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New York Times

Paul Skenes, Jac Caglianone, David Price headline The Athletic's SEC baseball All-Century Team

The SEC just completed its 25th regular season of the 21st century, and the league has never been better, relative to its competition around the nation. Last year, Tennessee became the fifth different SEC team in the last five seasons to win the national championship, and three of the last four College World Series Finals featured an SEC vs. SEC matchup. Advertisement Dating back to 2009, SEC teams have won 10 national titles, with LSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt each winning two and Florida, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee winning one. These championship teams have been loaded with elite players, headlined by seven winners of the Golden Spikes Award. So, who are the best of the best? Here's our SEC All-Century Team. Catcher: Mike Zunino, Florida (2010-12) — Zunino hit .327 with 47 home runs and a 1.013 OPS in three years at Florida. His best season came in 2011, when he hit .371 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs. The Gators went 62-28 in the SEC and reached the College World Series three times during his three years on campus. First base: Jac Caglianone, Florida (2022-24) — Cags is the only player in SEC history with two 30-home run seasons. He hit 33 as a sophomore in 2023 and followed up with 35 in 2024, when he slashed .419/.544/.875 with 83 runs scored and 72 RBIs. He was also part of the Gators' weekend pitching rotation in his last two seasons. Second base: Christian Moore, Tennessee (2022-24) — Moore is one of the top offensive second basemen in college baseball history. As a junior, he slashed .375/.451/.791 with a school-record 34 home runs and 74 RBIs. For his career, he hit 61 home runs with a 1.144 OPS. He played in the College World Series twice and was a key member of the Vols' 2024 national championship team. Shortstop: Alex Bregman, LSU (2013-15) — Bregman was a consistent producer during the 'dead ball' era of college baseball, hitting .337 with 21 home runs and a .923 OPS. His best season statistically was in 2013, when he slashed .369/.417/.546 as a freshman. He played on two teams that reached the College World Series. Third base: Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt (2006-08) — Alvarez's 22 home runs in 2006 are the most ever by a true freshman in the SEC. He slashed .359/.460/.680 with 40 home runs and 132 RBIs over his first two seasons and was a first-team All-American in 2007. He was slowed by a hamate injury as a junior and hit .317 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 40 games. Outfield: Andrew Benintendi, Arkansas (2014-15) — Benintendi enjoyed one of the most out-of-nowhere seasons of the past two decades. After hitting .276 with one home run and a .701 OPS as a freshman in 2014, he won the Golden Spikes Award as a sophomore when he hit .376 with 20 home runs and a 1.205 OPS. He is one of only five players to lead the SEC in batting average and home runs in the same season, joining Mississippi State's Rafael Palmeiro in 1984, Kentucky's Jeff Abbott in 1994, Mississippi State's Brent Rooker in 2017 and Georgia's Charlie Condon in 2024. Advertisement Outfield: Dylan Crews, LSU (2021-23) — One of the most decorated college players ever, Crews was a two-time first-team All-American and the winner of the 2023 Golden Spikes Award. In three seasons, he hit .380 with 58 home runs and 184 RBIs. As a junior, he slashed .426/.567/.713 and led the Tigers to their first national championship since 2009. Outfield, Wyatt Langford, Florida (2021-23) — Langford, amazingly, appeared in only four games as a freshman, all as a pinch hitter. His next two seasons were among the most productive in SEC history. He hit .355 with 26 home runs and 63 RBIs as a sophomore and .373 with 21 home runs and 57 RBIs as a junior on a team that lost to LSU in the CWS Finals. His career OPS was 1.217. DH: Charlie Condon, Georgia (2022-24) — Condon played in a home run-friendly environment, but his numbers in two seasons — he famously redshirted as a freshman — are absurd. In 2023, he hit .386 with 25 home runs and a 1.284 OPS. He was far better as a third-year sophomore, hitting .433 with 37 home runs and a 1.565 OPS en route to winning the Gold Spikes Award. Condon is one of 10 players in SEC history to hit at least 60 home runs. He accomplished it in 116 games; the other nine did so in an average of 