Which 2024 Final Four school has the best alums in MLB?

The six schools that make up the men's and women's NCAA Final Four tournaments are a mix of traditional basketball powerhouses and those trying to build in that direction, but all six share the distinction of having developed multiple MLB players.

Alabama, Iowa, North Carolina State, Purdue, South Carolina and UConn each boasts a list of baseball players to attend class, get drafted and debut in the Major Leagues. But which one can claim the most successful group of MLB players? Turns out, it's not really much of a contest.

Here's a look at how the six schools rank when it comes to producing MLB talent.

University of South Carolina Gamecocks
Women's Final Four
167.6 total bWAR

The MLB talent to emerge from the campus in Columbia is quite impressive. The Gamecocks have produced at least one All-Star or World Series champion in every decade since the '80s.

In total, former South Carolina players have combined for 167.6 career bWAR since 1975 – easily the highest mark among the six Final Four schools.

Among retired players, standouts include two-time Orioles All-Star Brian Roberts (29.5 bWAR), former Mets standout and 1986 World Series champ Mookie Wilson (22.4 bWAR) and former Phillies All-Star Dave Hollins (17.8 bWAR).

Among active players are three-time All-Star and current Phillies utility man Whit Merrifield, 2023 World Series ace Jordan Montgomery, now of the Diamondbacks, and his Arizona teammate, two-time Gold Glove-winning first baseman Christian Walker.

If basketball championships could be settled on the baseball field, South Carolina would win in a rout.

University of Iowa Hawkeyes
Women's Final Four
96.4 total bWAR

Like South Carolina, Iowa has produced multiple All-Stars and World Series champions spanning multiple decades.

The Iowa alum with the most distinguished MLB career is catcher Jim Sundberg (40.5 bWAR), a three-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner who played parts of 16 season in the bigs and won a World Series with the Royals in 1985.

Pitcher Mike Boddicker (31.3 bWAR) never played with Sundberg, but they would've made one heck of a battery. Boddicker was a 20-game winner, ERA champ and All-Star for the Orioles in 1984, which followed a 1983 campaign in which he was named ALCS MVP as Baltimore marched to a World Series championship. He later won a Gold Glove with the Royals in 1990.

Other Iowa MLB notables include 14-year pitching veteran Cal Eldred (15.8 bWAR) and 2004 World Series champion reliever Mike Myers (8.1 bWAR).

University of Alabama Crimson Tide
Men's Final Four
94.8 total bWAR

Alabama baseball alums haven't produced as much hardware as South Carolina or Iowa, but they've enjoyed a good amount of longevity in the Majors.

Dave Magadan (21.1 bWAR), who played parts of 16 seasons with the Mets, Marlins, Mariners, Astros, Cubs, A's and Padres, leads the group with a career that produced a .288 lifetime average, a .390 on-base percentage and a 117 wRC+.

Also plenty noteworthy is current Rangers reliever David Robertson, who debut in 2008 and racked up 175 saves through 2023 in stints with the Yankees, White Sox, Phillies, Rays, Cubs, Mets and Marlins.

Also worth mentioning are former All-Star catcher Alex Avila (17.1 bWAR), who played in parts of three different decades with the Tigers, White Sox, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Twins and Nationals; and 16-year veteran pitcher Tommy Hunter (11.0 bWAR), who debuted in 2008, also played in three decades, and led all of MLB in winning percentage in 2010.

North Carolina State Wolfpack
Men's and Women's Final Four
85.8 total bWAR

Of all the schools on this list, N.C. State is the one that could have the greatest potential to climb the ranks. That's because the school boasts a healthy amount of active MLB talent to go with a solid group of legacy players.

Tops among that active talent is Trea Turner, the Wolfpack's best MLB player to date. The two-time All-Star and 2019 World Series champ with the Nationals has twice led the NL in stolen bases and also won a batting title in 2021 as a member of the Nats and Dodgers. Through 2023, Turner had accumulated 33.3 bWAR, nearly twice as much as the next-highest N.C. State alum.

While Turner is a major offensive talent to emerge from the school, its legacy has been mostly in developing MLB-bound pitchers. Among them is Yankees lefty and two-time All-Star Carlos Rodón, who entered 2024 with a 3.82 career ERA and 1,015 strikeouts in 916 innings. After an injury-shorted 2023 season, Rodón is healthy again and could be a key part of the Yankees' hopes in 2024.

Rounding out the active Wolfpack players is catcher Patrick Bailey of the Giants. The 25-year-old has become San Francisco's primary backstop and has started strong in 2024. This follows a 2023 season in which he was a Gold Glove finalist after playing just 97 games, and led all MLB position players in Defensive Runs Above Average (26.9), according to FanGraphs.

Among retired players, N.C. State produced three-time All-Star lefty reliever Dan Plesac (16.9 bWAR) and 14-year veteran starter Mike Caldwell (18.4 bWAR), who went 22-9 with a 2.36 ERA for the Brewers in 1978, along with an MLB-leading 23 complete games.​

UConn Huskies
Men's and Women's Final Four
83.7 total bWAR

UConn has produced comparatively few MLB players, but three of them have combined for eight All-Star appearances and counting.

The 13 players who've been drafted out of UConn have also combined for 83.7 bWAR. But, to be fair, most of that belongs to two guys: George Springer and Charles Nagy.

Springer (36.3 bWAR through 2023), an 11-year vet with the Astros and Blue Jays, is a four-time All-Star (so far), not to mention a two-time Silver Slugger and World Series MVP. Nagy (24.8 bWAR), a former starter with Cleveland and San Diego, made three All-Star appearances and won 15 or more games in a season six times.

Meanwhile, don't overlook Nick Ahmed of the Giants, a two-time Gold Glove shortstop with the Diamondbacks, or pitcher Matt Barnes, who was an All-Star in 2021 and a World Series champ in 2018 with Boston.

Bending the rules just a smidge: If there were an award for Coolest Player Name, UConn would win that prize for Hidden King, an outfielder drafted by the Braves in 1965, though he never played the Majors.

Purdue Boilermakers
Men's Final Four
Minus-0.9 total bWAR

The Boilermakers have had 10 players reach the Majors, all since 1984. But unlike the other schools on the list, there have been no All-Stars, Gold Glovers or World Series champs. (Though one wonders what might've been.)

The two longest-tenured Purdue players in the Majors were still active as of 2023: Kevin Plawecki (2.3 career bWAR), who has played parts of eight seasons with the Mets, Cleveland, Red Sox and Rangers, and began 2024 in Triple-A with the Padres; and pitcher Nick Wittgren (1.9 career bWAR), who has played parts of eight seasons with the Marlins, Cleveland, Cardinals and Royals.

Other former Boilermakers to reach the Majors include pitcher Josh Lindblom (0.5 bWAR), who played parts of seven seasons with Dodgers, Phillies, Rangers, A's, Pirates and Brewers; and utility man Archi Cianfrocco (minus-4.0 bWAR), who played parts of seven seasons for the Expos and Padres.

Thankfully for the Boilermakers, their ranking on this baseball list will have no effect on their performance in the Final Four.