 |
| Big East | 16 |
| American Athletic (AAC) | 14 |
| Big West | 14 |
| Mountain West | 11 |
| West Coast (WCC) | 6 |
| Atlantic Sun (ASUN) | 6 |
| Missouri Valley (MVC) | 6 |
| Mid-American (MAC) | 6 |
| America East | 5 |
| Ivy League | 4 |
| Northeast (NEC) | 2 |
| Ohio Valley (OVC) | 2 |
| Patriot | 2 |
| Southland | 2 |
| Summit | 2 |
| Western Athletic (WAC) | 2 |
| Metro Atlantic (MAAC) | 1 |
| Southern (SoCon) | 1 |
It’s not just the blue bloods. Schools like UC Irvine and Dallas Baptist, and even junior colleges such as Chipola and Yavapai, all saw former players suit up on MLB Opening Day.
To that end, Baseball America took a look at every college represented on Opening Day rosters. Here’s the complete list of 204 schools:
| School | 2025 MLB players |
|---|---|
| Vanderbilt | 9 |
| Virginia | 8 |
| Florida | 8 |
| UCLA | 8 |
| Oregon State | 8 |
| LSU | 7 |
| Stanford | 7 |
| Mississippi State | 6 |
| Florida State | 6 |
| Oregon | 6 |
| Arizona State | 5 |
| Duke | 5 |
| North Carolina | 5 |
| Fresno State | 5 |
| Texas Tech | 4 |
| East Carolina | 4 |
| Arkansas | 4 |
| Arizona | 4 |
| Nebraska | 4 |
| Louisville | 4 |
| Missouri | 4 |
| UNLV | 4 |
| Georgia Tech | 4 |
| Auburn | 4 |
| California | 4 |
| Tennessee | 4 |
| Maryland | 4 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 4 |
| South Florida | 3 |
| South Carolina | 3 |
| Texas | 3 |
| Indiana | 3 |
| UC Irvine | 3 |
| UNC Wilmington | 3 |
| Sacramento State | 3 |
| Houston | 3 |
| Sam Houston State | 3 |
| Texas A&M | 3 |
| Creighton | 3 |
| Missouri State | 3 |
| Virginia Tech | 3 |
| San Diego | 3 |
| Ohio State | 3 |
| Georgia | 3 |
| NC State | 3 |
| Old Dominion | 3 |
| TCU | 3 |
| Utah | 3 |
| Clemson | 2 |
| Miami Dade CC | 2 |
| Florida Gulf Coast | 2 |
| Illinois State | 2 |
| Oklahoma | 2 |
| Long Beach State | 2 |
| Campbell | 2 |
| Florida Atlantic | 2 |
| Baylor | 2 |
| Gonzaga | 2 |
| Washington State | 2 |
| Oklahoma State | 2 |
| Wake Forest | 2 |
| Chipola JC | 2 |
| Texas State | 2 |
| Florida International | 2 |
| Liberty | 2 |
| Southern Miss | 2 |
| New Mexico State | 2 |
| BYU | 2 |
| Millersville (Pa.) | 2 |
| Louisiana-Lafayette | 2 |
| New Mexico | 2 |
| Dartmouth | 2 |
| Dallas Baptist | 2 |
| Central Florida | 2 |
| Cal State Dominguez Hills | 2 |
| Stetson | 2 |
| Connecticut | 2 |
| San Jacinto JC | 2 |
| South Dakota State | 2 |
| Yavapai JC | 2 |
| Boston College | 2 |
| Eastern Illinois | 2 |
| San Diego State | 2 |
| Western Michigan | 2 |
| Fordham | 2 |
| UAB | 2 |
| Harvard | 2 |
| Oral Roberts | 2 |
| Tulane | 2 |
| Nevada | 2 |
| Memphis | 2 |
| Coastal Carolina | 2 |
| Southern California | 1 |
| Miami | 1 |
| Akron | 1 |
| Ball State | 1 |
| Hawaii | 1 |
| Ole Miss | 1 |
| Notre Dame | 1 |
| Indiana State | 1 |
| West Virginia | 1 |
| Miami Ohio | 1 |
| Elon | 1 |
| Cal Poly San Luis Obispo | 1 |
| Saint Mary’s | 1 |
| Michigan | 1 |
| Kentucky | 1 |
| North Florida | 1 |
| Northeastern Oklahoma A&M | 1 |
| Newberry College | 1 |
| Hartford | 1 |
| Bacone College | 1 |
| NJIT | 1 |
| Southeastern Louisiana | 1 |
| James Madison | 1 |
| Butler | 1 |
| St. Johns River JC | 1 |
| Kennesaw State | 1 |
| Wisconsin-Whitewater | 1 |
| Santa Rosa Junior College | 1 |
| VCU | 1 |
| Minnesota | 1 |
| Arkansas State | 1 |
| Orange Coast CC | 1 |
| Rice | 1 |
| Virginia Military Institute | 1 |
| CC of Southern Nevada | 1 |
| Neosho CC | 1 |
| Wichita State | 1 |
| Seminole State College | 1 |
| Tampa | 1 |
| Santa Clara | 1 |
| Stony Brook | 1 |
| Georgia State | 1 |
| Colorado St U Pueblo | 1 |
| Lynn | 1 |
| Seattle | 1 |
| Stephen F. Austin | 1 |
| Central Michigan | 1 |
| Menlo College | 1 |
| Centenary College of Louisiana | 1 |
| Northwestern Ohio | 1 |
| Illinois | 1 |
| Alderson Broaddus | 1 |
| Air Force | 1 |
| Charleston | 1 |
| Cal State Stanislaus | 1 |
| LIU Brooklyn | 1 |
| Concordia-St.Paul | 1 |
| Bryant | 1 |
| Oklahoma Baptist | 1 |
| JC of Central Florida | 1 |
| Bowling Green | 1 |
| Cincinnati | 1 |
| Northeastern | 1 |
| Cal State Monterey Bay | 1 |
| LMU | 1 |
| Purdue Northwest | 1 |
| Richmond | 1 |
| Lafayette College | 1 |
| Heartland CC | 1 |
| Daytona JC | 1 |
| Hillsborough CC | 1 |
| Northeastern State | 1 |
| Colorado Mesa | 1 |
| Louisiana Tech | 1 |
| Nova Southeastern | 1 |
| Aurora University | 1 |
| South Alabama | 1 |
| Gardner-Webb | 1 |
| The Citadel | 1 |
| South Carolina-Aiken | 1 |
| Appalachian State | 1 |
| Eastern Michigan | 1 |
| Grand Canyon | 1 |
| Lewis-Clark State | 1 |
| Maine | 1 |
| Wayne State | 1 |
| Florida Southwestern State JC | 1 |
| McNeese State | 1 |
| Kansas | 1 |
| East Central CC | 1 |
| Lake Erie College | 1 |
| Tennessee Wesleyan | 1 |
| Niagara | 1 |
| UC Davis | 1 |
| McLennan CC | 1 |
| Tabor College | 1 |
| Bellarmine | 1 |
| Sonoma State | 1 |
| Evansville | 1 |
| Barry | 1 |
| Shepherd | 1 |
| Kansas State | 1 |
| Iowa | 1 |
| Howard JC | 1 |
| Cal State East Bay | 1 |
| New Mexico JC | 1 |
| Troy | 1 |
| Rogers State | 1 |
| Austin Peay | 1 |
| Slippery Rock | 1 |
| Belmont Abbey | 1 |
| Army | 1 |
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