DALLAS (NCBWA) – Nine of college baseball's finest student-athletes
have been named 2010 National Collegiate Baseball Writers of
America District Players of the Year, as the NCBWA announced
these 11th annual awards today.
The 2010 NCBWA District Players of the Year are District I: 3B/RP
Joe Leonard (Pittsburgh); District II: SS Jedd Gyorko
(West Virginia); District III: C Yasmani Grandal (Miami,
Fla.); District IV: SP Anthony Meo (Coastal Carolina); District
V: OF Alex Dickerson (Indiana); District VI: OF Aaron
Senne (Missouri); District VII: 3B Anthony Rendon (Rice);
District VIII: C-1B-DH C.J. Cron (Utah); District IX: 2B
Zack MacPhee (Arizona State).
Last year's District standouts included eventual Dick Howser
Trophy recipient and Washington Nationals' pitching phenom Stephen
Strasburg of San Diego State, West Virginia SS Jedd Gyorko, consensus
All-America 3B Anthony Rendon of Rice, and OF Kent Matthes of Alabama,
among others. Rendon is the only repeater from the 2009 NCBWA District
selections.
Leonard already has received All-America recognition from Collegiate
Baseball, and the junior from Dawson, Pa., was one of the most versatile
players in the Big East Conference in '10. He's the fourth Panther
to gain A-A honors since 2004 and was the 2010 Big East Player of
the Year. The Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist and John Olerud Two-Way
Player of the Year Award nominee set several Pitt season marks with
104 hits, 240 times at-bat, 23 doubles, 71 runs-batted-in, season
saves with eight, and career saves with 11. He also was Big East
Player of the Year in one survey.
Gyorko, a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the
Year Award, is a hometown Morgantown, W.Va., native who batted .381
with a career-high 19 home runs, 57 RBI, 28 doubles, 90 hits, and
71 runs for the Mountaineers. He also registered a career-best .750
slugging percentage, 43 walks, .973 fielding percentage, and 192
assists (WVU single-season record). He led his team eight of those
offensive and defensive categories while racking up 2010 All-America
laurels. The West Virginia standout was a 2009 Brooks Wallace Award
finalist and concluded his college career with a school-high .404
batting average, 73 doubles, 113 extra base-hits, and co-held career
homer record with Tim McCabe at 35.
Grandal posted some of the most impressive numbers ever by a
Miami catcher after his family won an extraordinary national lottery
to come to the United States from Cuba at the age of 10. The West
Palm Beach, Fla., resident paced the Hurricanes to a NCAA Super
Regional appearance against Florida with a .411 batting average,
14 home runs, 58 RBI, .729 slugging percentage, .538 on-base percentage,
57 walks, and a sterling .994 fielding percentage as a backstopper.
The Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year threw out 40 percent
of runners trying to steal against him, is a finalist for the Golden
Spikes Award and the Johnny Bench Catcher of the Year Award as well
as attaining All-America status.
Meo has been the mainstay on a Coastal Carolina staff, which
helped CCU roll to the national lead in overall victories with 55
in its first 63 games this season. He is tied for first place in
NCAA individual pitching wins with 13 (13-2) to go along with a
2.63 ERA, 16 starts 95 2/3 innings pitched, 80 hits allowed, 94
strikeouts, 34 walks, and 2010 All-America laurels. The sophomore
right-hander from Cranston, N.J., was named Big South Pitcher of
the Year and hopes to pace the Chanticleers to a first-ever appearance
in the NCAA World Series if they can get past Southeastern Conference
power South Carolina. He is a solid candidate for the CBF 2010 Pitcher
of the Year as well.
Dickerson, the 2009 Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year,
suffered no sophomore slump in ranking among Big Ten and national
leaders in almost every batting category. The Poway, Calif., native
was 2010 Big Ten Player of the Year, was All-Big Ten Tournament
recognition after going 6-for-12 (.500), and hammered out a .419
average, 99 hits (tied in school season history), 24 homers (second
in IU annals), 75 RBI (fifth), 19 doubles (seventh) and an .805
slugging percentage (third in Hoosiers' annual history). He is nine
away from the IU career record of 47 circuit clouts with 38 in two
seasons and will carry a 17-game hitting streak into 2011. He already
is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and one of the initial
38 college players nationally invited to USA Baseball's Collegiate
Team Trials in June.
