Nominating Newbies

I was asked to submit nominations for a freshmen all-america team. Now, I'm going to work on my list, but I don't get to see everyone. So, I've decided to give you a chance to participate. If your school, another Big Ten program or any other DI school has some first year players you feel are worthy of being named to a freshmen all-america team, here's your chance to give them some love.

I need their name, position and stats (at least through May 11). You can submit them in the comments section or by email. My email address is in the sidebar. Alas, we don't have much time. I'll need these names by Friday night.

Now, submitting their names only gets them onto my nomination list. How many on my list will make the initial ballot, I can't say. However, as the old saying goes, you can't win, if you don't play. Nominate early and often. (Duplicates, however, are not necessary.)

Bench, Clemens Award Watchlists Announced

The watchlists for both the Johnny Bench and Roger Clemens Awards have been announced. The lone Big Ten representative on the Bench Award list (it's a .pdf file) is Joe Blackburn of Penn State.

I've yet to stumble upon the full list for the Clemens Award. Their website has a very generic press release mentioning only Virginia's Jacob Thompson. However, I've been told that Penn State's Drew O'Neil, Ohio State's J.B. Shuck and Michigan's Chris Fetter and Mike Wilson have all made the initial list.

Five Make Louisville Slugger's All-America Squads

On Christmas Eve, Collegiate Baseball released their pre-season Louisville Slugger All-America Team. Five players from the Big Ten have earned recognition from CB. Michigan landed three players with P/DH Zach Putnam gaining a second team nod as a utility player. Putnam's teammates, SS Jason Christian and 1B/C Nate Recknagel, each landed on the third team.

Penn State closer Drew O'Neil and Purdue 1B Ryne White were the final two Big Ten players receiving All-America status from CB. Both were third team selections.

Wallace Award Nominees

The watchlist for the 2008 Brooks Wallace Award has been released. For those of you new to college baseball, and as the hits are up, I'm guessing not all of you are familiar with this stuff, the Wallace Award is one of 265 college player of the year honors.

The good news about the '08 Wallace Award watchlist is that a number of Big Ten players have been nominated. Here's the list:

Zach Putnam, Michigan

Derek VanBuskirk, Michigan

Nate Hanson, Minnesota

Matt Nohelty, Minnesota

Jake Owens, Northwestern

Justin Miller, Ohio State

Drew O'Neil, Penn State

Matt Bischoff, Purdue

Ryne White, Purdue

All fine selections. I congratulate all of them on the recognition. However, and you knew there was going to be an "however", a couple of players got left off the list. Actually, more than a couple. I'll begin by hitting the obvious ones out of the park first.

Michigan's Nate Recknagel and Jason Christian were omitted. Big, honkin' boo-boo by those that make the list. Yeah, I know. You already had two Maize and Bluers, can't have more than that. Someone might think those northern boys can play.

Another glaring omission is Michigan State's Chris Roberts. I know Roberts is only a sophomore, but he hit cleanup as a freshman and should be ready to explode in his second campaign.

Then, we come to a pair of Indiana second year standouts. Both Matt Bashore and Josh Phegley got overlooked. Two more enormous mistakes.

Are you kidding me? Where in the world are Ohio State's Jake Hale and J.B. Shuck? No sign of either and that's simply hard to imagine.

That's seven huge and I mean HUGE errors of omission. Several somebodies were asleep at the wheel during this nomination process. Now, if I were asked to submit a list, here are some other names that I'd be pondering.

Spartans Kyle Day and Steve Gerstenberger, as well as, Illinois' Tanner Roark, Ryan Hastings and Brandon Wikoff.

Two more Hoosiers in the form of Andrew Means and Evan Crawford, plus Iowa's Kevin Hoef who just tore up the Cape Cod League. Jake Goebbert of Northwestern got hosed in this process, as well. As did Joe Blackburn of Penn State.

All this makes you wonder if anyone from the Big Ten submit a list? It's also indicative of the general lack of knowledge about Big Ten baseball amongst those who are "in the know" around college baseball.

