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d1baseball.com staff | January 22, 2020

D1baseball's 2020 preseason All-American college baseball teams

Dive into the top plays from the College World Series

Reigning national champion Vanderbilt leads college baseball with four players on D1Baseball’s Preseason All-America teams. Second-ranked Vanderbilt is also the only program to place three players on the first team: third baseman Austin Martin, starting pitcher Kumar Rocker and closer Tyler Brown. Another Vanderbilt pitcher, Mason Hickman, landed on the second team.

PRESEASON RANKINGS: Find out which team edged Vanderbilt for the No. 1 ranking

A pair of Pac-12 programs landed two players apiece on the Preseason All-America first team. Slugging first baseman Spencer Torkelson and shortstop Alika Williams both made the first team from No. 9 Arizona State, while five-tool outfielder Garrett Mitchell and closer Holden Powell made it from No. 14 UCLA.

Top-ranked Louisville and 10th-ranked Mississippi State each placed three players on the three Preseason All-America teams, though Louisville ace Reid Detmers was the only first teamer of the bunch. Programs that notched two Preseason All-Americans include No. 3 Miami, No. 7 Arkansas, No. 11 LSU, No. 13 Michigan, No. 15 Duke, No. 18 Wake Forest and No. 23 North Carolina.

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The SEC leads all conferences with 18 Preseason All-America spots, followed by the ACC (13) and the Pac-12 (five). Eleven out of the 14 SEC schools are represented on the three Preseason All-America teams. The SEC also leads all conferences with seven players on the first team, followed by the Pac-12 with four. Overall, 13 difference conferences are represented on the three teams.

Four members of the 2019 postseason All-America first team carried over to the 2020 Preseason All-America first team: Martin, Detmers, New Mexico State’s Nick Gonzales and East Carolina’s Alec Burleson. Three other players moved up from the second team at the end of last season to the first team this preseason: Torkelson, Powell and Georgia ace Emerson Hancock. And three more players jumped from the third team last June to the first team heading into this spring: Texas A&M ace Asa Lacy, North Carolina slugger Aaron Sabato and Tennessee outfielder Alerick Soularie.

2020 IS COMING: Our preseason top 25 | The eight 2020 College World Series teams, predicted

D1Baseball’s editors select the Preseason All-America Teams with one guiding principle in mind: to identify the best and most valuable college baseball players for the 2020 season. Past performance and future potential factor into the deliberations, but the goal was neither to identify the best future major leaguers nor to reward the players who have put up the gaudiest numbers in past seasons (particularly since the level of competition varies significantly from one conference to another). The objective was to select the players who would provide the most value for a team that wanted to win the College World Series in 2020 — the players who are best equipped to perform against elite college competition this spring.

First team

Pos. Name, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG OPS AB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
C Patrick Bailey,
NC State
Jr. .288/.390/.513 .903 236 17 3 10 46 41 43 1
1B Spencer Torkelson,
Arizona State
Jr. .353/.449/.702 1.151 238 17 0 22 65 41 43 1
2B Nick Gonzales,
New Mexico State
Jr. .432/.532/.773 1.305 220 19 4 16 80 45 30 7
3B Austin Martin,
Vanderbilt
Jr. .392/.486/.604 1.090 268 19 4 10 46 40 34 18
SS Alika Williams,
Arizona State
Jr. .333/.430/.471 .901 210 11 3 4 53 33 28 9
OF Heston Kjerstad,
Arkansas
Jr. .327/.400/.575 .975 266 13 1 17 51 21 65 5
OF Garrett Mitchell,
UCLA
Jr. .349/.418/.566 .984 258 14 12 6 41 27 41 18
OF Alerick Soularie,
Tennessee
Jr. .357/.466/.602 1.068 196 13 1 11 46 37 39 8
DH Aaron Sabato,
North Carolina
So. .343/.453/.696 1.149 230 25 1 18 63 39 56 0
UT Alec Burleson,
East Carolina
Jr. .370/.399/.573 .972 246 23 0 9 61 14 24 3
Pos. Name Year W-L ERA G SV IP BB SO OBA
SP Reid Detmers,
Louisville
Jr. 13-4 2.78 19 0 113.1 33 167 .177
SP Emerson Hancock,
Georgia
Jr. 8-3 1.99 14 0 90.1 18 97 .185
SP Asa Lacy,
Texas A&M
Jr. 8-4 2.13 15 0 88.2 43 130 .162
SP Max Meyer,
Minnesota
Jr. 5-3 2.11 16 2 76.2 20 87 .202
SP Kumar Rocker,
Vanderbilt
So. 12-5 3.25 19 0 99.2 21 114 .233
RP Tyler Brown,
Vanderbilt
Jr. 3-1 2.19 31 17 49.1 9 65 .193
RP Holden Powell,
UCLA
Jr. 4-3 1.84 40 17 49 27 65 .121
UT Alec Burleson,
East Carolina
So. 6-2 3.28 24 5 60.1 26 68 .246

