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College | Story | 7/4/2016

2016 PG College Baseball Awards

Blake Dowson

Photo: Mercer Athletics

Final Top 25 | Chants named 2016 CWS champs
PG/Rawlings College All-Americans | PG/Rawlings Freshmen All-Americans

2016 Perfect Game/Rawlings Player of the Year: Kyle Lewis, Mercer

Unfortunately for much of the college baseball fan base that starts to tune into the season once the NCAA Tournament starts, their eyes weren’t opened to the best college baseball player in the country this season. That honor is bestowed on Kyle Lewis, a center fielder for the Mercer Bears who does just about everything for the team he did in fact carry to the NCAA tournament a season ago.

Playing for Mercer in the Southern Conference has made Lewis fly somewhat under the radar to many people, although everyone in and around college baseball was well aware of the budding super star in Macon, Georgia before his monster junior year even started.

Lewis experienced a breakout sophomore season that put him on the national map and towards the top of many draft boards. After a freshman season in which he slashed .281/.340/.382 with two home runs and 17 RBI, the Snellville, Georgia native slashed .367/.423/.677 as a sophomore with 17 home runs and 56 RBI on his way to being named the Southern Conference Player of the Year and a third-team All-American by Perfect Game.

The big sophomore year at Mercer led to an invitation to play in the Cape Cod League with the Orleans Firebirds, where the legend of Kyle Lewis ultimately started.

“I was able to learn a lot from the coaches up there about just having a consistent approach to the game every day and just being consistent in your preparation during batting practice before the game; being ready to play more so than going out there and just swinging it,” Lewis said of his time in the Cape Cod League. “From that standpoint, I’ve been able to really improve on being able to come out more consistently and understand how to get into the right mindset.”

Lewis hit .300 on the Cape with seven doubles, seven home runs, and 24 RBI off some of the best college pitching in the country including Matt Krook, Jordan Sheffield, Ben Bowden, and Dakota Hudson. For his efforts, Lewis was ranked the top overall prospect on the Cape by Perfect Game. His top prospect report after his summer season came to an end read in part as follows:

The summer that Mercer’s Kyle Lewis used to launch himself into first round discussion didn’t come out of the complete blue considering the monstrous numbers he put up during the spring of 2015. After posting a .367/.423/.677 slash for the Bears, the ultra-projectable and long-limbed 6-foot-4, 195-pound Lewis suited up for the talent laden Orleans Cardinals and proved to be the star attraction throughout the league from the moment he stepped foot in Massachusetts.

Lewis entered his junior season with a target squarely on his back. He was named a Perfect Game preseason first-team All-American and preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year.

The expectations placed on him would have been unfair to almost every other player in the college ranks, but Lewis blew them out of the water.

Halfway through the season he was named to Perfect Game’s midseason All-American team with a slash line of .426/.555/.843 along with 12 home runs and 43 RBI.

One of the most impressive parts of Lewis’ at-bats is that he rarely gets cheated or looks lost. He has shown a great approach at the plate this season and has better recognition of the strike zone, leading to far fewer strikeouts and a spike in his walk numbers — he had 66 walks this season compared to 48 strikeouts.

The biggest takeaway from every one of his at-bats is obviously the power he produces with his hand and bat speed. From Perfect Game’s MLB Draft Pack:

It would be hard to find anybody in the country that could rival the explosiveness that Lewis shows in his hands and they’re a big factor in the plus bat speed he’s able to generate. And despite having some length to his swing he’s able to get the barrel to the ball with regularity while showing easy power to all parts of the field. With that aforementioned hand and bat speed he’s able to let the ball get deep in the zone while showing a direct and fluid bat path. Having already put on 20 pounds since last spring and still showing room to additional growth, it’s scary to think what he could end up becoming.

The big center fielder continued his torrid pace all throughout the season, ending his year with video game-like numbers across the board. His junior year slash line ended up at .395/.535/.731 and he ended up in the top-15 in eight major offensive categories: 2nd in walks (66) and slugging (.731), 4th in runs (70) and total bases (163), 5th in OBP (.535) and RBI (72), 6th in home runs (20), and 14th in average (.395).

After Lewis’ Mercer career came to an end in the Southern Conference tournament, his focus turned to the draft, when he was a sure-fire early first round pick, and was in the discussion for the No. 1 overall pick.

“That’s definitely the dream and it’s definitely what I’ve been dreaming about for a while,” Lewis said in an interview with Perfect Game before the draft. “If that is an opportunity that I get it’s something that I would definitely celebrate. I’d just thank God for giving me the opportunity and the ability to be able to sign a professional contract and wear one of those jerseys one day. You never know how these things go so I try not to get too caught up in it or take it for granted, but that would definitely be a dream come true.”

While he didn’t go first overall, Lewis was selected by the Seattle Mariners with the 11th overall pick. He signed relatively quickly for over $3.2 million, and is already 15 games into his professional season with the Mariners’ rookie level affiliate in the Northwest League.

2016 Perfect Game/Rawlings Pitcher of the Year: Eric Lauer, Kent State

It’s not that Lauer came out of nowhere this year to steal the award from some of the other elite college pitchers. During his sophomore season at Kent State, he compiled a 1.98 ERA over 86 innings of work with 103 strikeouts.

Eric Lauer (Kent State)

He followed that up with a great showing in the Cape Cod League, where he struck out 50 batters in less than 40 innings on the mound. Lauer’s performance on the Cape earned him the No. 12 ranking on the Cape Cod top prospect list and a spot on Perfect Game’s Preseason second-team All-America list heading into the 2016 season.