Fryer And Napoleon On Bench Award List

Two Big Ten catchers are on the watchlist for the 2007 Johnny Bench Award. Ohio State's Eric Fryer and Iowa's Dusty Napoleon have both been selected amongst the twenty-seven finalists to be named the nation's top backstop.

Meister, Jenzen On Stopper List

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has released its Stopper of the Year watchlist. Included on this pre-season list of the nation's top closers are two members from the Big Ten Conference. Michigan's Ben Jenzen and Ohio State Rory Meister are amongst those the writers felt merited early consideration for the annual award.

All-America Teams

Collegiate Baseball released it's pre-season All-America Teams. Unfortunately, not a single member of the Big Ten was able to crack one of CB's three squads.

Clemens Award Watchlist

Three Big Ten hurlers were named to the initial watchlist for the 2007 Roger Clemens Award. Ohio State lefties Dan DeLucia and J.B. Shuck and Michigan righthander Chris Fetter were named to the pre-season list. The Clemens Award is presently annually to the top pitcher in college baseball.

For a complete look at the list, click here. (It's a .pdf file.)

Hat tip: College Baseball Blog.

Wallace Award Watchlist

The watchlist for the 2007 Brooks Wallace Award has been released. Five players from Big Ten institutions have made the initial list. Dan DeLucia and J.B. Shuck of Ohio State, Eric Rose of Michigan, Antonio Mule of Northwestern and Minnesota's Matt Nohelty have all been selected as nominees.

And The Nominees Are....

It's award time around college baseball. Like every other sport, there is no shortage of hardware being distributed. Let's get a look at some of college baseball's award nominees.

The Roger Clemens Award goes to the top pitcher in the game. This year's finalists are North Carolina's Andrew Miller, Houston's Brad Lincoln, Rice's Eddie Degerman and Washington's Tim Lincecum.

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association hands out the Dick Howser Award. The Howser is given to the Player of the Year in the collegiate ranks. The aforementioned Mr. Lincoln (Houston), Mr. Degerman (Rice) and Mr. Lincecum (Washington) made the Howser final cut, as did outfielder Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison).

The NCBWA has already handed out one award. Don Czyz of Kansas was named the Stopper of the Year. Which, as the name implies, goes to the top closer in college baseball.

As mentioned here before, or at least it had better have been, Jeff Kunkel of Michigan is amongst the three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award. Miami's Eddy Rodriguez and East Carolina's Jake Smith are the other two backstops nominate to be given the Catcher of the Year nod.

The Brooks Wallace Award is another Player of the Year honor. The semi-finalist list, issued in late May, is lengthy. Click here for a PDF list of all those included. In addition to those players repeatedly mentioned above, Ohio State's Ronnie Bourquin made the list. Again, unless I slacked off, this probably got mentioned at BTH prior, but there's nothing wrong with repeating myself when the conference gets some baseball attention.

OSU's Bourquin Is Howser Semi-Finalist

Ohio State thirdbaseman Ronnie Bourquin was named as one of sixteen semi-finalists for the Dick Howser Award. The award is given annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the College Player of the Year.

Gudex, Whitmore Garner Acclaim

Two Big Ten closers are on the NCBWA's Stopper of the Year watchlist. Relievers Tim Gudex of Iowa and Matt Whitmore of Illinois each made the thirty man mid-season watchlist. The ironic part is that both Gudex and Whitmore have recently been moved out of the bullpen and into their team's starting rotation.

However, it is still an honor to be named amongst the best closers in the nation. BTH congratulates both men on their mid-season recognition.

Bourquin, Shuck On Howser List

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has released its watch list for the Dick Howser Award. The Howser Award is given annually to the top player in college baseball. Two members of the Ohio State Buckeyes are on the list. Thirdbaseman Ronnie Bourquin and pitcher/firstbaseman/outfielder J.B. Shuck have garnered the honor.