Second team

Pos. Name, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG OPS AB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
C Austin Wells,
Arizona
So. .353/.462/.552 1.014 221 15 7 5 60 46 43 6
1B Bobby Seymour,
Wake Forest
Jr. .377/.439/.576 1.015 236 20 0 9 92 26 44 3
2B Justin Foscue,
Mississippi State
Jr. .331/.395/.564 .959 275 22 0 14 60 30 32 2
3B Alex Binelas,
Louisville
So. .291/.383/.612 .995 206 14 5 14 59 27 48 3
SS Nick Loftin,
Baylor
Jr. .323/.380/.502 .882 235 18 3 6 41 17 17 6
OF Daniel Cabrera,
LSU
Jr. .284/.359/.516 .875 225 12 2 12 50 24 54 1
OF Hudson Haskin,
Tulane
So. .372/.459/.647 1.106 207 19 4 10 52 26 29 4
OF Ethan Wilson,
South Alabama
So. .345/.453/.686 1.139 220 16 4 17 51 36 45 6
DH Chris Lanzilli,
Wake Forest
Jr. .347/.409/.620 1.029 245 19 0 16 67 23 53 3
UT Casey Schmitt,
San Diego State
Jr. .315/.415/.450 .865 200 8 2 5 36 25 30 4
Pos. Name Year W-L ERA G SV IP BB SO OBA
SP Tanner Burns,
Auburn
Jr. 4-4 2.82 16 0 79.2 23 101 .218
SP JT Ginn,
Mississippi State
So. 8-4 3.13 17 0 86.1 19 105 .220
SP Mason Hickman,
Vanderbilt
Jr. 9-0 2.05 20 3 96.2 28 129 .183
SP Bryce Jarvis,
Duke
Jr. 5-2 3.81 19 1 75.2 37 94 .239
SP CJ Van Eyk,
Florida State
Jr. 10-4 3.81 18 0 99.1 41 129 .234
RP Burl Carraway,
Dallas Baptist
Jr. 4-2 2.81 28 6 41.2 22 72 .195
RP Michael Kirian,
Louisville
Jr. 3-1 1.69 26 5 32 9 42 .218
UT Casey Schmitt,
San Diego State
Jr. 3-3 3.77 21 8 43 16 44 .252

Third team

Pos. Name, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG OPS AB 2B 3b HR RBI BB SO SB
C Adrian Del Castillo,
Miami
So. .331/.418/.576 .994 236 22 0 12 72 32 24 3
1B Alex Toral,
Miami
Jr. .293/.400/.656 1.056 215 6 0 24 67 39 68 1
2B Brian Klein,
Texas Tech
Sr. .315/.406/.440 .846 257 19 2 3 57 45 44 0
3B Tyler Keenan,
Ole Miss
Jr. .285/.420/.506 .926 253 7 2 15 66 48 51 2
SS Casey Martin,
Arkansas
Jr. .286/.364/.548 .912 283 21 4 15 57 30 79 10
OF Parker Chavers,
Coastal Carolina
Jr. .316/.435/.612 1.047 209 9 4 15 54 39 47 10
OF Colton Cowser,
Sam Houston State
So. .361/.450/.602 1.052 216 17 7 7 54 26 29 9
OF Jordan Nwogu,
Michigan
Jr. .321/.435/.557 .992 246 14 4 12 46 44 51 16
DH Tanner Allen,
Mississippi State
Jr. .349/.426/.516 .942 275 23 1 7 66 34 37 1
UT Logan Allen,
Florida International
Jr. .276/.321/.434 .755 76 3 0 3 5 1 15 2
Pos. Name Year W-L ERA G SV IP BB SO OBA
SP Ian Bedell,
Missouri
Jr. 3-1 1.56 18 5 40.1 12 36 .193
SP Jeff Criswell,
Michigan
Jr. 7-1 2.72 22 3 106 50 116 .232
SP Trenton Denholm,
UC Irvine
Jr. 9-4 1.81 15 0 99.2 20 93 .178
SP Cole Henry,
LSU
So. 4-2 3.39 14 0 58.1 18 72 .226
SP Carmen Mlodzinski,
South Carolina
Jr. 0-0 5.91 3 0 10.2 11 11 .289
RP Thomas Girard,
Duke
Jr. 1-5 2.33 28 9 46.1 18 61 .176
RP Austin Love,
North Carolina
R-So. 8-4 3.18 36 5 68 25 67 .216
UT Logan Allen,
Florida International
Jr. 4-6 3.11 14 0 84 25 120 .231

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