FROM NCBWA PRESS RELEASE
IRVING, Texas – Coming off a year filled with surprises such as Stony Brook’s and Kent State’s first trips to the NCAA World Series and several other national developments, the 13th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason All-America team highlights the always exciting world of the nation’s best baseball student-athletes for 2013.
Next month’s practices signify the 154th season of college baseball with the 2013 All-America squad signify the direction that Division I baseball continues to go – clutch hitting, solid defense and pinpoint control pitching.
With defending NCAA World Series champ Arizona hit heavily by graduation and signings, the upcoming crop of stars hails from the talented Pac-12 diamond tradition as well as 19 conferences and 43 schools nationwide.
Returning first team standouts from the post-2012 NCBWA All-America team embody this DI diversity as New Mexico 3B and 2012 co-Mountain West Conference Player of the Year (with teammate and first team pre-2013 catcher Mitchell Garver) and LSU OF Raph Rhymes, the ’12 SEC Player of the Year, lead the way.
In consultation with individual schools’ media relations offices, the NCBWA All-America committee for pre-2013 had many difficult decisions at defensive positions filled with potential superstars and one of the deepest pools of pitching nominees in the two decades of NCBWA All-America crews chosen prior to playing seasons.
First team hurlers include starters and returning All-America righthander Mark Appel of Stanford, 2012 NCBWA Freshman Pitcher of the Year Carlos Rodon of NC State, Adam Plutko of NCAA World Series entry UCLA, Army’s Chris Rowley, and Missouri State’s Nick Petree. That quintet combined for a 52-10 overall mound record, .839 winning percentage and 568 strikeouts in 570 innings pitched.
Relief standout of NCAA runnerup South Carolina – Tyler Webb – also garnered second team honors with 39 appearances, a 1.56 ERA, 6-1 record, three saves, and 58 whiffs in 57 2/3 innings of work. He was part of a second team pitching group with a 12-game winner, an 11-contest winner and three relief specialists with earned run averages under 2.10.
Notables among the first team hitters are Wichita Satte’s slugging first baseman Johnny Coy, Stephen F. Austin shortstop Hunter Dozier, NCAA regional contenders OF Michael Conforto of Oregon State and Dallas Baptist’s boomin’ Boomer Collins along with West Coast Conference Player of the Year Marco Gonzales. He batted .325 as a regular while posting a 8-2 record and 1.55 ERA in 12 starts as a pitcher. New Mexico’s Peterson paces the first unit in home runs and RBI with 17 and 78, respectively, while LSU’s Rhymes led the nation in batting throughout the season and ended atop the stats with a .431 batting average.
2012 NCBWA Freshman All-America pitcher Mike Compton (12-2) of Florida State also paced the third team with the most wins among that group. Miami (Ohio) OF Matt Honchel topped the second team with a heady .395 batting average.
Last season the scribes’ committee chose Florida All-America catcher Mike Zunino to the preseason A-A team, and he delivered with the 2012 Dick Howser Trophy (first Gator to hold this honor, .322-19 HR-67 RBI for the season), paced the Gators to the CWS and was consensus All-America. There may be a Zunino-like appearance on the horizon for 2013 after last spring’s extraordinary happenings.
Many of these stars will appear on the first ballot for the 27th annual Dick Howser Trophy, presented by Easton Foundations and the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Area Chamber of Commerce and voted upon by the NCBWA membership. The Howser Trophy will be awarded in Omaha, Neb., in June 2013, just before the start of the 66th annual NCAA World Series.
2013 NCBWA Preseason All-America Team
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI BB SO SB/SBA
C Mitchell Garver, New Mexico, Sr. .377 61 268 68 101 27-3-10 57 25 28 6-9
1B Johnny Coy, Wichita State, Sr. .344 59 227 43 78 17-3-9 63 30 53 0-0
2B Michael Felton, Campbell, Sr. .424 59 243 52 103 12-3-1 45 20 23 11-14
3B DJ Peterson, New Mexico, Jr. .419 61 248 57 104 21-3-17 78 33 29 1-2
SS Hunter Dozier, Stephen F. Austin, Jr. .357 59 227 43 81 22-1-10 37 29 42 8-14
OF Raph Rhymes, LSU, Sr. .431 61 232 44 100 11-0-4 53 22 13 2-6
OF Michael Conforto, Oregon State, So. .349 58 218 45 76 14-1-13 76 24 37 1-4
OF Boomer Collins, Dallas Baptist, Sr. .374 60 235 62 88 23-1-13 58 37 46 15-18
DH Nick Backlund, Mercer, Jr. .381 59 223 51 85 16-0-16 58 33 37 3-4
UT Marco Gonzales, Gonzaga, Jr. .325 43 151 23 49 10-0-2 29 11 21 0-0
8-2, 1.55 ERA, 12 App, 12 GS, 3CG, 1/2 SHO, 0 SV, 92.2IP, 63H, 18R, 16ER, 23BB, 92K
Pitchers
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO.