Senne was the Big 12 Conference Co-Player of the Year and a 2010
All-American after hitting .400 with 16 home runs, 59 RBI and 22
doubles. He became the first Tiger to hit .400 since 1988. He also
was drafted for the third time in '10 after passing up two earlier
offers from the Minnesota Twins. The senior from Rochester, Minn.
(home of the famed Mayo Clinic), ended his career at MU as the all-time
record holder for hits (291), doubles (69), extra-base hits (114),
and total bases (492). He is among the Top 10 in Tigers' history
in at-bats, home runs, RBI, walks, runs, and slugging percentage.
He had helped Missouri play in three of their school-record six
consecutive NCAA tournaments before a young squad just missed a
big this season.
Rendon is just the second player in Conference USA history to
be named Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons after picking
up that honor this year while leading the Owls to the regular season
league championship. The two-time first team All-C-USA selection
was named to the C-USA Championship All-Tournament team and was
named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Austin Regional. He
batted .402 in conference play and finished the season hitting .394
overall. The sophomore from Houston, Texas, led Conference USA in
home runs with 26 and had more homers than strikeouts (22) all season
long. Rendon ranks among the nation's leaders in runs scored (83)
and walks (65) while maintaining a .530 on-base percentage. He had
12 doubles and 85 RBI, while posting an .801 slugging percentage.
Cron, one of the nation's most versatile standouts, started at
catcher, first base and designated hitter for the 2010 Utes. The
sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., already has been selected to a pair
of All-America teams while pacing Utah in virtually every category
on offense. The two-time All-Mountain West performer leads the nation
with 1.65 RBI (81 in 49 contests) and is fifth in slugging percentage
(.817). He batted .431 with 55 runs and currently is eighth in NCAA
Division I with 0.41 home runs per game. He 81 RBI total is 11th
nationally, and Cron was 2010 Mountain West Conference Player of
the Year as well as a MWC All-Tournament team member. He is the
Utes' first All-America choice since SS Ryan Khoury in 2006.
MacPhee, another of the splendid sophs honored and a Phoenix
resident, was a first team All-America and 2010 Pacific-10 Conference
Player of the Year. He enters the Tempe Super Regional with a .381
batting average and team-high .490 on-base percentage and .686 slugging
percentage. He also set a school record with 14 triples as a sophomore
to break the previous mark of 13 by Alan Bannister in 1971. MacPhee
also tops the team with 59 RBI and 62 runs scored along with eight
home runs, seven doubles, and 18 stolen bases for the No. 1 seed
in the 2010 NCAA D-I Tournament. He was a semifinalist for the 2010
Golden Spikes Award and has received ample voting support in the
first two ballots for the Dick Howser Trophy.
The group, divided into areas as follows: District I-Maine, Vermont,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania; District
II: Connecticut, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
District of Columbia; III: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama,
Florida; IV: Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Maryland; V: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin;
VI: Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota; VII: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana; VIII: Wyoming, Utah, Idaho,
New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana; District IX: California,
Oregon, Washington, Hawai'i, Arizona, Alaska.
2010 NCBWA DIVISION I DISTRICT PLAYERS OF THE YEAR |
Dist. |
Player |
Pos. |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
I |
Joe Leonard |
3B/RP |
Pittsburgh |
Jr. |
Dawson, Pa. |
Maine, Vermont,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania |
II |
Jedd Gyorko |
SS |
West Virginia |
Jr. |
Morgantown, W. Va. |
Connecticut,
West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, District
of Columbia |
III |
Yasmani Grandal |
C |
Miami |
Jr. |
Miami, Fla. |
Kentucky,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida |
IV |
Anthony Meo |
P |
Coastal Carolina |
So. |
Cranston, N.J. |
Georgia,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland |
V |
Alex Dickerson |
OF |
Indiana |
Fr. |
Poway, Calif. |
Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin |
VI |
Aaron Senne |
OF |
Missouri |
Sr. |
Rochester, Minn. |
Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota |
VII |
Anthony Rendon |
3B |
Rice |
So. |
Houston, Texas |
Texas, Arkansas,
Louisiana |
VIII |
C.J. Cron |
C/1B/DH |
Utah |
So. |
Phoenix, Ariz. |
Wyoming,
Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana |
IX |
Zack MacPhee |
2B |
Arizona State |
So. |
Phoenix, Ariz. |
California, Oregon, Washington, Hawai'i, Arizona, Alaska
|
Complete
release with statistics (.pdf) |
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, ncbwa.com.
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