CALIFORNIA'S ANDREW VAUGHN PLAYER OF THE YEAR / BATTING CHAMPION
OREGON STATE’S CADYN GRENIER DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
ARIZONA STATE'S SPENCER TORKELSON NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
OREGON STATE’S LUKE HEIMLICH SELECTED PITCHER OF THE YEAR
STANFORD’S DAVID ESQUER VOTED COACH OF THE YEAR
SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference announced All-Pac-12 baseball honors for the 2018 season, as determined by a polling of the Conference coaches. CALIFORNIA’s Andrew Vaughn was voted Pac-12 Player of the Year and crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion with a Conference-leading .402 batting average. OREGON STATE’s Cadyn Grenier was selected Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Luke Heimlich was voted Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year. Spencer Torkelson of ARIZONA STATE was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and STANFORD’s David Esquer earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year. The All-Pac-12 teams were also announced.
Pac-12 Player of the Year/Pac-12 Batting Champion – Andrew Vaughn, 1B, So., California (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Vaughn was named Pac-12 Player of the Year for his second straight Pac-12 yearly honor after a breakout debut season earned him Freshman of the Year in 2017. The first baseman helped California (33-22, 16-14 Pac-12) to a fifth-place finish in the Conference standings for its highest finish since taking fourth in 2015. Vaughn was crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion hitting .402 in the regular season and was in contention for the Pac-12 Triple Crown as he ranks second in the league with 23 home runs and tied for second with 63 RBIs. Vaughn earned three Pac-12 Player of the Week honors during the 2018 season as his standout batting average was accompanied by 23 home runs, which ranks second nationally, 59 runs scored, 163 total bases and 63 RBIs, totals which rank in the top-5 in the league. Vaughn is 1-of-4 athletes from the Conference to be named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist. He has been named second team All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after receiving Freshman All-American honors last year.
Defensive Player of the Year – Cadyn Grenier, INF, Jr. Oregon State (Henderson, Nev.)
Grenier was tabbed the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year after displaying a steady performance both at the plate and in the field for Oregon State. He enters postseason hitting .330 with four home runs and 42 RBIs while committing just six errors for a .969 fielding percentage. The junior has started all 55 games this season and has been selected as one of five finalists for the 2018 Brooks Wallace Award, given to the best shortstop in the country. He had a 27-game hitting streak from March 31 to May 19 during which he hit .393 (46-117). Grenier also earned All-Conference honors for the second straight season as well as his first All-Defensive Team nod.
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year – Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Fr., Arizona State (Petaluma, Calif.)
Torkelson landed Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors for ranking in the top-10 in multiple Conference offensive categories including his league-leading 25 home runs and 59 runs scored, and second-best in slugging percentage (.743). Torkelson is also the current national home run leader with 25 this season, which doubled Barry Bonds’ 1983 ASU freshman record of 11. In NCAA history, no freshman has ever led the country in home runs at the end of the season. Torkelson was named both a Golden Spikes National Player of the Year Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist for the 2018 season and is the only freshman in the country on either list. Torkelson finished one homer shy of the NCAA freshman record of 26, currently held by Todd Greene of Georgia Southern set in 1990. In Pac-12 games, Torkelson led the league in four offensive categories (slugging, home runs, runs, total bases). Torkelson has already garnered All-America Second Team honors by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper this year.
Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year – Luke Heimlich, LHP, Sr. Oregon State (Puyallup, Wash.)
Heimlich earned his second consecutive Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year honor while posting a nation-leading 14 victories during the regular season along with 139 strikeouts, which ties for fourth nationally. He is the first player to win award back-to-back awards since ASU’s Mike Leake did so in 2008 and 2009. A four-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week this season is 14-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 104.2 innings, and allowed more than two runs in a Pac-12 game once this season. He now holds the Oregon State records for most victories in a single season, single-season strikeouts (139), career strikeouts (356) and is the third pitcher in program history with 30+ career wins. He has been named a College Baseball Hall Of Fame Pitcher of the Year finalist and a Dick Howser Trophy award semifinalist for the 2018 campaign. Heimlich has earned his second Collegiate Baseball First Team All-American honor (2017, 2018).