SP Carlos Rodon, NC State, So. 9-0 1.57 17 16 2 2 0 114.2 71 29 20 41 135
SP Nick Petree, Missouri State, Jr. 10-4 1.01 16 16 3 6 0 115.1 85 22 13 36 114
SP Mark Appel, Stanford, Sr. 10-2 2.56 16 16 5 1 0 123 97 39 35 30 130
SP Chris Rowley, Army, Sr. 11-1 2.40 15 15 6 0 0 97.1 64 30 26 22 80
SP Adam Plutko, UCLA, Jr. 12-3 2.48 18 18 2 0 0 119.2 91 35 33 47 99
RP Jimmie Sherfy, Oregon, Jr. 5-3 2.20 36 0 0 0 19 61.1 36 18 15 34 93
RP Michael Wagner, San Diego, Jr. 5-2 2.58 31 2 0 1 19 59.1 57 20 17 20 53
RP Jonathan Holder, Mississippi State, So. 2-1 0.32 24 0 0 1 9 28.1 17 2 1 5 30
SECOND TEAM
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI BB SO SB/SBA
C Mark Zagunis, Virginia Tech, So. .344 49 189 35 65 13-2-5 34 21 25 17-22
1B Jared Hammer, Hofstra, Sr. .376 55 213 47 80 18-0-4 66 39 20 12-14
2B Christian Stringer, Rice, Sr. .343 59 236 58 81 12-3-3 36 38 28 6-11
3B Trea Turner, NC State, So. .336 63 259 72 87 13-2-5 43 41 38 57-61
SS Adam Frazier, Mississippi State, Jr. .371 64 245 45 91 16-1-0 26 50 4 9-15
OF Bill Cullen, VCU, Jr. .347 59 259 62 90 25-9-5 40 24 47 11-17
OF Matt Honchel, Miami (Ohio), So. .395 59 233 43 92 7-2-0 26 15 13 10-20
OF Aaron Judge, Fresno State, Jr. .308 58 201 47 62 14-2-4 27 48 42 13-15
DH Michael Pritchard, Nebraska, Jr. .387 57 212 51 82 10-0-0 22 21 10 6-9
UT Michael Lorenzen, Cal State Fullerton, Jr. .297 57 232 38 69 20-3-3 43 14 42 14-19
2-0, 1.23 ERA, 20 App, 0GS, 0CG, 0/2SHO, 16SV, 22.0IP, 16H, 3R, 3ER, 5BB, 17K
Pitchers
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO.
SP Trevor Williams, Arizona State, Jr. 12-2 2.05 16 15 2 1 0 109.2 90 33 25 13 59
SP Buck Farmer, Georgia Tech, Sr. 8-4 3.54 16 16 1 0 0 106.2 100 48 41 37 115
SP Kent Emanuel, North Carolina, Jr. 8-4 1.96 17 16 0 0 0 110 91 33 24 23 100
SP Tyler Skulina, Kent State, Jr. 11-3 3.77 18 18 0 0 0 107.1 97 52 45 45 106
SP Austin Kubitza, Rice, Jr. 6-5 2.69 16 15 0 0 0 80.1 60 32 24 28 73
RP Tyler Webb, South Carolina, Sr. 6-1 1.56 39 0 0 0 3 57.2 44 12 10 18 58
RP David Berg, UCLA, So. 5-3 1.46 50 0 0 0 1 74 42 14 12 17 63
RP Tyler Burgess, Missouri State, So. 5-2 2.08 26 0 0 0 11 39 21 12 9 17 31
THIRD TEAM (ties in voting)
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI BB SO SB/SBA
C Alex Swim, Elon, Sr. .357 59 241 39 86 11-1-3 45 19 13 7-10
1B Mason Katz, LSU, Sr. .320 64 241 65 77 15-1-13 52 33 52 8-12
2B Jordan Hankins, Austin Peay, Jr. .336 64 250 52 84 16-3-10 66 38 16 3-5
3B Kris Bryant, San Diego, Jr. .366 57 213 59 78 17-3-14 57 39 38 9-12
SS Will Callaway, Appalachian State, Sr. .320 59 241 54 77 12-3-4 53 21 32 23-27
DH Zach Stephens, Tennessee Tech, Jr. .368 53 204 44 75 13-0-18 52 29 52 0-0
OF Austin Cousino, Kentucky, So. .319 62 260 61 83 20-2-9 41 26 39 16-16
OF Jeff Roy, Rhode Island, Jr. .356 59 236 59 84 15-5-2 38 33 35 22-28
OF Brandon Thomas, Georgia Tech, .360 56 211 57 76 15-6-5 44 37 43 12-17
OF Tim Colwell, North Dakota State, Jr. .381 60 244 62 93 11-9-1 35 25 15 12-16
DH Kevin Krause, Stony Brook, So. .330 61 209 38 69 12-0-3 40 26 31 6-8
UT A.J. Reed, Kentucky, So. .300 55 200 29 60 9-0-4 43 24 51 0-1
5-3, 2.52 ERA, 53.2 IP, 16 App, 5 GS, 54 H, 17 R, 15 ER, 9 BB, 51 K
Pitchers
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO
SP Drew Bowen, Oral Roberts, Sr.. 7-2 1.95 13 4 1 1 0 87.2 78 27 19 21 68
SP Mike Compton, Florida State, So. 12-2 2.87 18 18 0 0 0 91 89 25 35 28 64
SP Corey Littrell, Kentucky, Jr. 9-2 2.74 16 16 0 0 0 98.2 104 32 30 25 87
SP Preston Morrison, TCU, So. 9-2 2.09 11 11 1 1 0 112.2 88 29 26 12 72
SP Matt Pegler, College of Charleston, Sr. 10-2 2.83 15 15 1 0 0 89 73 37 28 20 66
SP Andrew Vasquez, UC Santa Barbara, So. 6-3 1.93 13 12 0 0 0 88.2 58 31 19 63 104
RP A.J. Salcines, Miami (Fla.), Jr. 3-0 1.40 39 0 0 0 7 38.2 26 10 6 11 44
RP Chad Sobotka, USC Upstate, So. 3-0 1,72 25 0 0 0 12 31.1 21 7 6 16 34
RP Colby Suggs, Arkansas, Jr. 7-1 1.38 30 0 0 0 0 39 26 6 6 19 36
RP Kellen Urbon, Cornell, So. 3-1 0.47 22 0 0 0 9 38.1 23 6 2 13 21