But even with those accolades under his belt, you would have been hard pressed to find someone that could have predicted just how immensely dominant the tall lefty from Ohio was going to be for the Flashes this season, because it’s impossible to predict just how good his numbers were.

Lauer’s numbers would be hard to replicate in a video game, as he ended his junior season with a 10-2 record and absurd 0.69 ERA with three shutouts. He was a workhorse for Kent State, throwing 104 innings over 15 starts, and he only allowed 49 hits and eight earned runs all season. And the numbers get even more ridiculous; Lauer struck out 125 hitters this year compared to only 28 walks, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.46. His 49 hits and 28 walks allowed compute to a .740 WHIP, second-best in the nation.

His 0.69 ERA was tops in the country and the best starter’s ERA in NCAA Division I baseball in the past 37 years, he was runner-up in hits allowed per nine innings (4.24), and his 125 strikeouts were ninth-most in Division I play.

On top of all the numbers, Lauer threw a no-hitter on May 13 against Bowling Green.

In addition to the success he enjoyed this season he also was a first round pick in this year’s draft, going 25th overall to the San Diego Padres. He signed for $2 million but has yet to make his professional debut.

2016 Perfect Game/Rawlings Freshman of the Year: Seth Beer, Clemson

Seth Beer shouldn’t really even be eligible for this award. The freshman phenom for the Clemson Tigers should have been playing out his final season for the Lambert High Longhorns in his hometown of Suwanee, Georgia this spring.

But after a reclassification and a graduation from Lambert in December, Beer showed up at Clemson in January ready to don the purple and orange with the Tigers during the 2016 season.

Seth Beer (Carl Ackerman)

“I didn’t know what to expect coming in the first day,” Beer said in an interview with Perfect Game on April 11. “I remember talking to some of my teammates the first day and they welcomed me in right off the bat and that was a big thing because obviously there are new experiences and you’re uncomfortable with certain situations.”

There was absolutely no learning curve for Beer in his first college season, jumping out to some huge numbers right out of the gate. He was named the Perfect Game Midseason Player of the Year — as well as Freshman of the Year — on April 7. To that point, Beer was hitting .422/.522/.911 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI.

Beer’s numbers came back down to Earth a bit once he got into conference play, though he still finished top 15 nationally in five major offensive categories and top-15 in 10 offensive categories among college freshmen.

His final stat line, across 62 starts, was .369/.535/.700 with 18 home runs, 70 RBI, and 62 walks compared to only 27 strikeouts.

Among freshmen, he was first in home runs (18), walks (62), and on base percentage (.535). He was second in RBI (70), total bases (142), slugging percentage (.700), and runs (57). He finished third in hit by pitch (15), fifth in average (.369), and 12th in hits (75).

Maybe the most impressive thing about Beer’s season is that only one other player on Clemson’s roster, Chris Okey, hit over .300 on the year. The most feared hitter in the Tiger lineup, Beer put up huge numbers even while being pitched around fairly often.

“At the end of the day, when we step on the field we have a job to do, and that’s to play at the best of our abilities,” Beer said. “Getting intentionally walked, in the back of your mind you think, ‘This is frustrating’ but on the other hand, I’m thinking, ‘Hey I’m another guy that can get on base and hopefully we can get another run across.’”

2016 Perfect Game/Rawlings Coach of the Year: Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina

Gilmore will remember June 30, 2016 for the rest of his life, and this year’s version of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will forever hold a very special place in his heart. Gilmore coached the Chants to their first-ever national championship in their first-ever appearance in the College World Series, fending off elimination time after time.

Coastal Carolina won five elimination games in the College World Series, and six all together in the NCAA Tournament. After a 44-15 regular season, CCU headed to the Raleigh Regional and won a winner-take-all championship game against host NC State after being down to their final out in the top of the ninth to advance to the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

Gary Gilmore (Coastal Carolina University)

The Chanticleers made quick work of No. 8 national seed LSU in the Supers, taking game one 11-8 and game two 4-3 to advance to Gilmore’s first World Series in his 21 years at the helm.

His team was labeled the Cinderella of the World Series, although Gilmore said in a postgame interview after the championship that that statement isn’t all that true.

After all, Gilmore has had CCU in a super regional on three separate occasions and the program has the ninth-most wins in Division I baseball since 2001. But this was the year he got over the hump, his crowning achievement after seeing his baseball program go through a complete makeover since his hiring in 1996.

Gilmore was brilliant in the World Series, pushing the right buttons during a long week that is awfully hard on a college pitching staff. Facing elimination in the championship series against Arizona, Gilmore turned to his closer Mike Morrison to start the game on the bump, something he hadn’t done all year. Morrison put in a spectacular performance, going 6 2/3 innings and striking out 10.

As the deciding game three got closer and closer in the final innings, Gilmore decided to go with his innings leader Alex Cunningham for the final three frames. Morrison was declared unavailable before the game, but he was seen putting his cleats on in the dugout during the eighth inning. With how good he was two days earlier and needing only a few outs, Gilmore decided to keep Morrison on the bench and stick with Cunningham, a decision that ended up plating him a national title.

“All my brothers in arms at the mid-majors, they've been wearing my telephone out the whole week and stuff. Wear the banner for us. Show us it can be done,” Gilmore said in his post-game press conference. “And me personally, I don't feel like we've been a mid-major baseball program for a while. I surely don't tell that to my kids. I tell them I think we're top four or five ACC-caliber club; that we can play with the SEC at times; that we don't shy away from anyone.”

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