207 games. Utility: AJ Reed, Kentucky (2012-14) — The most accomplished two-way player of the past 25 years, Reed won the 2014 Golden Spikes Award after slashing .336/.476/.735 with 23 home runs at the plate and going 12-2 with a 2.09 ERA and 1.134 WHIP on the mound. In three years at Kentucky, he hit 40 home runs and had a .973 OPS. Starter: Aaron Nola, LSU (2012-14) — It would be hard to find a pitcher with a better two-year run than Nola, who went a combined 23-2 with a 1.52 ERA and 0.813 WHIP in 2013 and 2014. Not surprisingly, he was named SEC Pitcher of the Year both seasons. He wasn't bad as a freshman, either, going 7-4 with a 3.61 ERA and 1.059 WHIP as a weekend starter. Starter: David Price, Vanderbilt (2005-07) — Price won the Golden Spikes Award as a junior in 2007 when he went 11-1 with a 2.64 ERA and 0.945 WHIP to go along with 194 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings. In his three years, he went 22-10 with a 3.23 ERA and had 441 strikeouts in 313 innings. Starter: Paul Skenes, LSU (2023) — Skenes spent only one year in the SEC, but it was arguably the greatest season by a pitcher in league history. His numbers: 13-2, 1.69 ERA, 0.750 WHIP with 209 strikeouts and 20 walks in 122 2/3 innings. In two starts at the College World Series — where LSU beat Florida for the national championship — he allowed seven hits and two earned runs in 15 2/3 innings. Advertisement Reliever: Jonathan Holder, Mississippi State (2012-14) — Holder had nine saves and allowed only one earned run in 28 1/3 innings (0.32 ERA) as a freshman. His numbers the next two years weren't quite as gaudy but still very impressive: 9-1, 28 saves with a 1.93 ERA and 0.941 WHIP. The 2013 Bulldogs reached the CWS Finals. Reliever: Matt Price, South Carolina (2009-12) — Price saved a combined 43 games over his last three seasons on teams that won back-to-back national titles and then lost in the CWS Finals. His best season was in 2011 when he went 7-3 with a 1.83 ERA and 1.085 WHIP with 20 saves. Swingman: Carson Fulmer, Vanderbilt (2013-15) — Fulmer, who was a reliever until midway through his sophomore season, had a 24-3 record with a 1.99 ERA, a 1.087 WHIP and 14 saves in three seasons. He was part of the 2013 team that set a record with 26 SEC wins, the 2014 team that won the national championship and the 2015 team that lost in Game 3 of the CWS Finals. • Jac Caglianone was the obvious choice at first, but several others deserve a mention: Matt LaPorta (Florida), Justin Smoak (South Carolina), Hunter Morris (Auburn), Brent Rooker (Mississippi State) and Christian Walker (South Carolina). • There was a spirited Alex Bregman vs. Dansby Swanson debate in 2015. Bregman was named first-team All-SEC, while Swanson went on to become the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft (Bregman went second). Bregman gets the nod for this team. He played all three years at shortstop. Swanson missed most of his freshman season due to injury and played second base in 2014 on the national championship team. Chris Burke, like Swanson, played both second base and shortstop. He had a great career at Tennessee but played only one season this century. • Pedro Alvarez edged Tommy White for third base. White's home run numbers were better (75 to 49), but 27 came as a freshman at NC State, and he played in a more offensive era. They have a similar career OPS, and Alvarez was a better defensive player. • Picking the final outfield spot was extremely difficult. Andrew Benintendi, who won the Golden Spikes Award, was the pick over Jace LaViolette (Texas A&M), Jackie Bradley Jr. (South Carolina), Mikie Mahtook (LSU), Jake Mangum (Mississippi State) and many others. Advertisement • AJ Reed, the 2014 SEC Player of the Year, was an obvious pick for the utility position as the best true two-way player of the last 25 years. Austin Martin, who played multiple positions at Vanderbilt, was another option. He had a 1.007 career OPS and had most of his junior season taken away by the pandemic. • There are far too many elite pitchers to name, but Michael Roth, who was on two national title teams at South Carolina and went 26-6 with a 1.90 ERA in four seasons, was the toughest omission. • Kevin Kopps of Arkansas had arguably the finest season for a reliever in league history (12-1, 11 saves, 0.90 ERA), but both Jonathan Holder and Matt Price had much better careers while also having standout individual seasons. (Top photo of Jac Caglianone: Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)