Cal Poly Shortstop Brooks Lee Collects Fourth All-America Award
6/28/2021 12:34:00 PM | Baseball
D1BASEBALL.COM ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The All-American season is over for NCAA Division I baseball and Cal Poly freshman shortstop Brooks Lee made four of the five.
The last of the five teams was announced Monday by D1Baseball.com and Lee landed on the first unit with his .342/.384/.626 slash line.
Over the previous four weeks since the regular season ended on Memorial Day weekend, Lee was named to the first team by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and to the second unit by both Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Lee's four All-America honors are the most by a Cal Poly baseball player since the Mustangs elevated their program to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Infielder Mark Mathias was honored three times in 2014 while outfielder Grant Desme earned similar honors in 2007.
Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps is the D1Baseball Player of the Year. One year after posting an 8.18 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the sixth-year senior went 12-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 11 saves with 131 strikeouts and just 18 walks over 89 2/3 innings. Kopps held opponents to a .162 batting average.
College World Series finalists Vanderbilt and Mississippi State each placed two players on the All-America First Team, as did East Carolina. Vandy pitchers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter both lived up to their first-team preseason All-America billing and landed on the postseason team as well. SEC Player of the Year Tanner Allen and closer Landon Sims represent Mississippi State on the first team. And East Carolina placed second baseman Connor Norby and pitcher Gavin Williams on the first team.
D1Baseball editors and national writers determined the All-America teams based on performance in the regular season and postseason, factoring in quality of competition.
Lee committed just six errors in 54 games for a .974 fielding percentage, No. 2 among regular shortstops in the Big West. He did not commit an error in Cal Poly's final 21 games of the 2021 season.
His team-leading .342 batting average included a school-record 27 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs, all team highs as well. Lee finished with more extra-base hits (40) than singles (36) and hit safely in 41 of the 54 games in which he played, producing hitting streaks of 12, 11 and nine games.
Lee led the Mustangs in multiple-hit games with 25 and was the Big West leader with his 16 multiple-RBI contests.
Last week, Lee became Cal Poly's first ABCA All-West Region first-team honoree in seven years.
Other honors already earned by Lee are Big West Conference Co-Field Player of the Year and Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, a spot on the All-Big West first team, Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American and one of five National Co-Freshman Players of the Year by Collegiate Baseball.
Lee is one of six finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's top shortstop and also was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the player of the year, and a finalist for the ABCA/Rawlings National Gold Glove award at shortstop.
Lee led the Mustangs in RBIs (57), hits (76), total bases (139) and sacrifice flies (8). His school single-season record of 27 doubles tied for fifth place in the Big West record book.
Lee earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors three times this season and was the 54th Mustang to earn first-team All-Big West honors. He was first in the Big West in doubles, slugging percentage, RBIs, sacrifice flies and total bases, third in home runs and hits, sixth in runs scored and ninth in batting average.
Nationally, Lee ranked No. 2 in doubles and sacrifice flies, 16th in total bases, 33rd in RBIs and 36th in hits.
Lee claimed back-to-back Big West Player of the Week awards in March after going 7-for-12 against Utah Valley and 7-for-14 versus UCLA, driving in 14 runs in the two series, and earned his third after the Cal State Fullerton series in mid-May (9-for-18, four doubles, grand slam, five runs scored, seven RBIs).
In addition to Lee, UC Santa Barbara pitcher Rodney Boone was named to the D1Baseball.com All-American third team.
Other players from West Coast schools honored by D1Baseball.com include Oregon designated hitter Aaron Zavala on the first team, Nevada first baseman Dillan Shrum, Stanford outfielder Brock Jones and starting pitcher Brendan Beck on the second team, Arizona designated hitter Jacob Berry on the second unit, and Arizona catcher Daniel Susac and UCLA first baseman JT Schwartz on the third team.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The All-American season is over for NCAA Division I baseball and Cal Poly freshman shortstop Brooks Lee made four of the five.
The last of the five teams was announced Monday by D1Baseball.com and Lee landed on the first unit with his .342/.384/.626 slash line.
Over the previous four weeks since the regular season ended on Memorial Day weekend, Lee was named to the first team by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and to the second unit by both Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Lee's four All-America honors are the most by a Cal Poly baseball player since the Mustangs elevated their program to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Infielder Mark Mathias was honored three times in 2014 while outfielder Grant Desme earned similar honors in 2007.
Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps is the D1Baseball Player of the Year. One year after posting an 8.18 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the sixth-year senior went 12-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 11 saves with 131 strikeouts and just 18 walks over 89 2/3 innings. Kopps held opponents to a .162 batting average.
College World Series finalists Vanderbilt and Mississippi State each placed two players on the All-America First Team, as did East Carolina. Vandy pitchers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter both lived up to their first-team preseason All-America billing and landed on the postseason team as well. SEC Player of the Year Tanner Allen and closer Landon Sims represent Mississippi State on the first team. And East Carolina placed second baseman Connor Norby and pitcher Gavin Williams on the first team.
D1Baseball editors and national writers determined the All-America teams based on performance in the regular season and postseason, factoring in quality of competition.
Lee committed just six errors in 54 games for a .974 fielding percentage, No. 2 among regular shortstops in the Big West. He did not commit an error in Cal Poly's final 21 games of the 2021 season.
His team-leading .342 batting average included a school-record 27 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs, all team highs as well. Lee finished with more extra-base hits (40) than singles (36) and hit safely in 41 of the 54 games in which he played, producing hitting streaks of 12, 11 and nine games.
Lee led the Mustangs in multiple-hit games with 25 and was the Big West leader with his 16 multiple-RBI contests.
Last week, Lee became Cal Poly's first ABCA All-West Region first-team honoree in seven years.
Other honors already earned by Lee are Big West Conference Co-Field Player of the Year and Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, a spot on the All-Big West first team, Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American and one of five National Co-Freshman Players of the Year by Collegiate Baseball.
Lee is one of six finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's top shortstop and also was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the player of the year, and a finalist for the ABCA/Rawlings National Gold Glove award at shortstop.
Lee led the Mustangs in RBIs (57), hits (76), total bases (139) and sacrifice flies (8). His school single-season record of 27 doubles tied for fifth place in the Big West record book.
Lee earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors three times this season and was the 54th Mustang to earn first-team All-Big West honors. He was first in the Big West in doubles, slugging percentage, RBIs, sacrifice flies and total bases, third in home runs and hits, sixth in runs scored and ninth in batting average.
Nationally, Lee ranked No. 2 in doubles and sacrifice flies, 16th in total bases, 33rd in RBIs and 36th in hits.
Lee claimed back-to-back Big West Player of the Week awards in March after going 7-for-12 against Utah Valley and 7-for-14 versus UCLA, driving in 14 runs in the two series, and earned his third after the Cal State Fullerton series in mid-May (9-for-18, four doubles, grand slam, five runs scored, seven RBIs).
In addition to Lee, UC Santa Barbara pitcher Rodney Boone was named to the D1Baseball.com All-American third team.
Other players from West Coast schools honored by D1Baseball.com include Oregon designated hitter Aaron Zavala on the first team, Nevada first baseman Dillan Shrum, Stanford outfielder Brock Jones and starting pitcher Brendan Beck on the second team, Arizona designated hitter Jacob Berry on the second unit, and Arizona catcher Daniel Susac and UCLA first baseman JT Schwartz on the third team.
Players Mentioned
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