Obviously, I'm happy for both Buckeye stars and both are worthy nominees. However, leaving off Purdue shortstop Mitch Hilligoss is an oversight. I can't honestly say who I would remove from the NCBWA's watchlist, but it's difficult to imagine that the player who might be the Big Ten's player of the year isn't being considered.

Bourquin and Shuck are, however, fine representatives of the conference. Congratulations to both.

Midterm Awards

I've always wanted to do a midterm conference award post. Today, I appear to have the time, so let's look at some potential award winners and other things of note as we approach the halfway point in the Big Ten schedule.

Surprise of the Year: Northwestern
Was there any other choice? The Wildcats conference run continues to amaze. Well, at least, it amazes me. Even with their 9-3 Big Ten mark, NU is only playing .375 overall (12-20). Although, in Northwestern's defense, I believe their strength of schedule was the highest in the conference heading into the year.

Coach of the Year: Rich Maloney, Michigan
This will probably change week to week. Prior to last week, this was Ohio State's Bob Todd's award. This week, Northwestern's Paul Stevens probably merits the honor (if being named my choice as Coach of the Year is an honor), but NU's non-conference record just can't be ignored. Maloney has a very young Michigan team contending for the regular season crown.

Freshman of the Year: J.B. Shuck, Ohio State
At 5-1 with a 1.50 ERA, Shuck would be a strong choice just as a pitcher, but he knows what to do with the bat, too. The OSU frosh is hitting .344 with 14 RBI. However, this is one exceptionally strong field of newcomers. Indiana's Cameron Satterwhite, Purdue's Ryne White and Kyle Day of Michigan State are right on Shuck's heels. There are another ten names on my list of candidates, as well.

Pitcher of the Year: Tim Gudex, Iowa
I haven't quite decided if I'm going to create two awards--one for starters, one for closers--so for now, it's still a combined honor. Gudex, 3-1, six saves and 0.96 ERA, gets the mid-season title. Illinois' closer Matt Whitmore is in the running, as are OSU's Shuck and Dan DeLucia, Minnesota's Cole DeVries, Iowa's Jeff Maitland, Purdue's Jay Buente and Indiana freshman Joe Vicini.

Player of the Year: Mitch Hilligoss, Purdue
Another good field of candidates, but Hilligoss is doing it all for the Boilermakers. The Purdue shortstop is leading the conference in batting average (.413), slugging percentage (.636), on base percentage (.497), hits (50), runs scored (T-41) and total bases (77). Hilligoss' teamate Eric Wolfe can make a claim for the title, too. Others on my short list today include Ohio State's Ronnie Bourquin, Northwestern's Antonio Mule and Michigan State's Ryan Basham.

Please don't send me hate mail because I overlooked your guy. Remember, it's only midterms. There is plenty of time for changes amongst my selections. Besides, my email address has apparently found it's way into spammers hands and my mailbox is filled with an unusually high volume of garbage. I'll never find your email in the midst of all that, anyway.

Hall Of Fame Nominees

The College Baseball Foundation released its list of nominees for induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. A number of representatives were from the Big Ten Conference. Dick Siebert (Minnesota), Barry Larkin (Michigan), Paul Molitor (Minnesota), Dave Winfield (Minnesota), Steve Arlin (Ohio State), Ray Fisher (Michigan) and George Sisler (Michigan) are amongst the forty-six men being considered for enshrinement this year.

The College Baseball Hall of Fame, located in Lubbock, Texas, will present it's inaugural class in late April and the induction ceremonies will occur in July.

Wallace Award Watch List

The College Baseball Foundation has released its 2006 Brooks Wallace Award watchlist. A number of Big Ten players have made the pre-season list for the Wallace Award, given annually to the top player in college baseball. Jeff Kunkel, Michigan (C), Matt Lewis, Penn State (OF), Pat McMahon, Northwestern (C), Troy Krider, Michigan State (DH/ATH), Brian Blomquist, Illinois (P), Mitch Hilligoss, Purdue (SS), John Gaub, Minnesota (P) and Cory Luebke, Ohio State (P) all garnered nominations.