Minnesota Baseball: Three Gophers Named All-Americans

On Thursday three members of the #14 national seed Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team found out they were named All-Americans. Junior shortstop Terrin Vavra was named a First Team All-American by Baseball America, and freshman pitchers Patrick Frederickson and Max Meyer were named second and third team All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball. The three are the first All-Americans for the Gophers since 2009.

Vavra has been a team leader for the Gophers this season. The junior shortstop was named a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award honoring the nation’s best shortstop earlier this week as well. Vavra was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and led Minnesota with 77 hits, 10 home runs, and 55 RBIs. His 124 total bases on the season is 32 more than any other player on the Gopher roster. He is slugging .620, and is 8-9 on stolen bases on the season. He is second on the team with 50 runs scored and his 17 strikeouts are the fewest on any regular player on the Minnesota roster. In fact, his ratio of one strikeout per 11.8 plate appearances ranks Vavra as the 40th toughest player to punch out in the nation this season. He is Minnesota’s first First Team All-American since second baseman Derrick McCallum in 2009. Vavra has rocketed up MLB draft boards and is expected to be selected in the first 15 rounds of the draft on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Frederickson has been one of the best pitchers in the nation this season as a freshman. He was named both the Big Ten’s Pitcher and Freshman of the Year this season in going 9-0 on the year. He is 15th in the country with an ERA of 1.78 and has allowed just 6.28 hits per nine innings which is the best in the Big Ten. He ranks 19th nationally in walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP) with 0.92 per inning also tops in the Big Ten. His 63 strikeouts lead the Gophers and he has walked just 19 batters on the season.

Max Meyer has been one of the best closers in the country as a freshman. He was named to the All-Big Ten First Team with Vavra and Frederickson. He has 16 saves on the season, currently tied with former Gopher and current Chicago Cubs minor leager Brian Glowicki who recorded 16 a year ago for the Gopher single season record. He has blown just one save this season while allowing runs in just four of his 19 appearances.

Frederickson and Meyer are the first two Gopher pitchers to earn All-American status since a guy named Glen Perkins in 2004.

All three players could still earn additional awards later this season as more are revealed. One would think Frederickson and Meyer would be shoo-ins for Freshman All-American status as well.

The three of them and the rest of the Gopher squad begin their NCAA Tournament at home at Siebert Field against Canisius at 7PM Friday night.