[Ballbuster]

Can anyone explain to me why D1Baseball picks us as the #4 team next year?

Presumably because whomever did the ranking things Stanford will be the fourth best team. 

I suspect this means you think Stanford will be worse than fourth. 
Maybe, but it doesn't seem unreasonable on its face. 


Stanford was presumably somewhere between the second and eighth best team this past year (second overall seed in the tournament, second best odds to win going into Omaha, tied for 7th/8th on actual results in NCAA tournament). 
Stanford will have a notably experienced team next year, in a sport where high turnover is the norm. 
The core of the 2022 team were sophomores, particularly the pitching staff, making the core of 2023 juniors. 
Stanford has a realistic chance to have as many as 7 hitters back next year and has two identifiable replacements. 
Stanford has a pile of arms returning, including their end of year #2, 3, 4 starters (Dowd, Dixon, Uber in some order) and their top two live arms (Bruno, Montgomery). 

It's essentially always true in baseball that to have a good year, some folks have to make substantial development. This past year both Brett Barrera and moreso Carter Graham were happy surprises, Bruno really came along late, Uber was a strong frosh pitcher and Montgomery was probably even better than anticipated. To end up as a top team next year Stanford will need some similar emergent players, but less so than usual and likely less so than many other top teams. 

Of course to really have an opinion on just where Stanford should be ranked one must evaluate every competing team, which I am not in position to do.

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Speaking of Stanford baseball, can anyone confirm that it is true that Alex Williams, the P12 Pitcher of the Year and Stanford's 2021-22 male recipient of the Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal, is in the transfer portal? https://stanford.rivals.com/news/alex-wi...fer-portal

 

Yes it is true. He wasn't expected back anyways, but his postseason play killed his draft stock so a move away is probably best for both parties. We still need some pitchers to step up though.

Williams' situation is a little curious. 
He was never a very strong draft prospect. 
Being Pac 12 pitcher of the year would probably have led to him being drafted somewhere, but it was never going to be very high. 
You are probably correct that the postseason collapse would derail that. 

Williams' postseason this year was surprising. It's not that he can't perform under pressure or against the best teams. His career postseason record going into this year was 4 starts, 4-0 record, 2 complete games, 2.37 ERA, 0.76 WHIP. 
This year's postseason was enough out of character that I suspected some kind of injury, but I haven't heard anything on that. 

He's been a very good college pitcher, and presumably still would be for another year. However, I can see why from his point of view that simply hanging around wouldn't be getting him anywhere.

I guess we shall soon see, he was drafted in the 11th round by the Marlins.

[Ballbuster]

Can anyone explain to me why D1Baseball picks us as the #4 team next year?

Presumably because whomever did the ranking things Stanford will be the fourth best team. 

I suspect this means you think Stanford will be worse than fourth. 
Maybe, but it doesn't seem unreasonable on its face. 


Stanford was presumably somewhere between the second and eighth best team this past year (second overall seed in the tournament, second best odds to win going into Omaha, tied for 7th/8th on actual results in NCAA tournament). 
Stanford will have a notably experienced team next year, in a sport where high turnover is the norm. 
The core of the 2022 team were sophomores, particularly the pitching staff, making the core of 2023 juniors. 
Stanford has a realistic chance to have as many as 7 hitters back next year and has two identifiable replacements. 
Stanford has a pile of arms returning, including their end of year #2, 3, 4 starters (Dowd, Dixon, Uber in some order) and their top two live arms (Bruno, Montgomery). 

It's essentially always true in baseball that to have a good year, some folks have to make substantial development. This past year both Brett Barrera and moreso Carter Graham were happy surprises, Bruno really came along late, Uber was a strong frosh pitcher and Montgomery was probably even better than anticipated. To end up as a top team next year Stanford will need some similar emergent players, but less so than usual and likely less so than many other top teams. 

Of course to really have an opinion on just where Stanford should be ranked one must evaluate every competing team, which I am not in position to do.

---

Speaking of Stanford baseball, can anyone confirm that it is true that Alex Williams, the P12 Pitcher of the Year and Stanford's 2021-22 male recipient of the Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal, is in the transfer portal? https://stanford.rivals.com/news/alex-wi...fer-portal

 

Yes it is true. He wasn't expected back anyways, but his postseason play killed his draft stock so a move away is probably best for both parties. We still need some pitchers to step up though.

Williams' situation is a little curious. 
He was never a very strong draft prospect. 
Being Pac 12 pitcher of the year would probably have led to him being drafted somewhere, but it was never going to be very high. 
You are probably correct that the postseason collapse would derail that. 

Williams' postseason this year was surprising. It's not that he can't perform under pressure or against the best teams. His career postseason record going into this year was 4 starts, 4-0 record, 2 complete games, 2.37 ERA, 0.76 WHIP. 
This year's postseason was enough out of character that I suspected some kind of injury, but I haven't heard anything on that. 

He's been a very good college pitcher, and presumably still would be for another year. However, I can see why from his point of view that simply hanging around wouldn't be getting him anywhere.

I guess we shall soon see, he was drafted in the 11th round by the Marlins.