Richie Shaffer hit 13 homers last season
Here is Baseball America’s release on its preseason All-American teams:
Top-ranked Florida leads all teams with seven players on Baseball America’s college preseason All-America teams, released today. Catcher Mike Zunino and two-way talent Brian Johnson represent the Gators on the first team, while outfielder Preston Tucker, two-way player Austin Maddox and righthander Hudson Randall make the second team, and shortstop Nolan Fontana and righty Karsten Whitson appear on the third team. Counting Johnson, Florida’s entire weekend rotation is composed of preseason All-Americans. No team in recent years has produced more than four preseason All-Americans. The only team in the last decade to get close to matching Florida was Stanford in 2002, with six preseason All-Americans.
Baseball America annually polls major league scouting directors to vote on the team and make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential. In the past, the preseason All-America team has been a predictor both of the first round of the draft and of team success. For example, nine of the 14 draft-eligible members of last year’s first team became first-round picks last June, and the other five were all selected inside the top four rounds. Each of the first seven players drafted out of four-year colleges last spring—and 12 of the first 13—appeared on one of BA’s three preseason All-America teams heading into the season.
There are six repeat members of BA’s preseason All-America teams. Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero and Stanford righthander Mark Appel each move up from the second team last year to the first team this year, while Johnson jumps from last year’s third team to this year’s first team. Two members of last year’s first team—catcher Peter O’Brien (who transferred from Bethune-Cookman to Miami) and Stanford shortstop Kenny Diekroeger—made this year’s team as members of the third and second teams, respectively. Tucker repeated as a second-teamer.
Marrero was the only unanimous first-team selection. Appel and Georgia Southern outfielder Victor Roache each appeared on the ballots of all 17 scouting directors who voted, but each received one second-team vote and 16 first-team votes. Zunino also appeared on every ballot but had two second-team votes.
Second-ranked Stanford, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 17 Arizona State each landed three players on the All-America teams, tied for second-most behind Florida. The Cardinal (Appel and third baseman Stephen Piscotty) and Georgia Southern (Roache and righthander Chris Beck) were the only teams other than Florida to produce multiple first-teamers.
The Southeastern Conference placed 12 players on the three All-America teams, most of any league. The Atlantic Coast and Pacific-12 conferences were next with seven selections apiece. As a testament to the strong talent in the mid-major conferences, 15 different leagues are represented on the three All-America teams. The others are the America East, Atlantic Sun, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Big West, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Southern, Sun Belt, and West Coast conferences.
2012 PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
As selected by major league scouting directors
2012 Preseason All-America Teams
Major League Baseball scouting directors vote on Baseball America’s All-America team.
First Team
Pos. Player, School Cl. B-T Ht. Wt. AVG OBP SLG AB R H HR RBI SB
C Mike Zunino, Florida Jr. R-R 6-2 215 .371 .442 .674 264 75 98 19 67 7
1B Adam Brett Walker, Jacksonville Jr. R-R 6-5 225 .409 .486 .682 242 65 99 13 75 14
2B Tony Renda, California Jr. R-R 5-8 173 .332 .366 .434 265 38 88 3 44 9
