(05-23-2023, 09:14 AM)BobK Wrote: Stanford with many honors
That is an awful lot of honors for Stanford. My first thought was it's way too many, though as I go through the different awards it's difficult to find many superior alternatives.
Player of the Year - Rios
He 3rd in the Pac in Avg (0.400), 2nd in SLG (0.742), 3rd in OBP (0.504), 5th in HRs (16), 2nd in RBI (63).
Probably his main competition was Davis at UA: 1st in SLG (0.756), 1st in HRs (19), 3rd in RBI (62), 7th in Avg (0.371), 4th in OBP (0.496). Of course it didn't help Davis that UA finished tied with cal for 8th/9th.
By the way, in only conference games, Rios batted an insane 0.434 to lead the conference by 27 points. He also led the conference in SLG (0.841 led by 19 points) and OBP (0.533, led by 49 points) though was merely 2nd in HRs (12 vs 13). I guess I can see why conference coaches might have voted for him.
Pitcher of the Year - Matthews
By far the most innings pitched in the conference. 3rd in ERA (3.20), 2nd in wins (7, behind Dowd's 9), most total strikouts but only 6th in SO/9innings.
By how he pitched against Stanford I'd give it to Stoffal of Oregon [2nd in ERA at 2.83] but he's only 27th in innings pitched and not a big strikeout guy.
Aoki of SC had the best ERA (2.78) but similar issues of workload.
Freshman of the Year - Moore
Think there was some decent competition here from Overn of SC. Moore had slightly better power numbers, Overn a higher average and made the all-defensive team (outfield).
The odd thing is that Moore did not make the All-Conference team which Overn did. I guess there are better upperclass catchers in the Pac than outfielders.
Coach of the Year - Esquer
This one surprised me. These awards usually go to the coach of the most improved team, and Stanford was too good last year to be most improved. A few weeks ago it seemed destined to go to Bloomquist of ASU but they faltered down the stretch. I then thought Kelly of UW might get it as they were finishing hot - but maybe dropping 2 of 3 to cal last weekend doomed him. Another good candidate would be Canham at OSU who kept his team together after a rough start to finish second in the Pac ... though they were 5 games behind Stanford.
The curious item I saw was Tommy Troy on the All-Defensive team. It's a nice honor considering he also led the conference in batting average. And I also appreciated that he was nominally playing out of position as he has mostly been a middle infielder - though the story was that he was moved to 3B because he had developed some yips throwing from 2B. Still, he had some issues making the throw to first and finished with 6 errors - that's a lot for a non-shortstop on an all-defensive team.
Carter Graham on the All-Defensive team was a nice choice. He seems to have a bit of a reputation as a big, slow power hitter but he made some really nice snags this year and finished in the top 20 in fielding percentage ... and even went 5-6 in stolen bases (on the one time he got caught there was a replay appeal that seemed to show he was safe, though the camera angle didn't make that definitive).