MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (NCBWA) After two rounds of voting by the organization, 58 baseball student-athletes comprise the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's 18th Annual All-America first, second and third teams, as announced on Wednesday.
Nineteen different conferences are represented and 12 conference championships teams. The three All-America squads are also made up of 10 conference players of the year, eight conference pitchers of the year winners and nine first-round draft picks in the recent Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Members of this year's team lead or are tied for the lead nationally in 17 different categories, including batting average (Mike Tauchman, Bradley, .425), runs (Kris Bryant, San Diego, 80), walks (Bryant, 66), home runs (Bryant, 31), RBIs (Colin Moran, North Carolina, 88), slugging percentage (Bryant, .820), total bases (Bryant, 187), on-base percentage (D.J. Peterson, New Mexico, .520), stolen bases (Ben McQuown, Campbell, 54), victories (Tyler Beede, Vanderbilt, 14), saves (Tyler Rogers, Austin Peay, 23), strikeouts (Carlos Rodon, NC State, 170), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (Jeff Thompson, Louisville, 5.23), complete games (Kerry Doane, East Tennessee State, 12), strikeout to walk ration (Thomas Eshelman, Cal State Fullerton, 27.67), fewest walks per nine innings (Eshelman, .23) and whip (Eschelman, 0.77).
The recipient for the 27th Annual Dick Howser Trophy, as voted upon by NCBWA members and awarded since 1987, will be announced on Saturday, June 15, in Omaha at 10 a.m. (CDT) at the TD Ameritrade Stadium Press Interview Room (Street Level).
Previous NCBWA All-America teams from 1996-2012 have featured the likes of OF J.D. Drew of Florida State, 1B Mark Teixeira of Georgia Tech, RHP Mark Prior of Southern California, SS Khalil Greene of Clemson, SS-2B Rickie Weeks of Southern, 3B Alex Gordon of Nebraska, RHP Jered Weaver of Long Beach State, RHP David Price of Vanderbilt, RHP Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State, C Buster Posey of Florida State and C Mike Zunino of Florida, among others.
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. For more information about the NCBWA, visit the association's official Web site, www.ncbwa.com.
For more information on the NCAA Division I All-America team, contact NCBWA Assistant Executive Director Mike Montoro of West Virginia University at 304-293-2821.
Related link:
• NCBWA All-America Teams (2001-2013)