BB: Candidates for All-American Teams

[Ralph Turner]

Chapman came to Abilene last February (2007) for a three game series.

They have played at Driggers Field, as have George Fox, Trinity TX, UT-Tyler (and the other ASC teams) and Southwestern (TX).

[anotherharvest]

Chris Deanes the closer for Virginia Wesleyan has 40K's in only 26 innings.  His stats would be even more off the charts if not for some late season blowouts either applied or suffered by VWC.

[bbfan08]

Pitcher for Susquehanna

                                ERA    W-L      IP     K's   Avg.

11 John Lunardi.....  1.97   6-3     64.0   62   .246

Catcher for Susquehanna

                              AVG  GP-GS    AB   R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI   SLG%   SO   OB%

17 Chris Price......  .474  37-37   137  41  65  13   2    9    42    .796      9     .529

[A.G.]

On all-region and all-americans...
...how much is DEFENSE (fielding percentage) counted in the selection process.  It sure seems much of the selection (looking at last year's teams) were heavy into offense (and rightfully so)...but all things being close...is defense the deciding factor, especially in the infield?

[NYBB]

Am i the only one amazed by the fact that this guy threw 79 Innings this year and only walked one  batter?  Add that with his 87 K's and only 65 hits...that's absolutely ridiculous.

I mean, Trinity's other starters, Jeremiah Bayer only walked 14 in 65 1/3 and Michael Regan put on 10 in 56 IP, but seriously :

79 IP, 1 BB.

If this kid doesn't get drafted, please tell me why.

[dukes]

I agree it is very impressive and I have no idea the talent he is going against, but it is not impossible. He obviously has good control and a good mental approach to hitters. However, numbers like that, especially in D3, do not warrant getting drafted based on that alone. A quick look at the Trinity stats, and only 2 of the games that he pitched in were <3 run games. When you know your team is going to score (about 8 runs a game) and your team will field at a .960 clip, you should pour strikes into the zone. Plus sometimes there are strategic walks in close games...do you really want to pitch to the 4 hole stud if you have first base open and a weak 5 hole? So in a close game you have more "unintentional intentional" walks that is just good baseball.

Yes, though, it is an amazing statistic, and a great year.

[Pat Coleman]

The D3baseball.com All-American team has been announced.

[cutter]

Congratulations to Moreland and David as the POY's...26 homers wow enough said....and 13-0 and being the only pitcher to trip the south region champs hopkins with 3 postseason AA hitters this year and one preseason AA hitter...outstanding seasons for these two young men. Congrats.

[Jim Dixon]

D3baseball.com announces 2008 All-America team

McMurry third baseman Derek David and Christopher Newport ace Kenny Moreland have been named the D3baseball.com Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year for 2008.

The pair headline the second annual D3baseball.com All-American team, announced Tuesday afternoon.

[chakote]

D3baseball.com announces 2008 All-America team

McMurry third baseman Derek David and Christopher Newport ace Kenny Moreland have been named the D3baseball.com Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year for 2008.

The pair headline the second annual D3baseball.com All-American team, announced Tuesday afternoon.

Jim,   what is the protocol and criterea that is used for the selection of the DIII baseball.com all ameican kids?

[oldcat]

i would like to know why yacko is the 3rd team utility. He has better numbers than the 1st and 2nd team utility all americans. I am just dumbfounded 

[fouriscosmic]

Moreland showed why he is deserving of Pitcher of the Year when he shut down Hopkins from the 3rd to the 10th inning.  8 Scoreless against the #1 offense.

Congrats to David as well.

[whos in charge here]

I have stayed away from posting on these message boards all season, but at this point I have had enough of the absolute rediculous antics going on here... And seeing the All-American team is the final straw.  I have seen the D3 Baseball top 25 throuought the year, and having seen many of these teams play there have been a case of severe over-rating.  When you look only at a team's record and do not take into account opponents you get severly over-rated teams(For example:Salisbury who was 40-4 but could not win thier regional)  Now to get onto the All-American team. Whoever is in charge of that has made some grave mistakes.