3B Stephen Piscotty, Stanford Jr. R-R 6-3 195 .364 .423 .471 225 35 82 3 40 2
SS Deven Marrero, Arizona State Jr. R-R 6-1 194 .315 .352 .434 219 33 69 2 20 10
OF Travis Jankowski, Stony Brook Jr. L-R 6-3 190 .355 .419 .457 186 39 66 2 38 30
OF Tyler Naquin, Texas A&M Jr. L-R 6-2 170 .381 .449 .538 273 68 104 2 44 6
OF Victor Roache, Georgia Southern Jr. R-R 6-1 225 .326 .438 .778 230 58 75 30 84 3
DH Richie Shaffer, Clemson Jr. R-R 6-3 205 .315 .438 .557 222 62 70 13 55 8
UT Brian Johnson, Florida Jr. L-L 6-3 225 .307 .414 .464 192 26 59 5 29 2
W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO AVG
SP Mark Appel, Stanford Jr. R-R 6-5 190 6 7 3.02 17 0 110 114 29 86 .277
SP Chris Beck, Georgia Southern Jr. R-R 6-3 220 9 5 3.23 20 0 103 79 40 109 .211
SP Kevin Gausman, Louisiana State So. L-R 6-4 185 5 6 3.51 14 0 90 70 23 86 .215
SP Marcus Stroman, Duke Jr. R-R 5-9 185 3 4 2.80 17 4 64 59 21 90 .241
RP Nolan Sanburn, Arkansas So. R-R 6-0 185 2 4 3.62 24 8 32 28 15 35 .239
UT Brian Johnson, Florida Jr. L-L 6-3 225 8 3 3.62 16 0 80 78 15 72 .253
Second Team
Pos. Player, School Cl. B-T Ht. Wt. AVG OBP SLG AB R H HR RBI SB
C Josh Elander, Texas Christian Jr. R-R 6-1 215 .333 .426 .509 171 38 57 5 38 9
1B Christian Walker, South Carolina Jr. R-R 6-0 220 .358 .438 .554 271 64 97 10 62 4
2B L.J. Mazzilli, Connecticut Jr. R-R 6-1 190 .338 .392 .491 275 48 93 3 32 11
3B Colin Moran, North Carolina So. L-R 6-3 180 .335 .442 .540 248 46 83 9 71 2
SS Kenny Diekroeger, Stanford Jr. R-R 6-2 200 .293 .356 .364 225 31 66 2 31 2
OF Jeremy Baltz, St. John’s Jr. R-R 6-3 205 .311 .444 .483 209 42 65 6 60 7
OF James Ramsey, Florida State Sr. L-R 6-0 190 .364 .442 .580 250 58 91 10 67 11
OF Preston Tucker, Florida Sr. L-L 6-0 215 .308 .381 .545 286 55 88 15 74 5
DH Patrick Wisdom, St. Mary’s Jr. R-R 6-2 210 .351 .416 .553 208 33 73 8 46 5
UT Austin Maddox, Florida Jr. R-R 6-3 225 .280 .327 .368 239 30 67 6 35 1
W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO AVG
SP Jake Barrett, Arizona State Jr. R-R 6-3 220 7 4 4.14 14 0 76 75 21 72 .259
SP Hudson Randall, Florida Jr. R-R 6-3 185 11 3 2.17 19 0 124 104 13 73 .227
SP Michael Wacha, Texas A&M Jr. R-R 6-6 200 9 4 2.29 19 0 130 117 30 123 .243
SP Kyle Zimmer, San Francisco Jr. R-R 6-3 210 6 4 3.37 20 1 92 93 24 89 .268
RP Lex Rutledge, Samford Jr. L-L 6-2 205 5 6 3.71 17 0 63 51 45 79 .220
UT Austin Maddox, Florida Jr. R-R 6-3 225 3 0 0.67 21 5 27 20 3 21 .198
Third Team
Pos. Player, School Cl. B-T Ht. Wt. AVG OBP SLG AB R H HR RBI SB
C Tom Murphy, Buffalo Jr. R-R 6-1 200 .384 .446 .626 190 34 73 10 44 7
1B Dominic Ficociello, Arkansas So. B-R 6-4 185 .335 .364 .464 224 29 75 4 50 5
2B Micah Johnson, Indiana Jr. L-R 5-11 190 .335 .402 .474 209 43 70 3 34 19
3B Kris Bryant, San Diego So. R-R 6-5 215 .365 .482 .599 197 57 72 9 36 18
SS Nolan Fontana, Florida Jr. L-R 5-11 190 .289 .414 .434 256 57 74 5 49 6
OF Barrett Barnes, Texas Tech Jr. R-R 6-1 210 .290 .414 .509 214 47 62 10 38 19
OF Michael Lorenzen, Cal State Fullerton So. R-R 6-3 195 .342 .427 .479 146 33 50 2 31 19
OF Brandon Thomas, Georgia Tech Jr. B-R 6-3 202 .307 .417 .429 205 29 63 3 29 19
DH Peter O’Brien, Miami Sr. R-R 6-5 225 .304 .382 .557 230 41 70 14 69 3
UT J.T. Chargois, Rice Jr. B-R 6-3 200 .299 .378 .379 261 52 78 2 31 2
W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO AVG
SP Branden Kline, Virginia Jr. R-R 6-3 190 4 1 1.88 32 18 43 30 22 56 .207
SP Brady Rodgers, Arizona State Jr. R-R 6-2 175 9 4 2.75 15 0 98 88 9 87 .237
SP Ryne Stanek, Arkansas So. R-R 6-4 180 4 2 3.94 15 1 64 50 26 41 .213
SP Karsten Whitson, Florida So. R-R 6-4 215 8 1 2.40 19 0 97 84 28 92 .235
RP R.J. Alvarez, Florida Atlantic Jr. R-R 6-1 180 6 6 5.23 16 0 74 86 35 72 .295
UT J.T. Chargois, Rice Jr. B-R 6-3 200 0 2 13.50 7 2 7 10 9 7 .308
