American Athletic Conference baseball awards

At the end of each regular season, the American Athletic Conference names major award winners in baseball. Currently, it names a Coach, Pitcher, Player, and Freshman of the Year. The selections are determined by a vote of the conference's coaches at the end of each regular season. The awards were first given out in 2014, the conference's first season of competition.

Coach of the Year

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In 2014, UCF head coach Terry Rooney was chosen as the conference's best coach. In the regular season, UCF went 34-22 (17-7 American) to finish second in the conference.[1][2]

Winners by season

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Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season Coach School Conf. (Rk.) Overall
2014 Terry Rooney UCF 17–7 (2nd) 36–23
2015 Cliff Godwin[3] East Carolina 15–9 (2nd) 36–20
2016 Jim Penders[4] Connecticut 14–9 (3rd) 38–25
2017 Greg Lovelady[5] UCF 15–9 (1st) 40–22
2018 Todd Whitting[6] Houston 16–8 (1st) 38–25
2019 Cliff Godwin[7] East Carolina 20–4 (1st) 47–18
2020 none - none -
2021 Cliff Godwin[8] East Carolina 20-8 (1st) 44-17
2022 Cliff Godwin[9] East Carolina 20–4 (1st) 46-21

Winners by school

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The following is a table of the schools whose coaches have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined) Awards Seasons
Connecticut (2014) 1 2016
East Carolina (2015) 4 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022
Houston (2013) 1 2018
UCF (2014) 2 2014, 2017

Pitcher of the Year

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In 2014, UCF's Eric Skoglund was chosen as the conference's best pitcher. In the regular season, the junior went 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 92 strikeouts. After the season, he was selected in the third round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals.[2][10]

Winners by season

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Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season Pitcher School
2014 Eric Skoglund UCF
2015 Carson Cross[3] Connecticut
2016 Anthony Kay[4] Connecticut
2017 Trey Cumbie[5]

Robby Howell[5]

Houston

UCF

2018 Aaron Fletcher[6] Houston
2019 Jake Agnos[7] East Carolina
2020 - none -
2021 Gavin Williams[8] East Carolina
2022 Carter Spivey[9] East Carolina

Winners by school

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The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined) Awards Seasons
Connecticut (2014) 2 2015, 2016
East Carolina (2015) 3 2019, 2021, 2022
Houston (2013) 2 2017, 2018
UCF (2014) 2 2014, 2017

Player of the Year

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In 2014, Jeff Gardner was chosen as the conference's best player. Gardner had been selected as the Preseason Player of the Year, and in the regular season, he led the conference in slugging percentage, runs batted in, and total bases. After the season, he was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 8th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.[2][11]

Winners by season

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Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season Pitcher School
2014 Jeff Gardner Louisville
2015 Ian Happ[3] Cincinnati
2016 Joe DeRouche-Duffin[4] Connecticut
2017 Jake Scheiner[5]

Hunter Williams[5]

Houston

Tulane

2018 Bryant Packard[6] East Carolina
2019 Kody Hoese[7] Tulane
2020 - none -
2021 Connor Norby[8] East Carolina
2022 Griffin Merritt[9] Cincinnati

Winners by school

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The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined) Awards Seasons
Cincinnati (2014) 2 2015, 2022
Connecticut (2014) 1 2016
East Carolina (2015) 2 2018, 2021
Houston (2013) 1 2017
Louisville (2014)[a] 1 2014
Tulane (2014) 2 2017, 2019
  1. ^ After the 2014 season, Louisville left to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Newcomer Pitcher of the Year

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In 2014, the Newcomer Pitcher of the Year award was shared by Houston pitcher Andrew Lantrip and Rutgers pitcher Gaby Rosa. Lantrip, as a midweek starter, went 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in the regular season; Rosa went 6-2 with a 2.28 ERA. In the summer of 2014, Lantrip played for the California Collegiate League's Santa Barbara Foresters, and Rosa played for the Staten Island Tide of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.[2][12][13]

Winners by season

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Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season Pitcher School
2014 Andrew Lantrip
Gaby Rosa
Houston
Rutgers
2015 Seth Romero[3] Houston
2016 Tim Cate[4] Connecticut
2017 Mason Feole[5] Connecticut
2018 Alec Burleson[6] East Carolina
2019 Devon Roedahl[7] Houston
2020 - none -
2021 Jake Kaminska[8] Wichita State
2022 Landon Gartman[9] Memphis

Winners by school

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The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined) Awards Seasons
Connecticut (2014) 2 2016, 2017
East Carolina (2015) 1 2018
Houston (2014) 3 2014, 2015, 2019
Memphis (2014) 1 2022
Rutgers (2014)[a] 1 2014
Wichita State (2017) 1 2021

Newcomer Position Player of the Year

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Winners by season

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Below is a table of the Newcomer Position Player of the Year award's winners.

Season Player School
2016 Joe Davis[4] Houston
2017 Rylan Thomas[5] UCF
2018 Christian Fedko[6] Connecticut
2019 Hunter Goodman[7] Memphis
2020 - none -
2021 Bennett Lee[8] Tulane (2014)
2022 Brock Rodden[9] Wichita State

Winners by school

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The following is a table of the schools whose coaches have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined) Awards Seasons
Connecticut (2014) 1 2018
Houston (2014) 1 2016
Memphis (2014) 1 2019
Tulane (2014) 1 2021
UCF (2014) 1 2017
Wichita State (2017) 1 2022
  1. ^ After the 2014 season, Rutgers left to join the Big Ten Conference.

References

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  1. ^ "2014 American Athletic Conference Baseball Standings". D1Baseball.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "American Athletic Conference Announces 2014 Postseason Baseball Awards". TheAmerican.org. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d "Cincinnati's Happ Named American Athletic Conference Player of the Year". TheAmerican.org. May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e "UCONN'S DEROCHE-DUFFIN NAMED AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR". theamerican.org. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Houston's Scheiner, Tulane's Williams Named American Players of the Year". theamerican.org. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  6. ^ a b c d e "ECU's Packard named Baseball Player of the Year". theamerican.org. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Tulane's Hoese Named Baseball Player of the Year". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  8. ^ a b c d e "East Carolina's Norby, Williams Earn Top Individual Baseball Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Cincinnati's Merritt, East Carolina's Spivey Earn Top Baseball Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  10. ^ Saggio, Jessica (June 11, 2014). "UCF Ace Eric Skoglund Drafted by Kansas City Royals". SeminoleChronicle.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  11. ^ "UK's Cousino, Louisville's Gardner, Sturgeon Drafted". Courier-Journal.com. June 6, 2014. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  12. ^ "Andrew Lantrip Lands on CCL All-Star Roster". UHCougars.com. Houston Athletics Communications. July 10, 2014. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  13. ^ "2014 Staten Island Tide Roster". ACBL-Online.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
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