I realize that it is a complex assignment, but there has been some big omissions. By putting stats on there for each player, it allows for some debate. First off Kurt Yacko from Chapman...how is a 6-0 pitcher with 14 saves, 68 K's in 54 IP and a 0.60 ERA not a first team All-American? Lets not forget he also had 10 hr, 11 2B, 4 3B, and 46 RBI for a team he led to Appleton. From where I am looking he should have had player of the year consideration.  A second travesty is that Tom Dimitroff from Piedmont was not a first team All-American with a 7-2 record. (the 2 losses were to World Series bound Adrian and nationally ranked Depauw) Dimitroff's season included a nation's best 14 saves and 32 appearences. (Tied an NCAA Division III national record for appearences)  In addition to the wins, saves, and appearences Dimitroff also had 73 strikeouts in 62 innings of work.  The strikeouts were comparable to the strikeout totals for serveal of the starting pitchers on the All-American teams.

These examples beg the question is there any thought put into this or is it mearly picking out of a hat.  I feel like the schedule strength of many of these teams is not taken into consieration.  Chapman and Piedmont played very tough schedules. We did see this year that the ABCA top 25 can be much different than the D3 baseball top 25 and seemingly alot closer to accurate at least in my opinion.  The ABCA poll seemed to be more accurate from the first poll they published until now.

Thank you for hearing me out. I appreciate the work that you and your staff have put into D3 baseball this year, it just seems that some things have been overlooked.

[LWC23]

I agree that the ABCA poll and All America team is a better gauge on reality.

Kyle Stalker from Willamette University is an example.  He was an ABCA West region first team selection - with 22 hrs and great other stats - but he is not even listed on the D3 all america honorable mention selections.
I have seen him play and he is going to the next level .....  not sure why  D3 baseball would not mention him-
Up here in the Northwest we do not get any respect at D3 level.  There is some very good talent in  the Northwest - Stalker is just one example ofa player who was ignored by D3 baseball.

[Ralph Turner]

I realize that it is a complex assignment, but there has been some big omissions. By putting stats on there for each player, it allows for some debate. First off Kurt Yacko from Chapman...how is a 6-0 pitcher with 14 saves, 68 K's in 54 IP and a 0.60 ERA not a first team All-American? Lets not forget he also had 10 hr, 11 2B, 4 3B, and 46 RBI for a team he led to Appleton. From where I am looking he should have had player of the year consideration.  A second travesty is that Tom Dimitroff from Piedmont was not a first team All-American with a 7-2 record. (the 2 losses were to World Series bound Adrian and nationally ranked DePauw) Dimitroff's season included a nation's best 14 saves and 32 appearances. (Tied an NCAA Division III national record for appearances)  In addition to the wins, saves, and appearances Dimitroff also had 73 strikeouts in 62 innings of work.  The strikeouts were comparable to the strikeout totals for serveal of the starting pitchers on the All-American teams.

These examples beg the question is there any thought put into this or is it mearly picking out of a hat.  I feel like the schedule strength of many of these teams is not taken into consideration.  Chapman and Piedmont played very tough schedules. We did see this year that the ABCA top 25 can be much different than the D3 baseball top 25 and seemingly a lot closer to accurate at least in my opinion.  The ABCA poll seemed to be more accurate from the first poll they published until now.

Thank you for hearing me out. I appreciate the work that you and your staff have put into D3 baseball this year, it just seems that some things have been overlooked.

First, Jim Dixon is holding to the "D3sport" trademark of only putting out a team that can take the field.  The 2007 ABCA first team had four starting pitchers, and extra OF and two utility players.  The second team had two 2B, two 3B, four OF, five pitchers and three Utility players.  That is well into the entire third team for D3Baseball.com's All-American Teams.

You mention a couple of players.  Yacko surprised me, but I am a West Region guy and knew what he had done over the last couple of years.  I need to go look at the stats and box scores for Wolf and Carroll, which look good, in and of themselves.

As a West Region guy, I was surprised by Yacko's being on the 3rd team, but those other guys have very good numbers as well.  I will need to look at their box scores to see what the voters saw!

As for Dimitroff's, how do you put Dimitroff ahead of Kitchens, Kiely or Moreland?  All three had better numbers than Dimitroff!  Matre had better control as a reliever, fewer walks and lower batting average against than Dimitroff.  No slight on Dimitroff, but those other guys had great seasons, too.

As for 1B's, Stalker had a great season, but the Salisbury fans will yell about Mike Celenza who batted .393 and had one error in 404 chances!