Pac-12 Coach of the Year – David Esquer, Stanford
Esquer collected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor in his first season at the helm of the Stanford Baseball program. It marks the third award in Cardinal program history and his second career award after earning Coach of the Year in 2001 while at California. He guided the Cardinal to its 18th Conference championship and first title since 2004 with a 22-8 league record while posting a 44-10 overall mark. Stanford posted its best Pac-12 winning percentage (.766) since the Cardinal went 19-5 (.792) in 1999 en route to a College World Series appearance. Esquer and the Cardinal were ranked in the top five of the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll every week of the regular season, including a tie for No. 1 on May 21. He has the Cardinal as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the highest in program history.
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Name | Pos. | Yr. | School |
Tristan Beck | RHP | Jr. | Stanford |
Jake Bird | RHP | Sr. | UCLA |
Kris Bubic | LHP | Jr. | Stanford |
Gage Canning | OF | Jr. | Arizona State |
Andrew Daschbach | IF/OF | So. | Stanford |
Jonah Davis | OF | Jr. | California |
Joe DeMers | RHP | Jr. | Washington |
Tanner Dodson | P/OF | Jr. | California |
Bryce Fehmel | RHP | Jr. | Oregon State |
Cadyn Grenier | RHP | Jr. | Oregon State |
Alex Hardy | RHP | Sr. | Washington |
Luke Heimlich | LHP | Sr. | Oregon State |
Nico Hoerner | IF | Jr. | Stanford |
Levi Jordan | IF | Sr. | Washington |
Nick Kahle | C | So. | Washington |
Dashawn Keirsey Jr. | OF | Jr. | Utah |
Steven Kwan | OF | Jr. | Oregon State |
Trevor Larnach | OF | Jr. | Oregon State |
Jack Little | RHP | So. | Stanford |
Nick Madrigal | IF | Jr. | Oregon State |
Nick Quintana | IF | Jr. | Arizona |
Alfonso Rivas | OF | Jr. | Arizona |
Adley Rutschman | C/IF | So. | Oregon State |
Cesar Salazar | C | Jr. | Arizona |
Chase Strumpf | IF | So. | UCLA |
Tim Tawa | OF | Fr. | Stanford |
Michael Toglia | IF | So. | UCLA |
Spencer Torkelson | IF | Fr. | Arizona State |
Andrew Vaughn | IF/P | So. | California |
Joe Wainhouse | RHP/IF | Jr. | Washington |
Jeremy Ydens | OF | So. | UCLA |
Kenyon Yovan | RHP | So. | Oregon |
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Name | Pos. | Yr. | School |
Daniel Amaral | OF | Jr. | UCLA |
Gage Canning | OF | Jr. | Arizona State |
Tanner Dodson | P/OF | Jr. | California |
Michael Gretler | IF | Sr. | Oregon State |
Cadyn Grenier | IR | Jr. | Oregon State |
Dashawn Keirsey | OF | Jr. | Utah |
Nick Madrigal | IF | Jr. | Oregon State |
Adley Rutschman | C/IF | So. | Oregon State |
Andrew Vaughn | IF/P | So. | California |
Honorable Mention: Carter Aldrete, ASU; Daniel Amaral, UCLA; Solomon Bates, USC; Brendan Beck, STAN; Beau Branton, STAN; Chase Bushor, USC; Cameron Cannon, ARIZ; Mason Cerrillo, WASH; Blake Clanton, WSU; Cody Deason, ARIZ; Oliver Dunn, UTAH; Ryan Garcia, UCLA; Jakob Goldfarb, ORE; Tyrus Greene, CAL; Michael Gretler, OSU; Jordan Jones, WASH; Kyle Kasser, ORE; Lyle Lin, ASU; Connor Lunn, USC; Matt Mercer, ORE; Kyle Mora, UCLA; Jake Mulholland, ORE; Dillon Paulson, USC; Zach Pettway, UCLA; Blake Sabol, USC; Aaron Shortridge, CAL; Spencer Steer, ORE; Cal Stevenson, ARIZ; Kyle Stowers, STAN; Scotty Sunitsch, WSU.