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Team to Beat: Central Florida.
Player of the Year: Greyson Jenista, OF, Wichita State
For the first time since the conference was created five years ago because of the Big East Conference's division, the American this year expanded and added Wichita State. While the move was largely driven by basketball, it was also a significant move from a baseball perspective. The American previously had only eight baseball members, forcing it to adopt an awkward scheduling arrangement where each team was assigned a rival that it played home and away every year. The format made sense in some cases, such as UCF and USF, but less so in others, such as ECU and UConn. It also led to significantly different strengths of schedules in an otherwise balanced system. But Wichita State's addition eliminates that awkwardness. With nine baseball-playing members now, the American can now play a true round-robin format. And it added a program with a rich baseball tradition, including the 1989 national championship and seven appearances in the College World Series. Coach Todd Butler is still in the process of rebuilding the Shockers after taking over in 2014 a program beset by NCAA violations. The American will be a step up for Wichita State, which went 28-30 last year as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, but Jenista and Bohm give it the best two hitters in the conference. If the Shockers' pitching staff, led by righthanders Tyler Jones (0-2, 5.63) and Codi Heuer (2-2, 4.42), can take a step forward, they should be able to make a quick transition.
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