Baseball's Adams Earns Another Frosh A-A Honor
Monday, June 30, 2008 | Baseball
Florida second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named to the 2008 Baseball America Freshman All-America Team released on Monday. He had previously been tabbed a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Chris Hernandez, a left-handed pitcher from Miami (Fla.), was chosen as Baseball America's Freshman of the Year.
The first Gator freshman to be chosen first-team All-Southeastern Conference since Marc Valdes in 1991, Adams sported a .330 batting average with 51 RBI, 42 runs and eight homers. He was also one of five players to be unanimously chosen to the league's All-Freshman Team.
Adams started 57 games for the Orange and Blue at five different positions (30-2B, 18-3B, 4-LF, 4-CF, 1-RF) and saw action at every spot in the infield. He led UF in slugging percentage (.536), walks (35), doubles (17) and sacrifice hits (four) and tied for second in homers (eight). Adams also ranked second on the squad in on-base percentage (.430), total bases (112) and RBI (51) and was 11-for-15 on the basepaths.
The product of Eagle's View Academy was third on the club in SEC play with a .354 clip and had a team-high 27 RBI, 22 runs, 10 doubles and five round-trippers. In the middle of March, the Jacksonville native was tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week after an impressive 8-for-11 (.727) league debut during the sweep of Auburn.
The SEC placed the most players on the first team, marking the second-straight year the league had five first-team all-freshman members. Besides Adams, Kentrail Davis (Tennessee), Brett Eibner (Arkansas), Brian Fletcher (Auburn) and Micah Gibbs (LSU) earned a spot on the squad.
Baseball America Freshman All-America Teams
| FIRST TEAM |
| |||||||||||
| Pos. | Player, School | AVG | OBP | SLG | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB |
| |
| C | Micah Gibbs, LSU | .322 | .417 | .448 | 174 | 31 | 56 | 2 | 35 | 2 | ||
| 1B | Hunter Morris, Auburn | .351 | .433 | .597 | 211 | 42 | 74 | 11 | 49 | 4 | ||
| 2B | Josh Adams, FLORIDA | .330 | .430 | .536 | 209 | 42 | 69 | 8 | 51 | 11 | ||
| 3B | Scott Woodward, Coastal Carolina | .364 | .540 | .533 | 225 | 82 | 82 | 7 | 45 | 42 | ||
| SS | Rick Hague, Rice | .348 | .408 | .549 | 233 | 40 | 81 | 8 | 54 | 4 | ||
| OF | Kentrail Davis, Tennessee | .330 | .435 | .583 | 206 | 45 | 68 | 13 | 44 | 7 | ||
| OF | Ryan Lockwood, South Florida | .415 | .493 | .513 | 193 | 44 | 80 | 0 | 37 | 12 | ||
| OF | Brian Fletcher, Auburn | .324 | .408 | .611 | 185 | 42 | 60 | 10 | 42 | 6 | ||
| DH | Kyle Parker, Clemson | .303 | .400 | .559 | 211 | 44 | 64 | 14 | 50 | 2 | ||
| UT | Brett Eibner, Arkansas | .298 | .405 | .497 | 191 | 36 | 57 | 8 | 48 | 3 | ||
| Pos. | Player, School | W | L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | BB | SO | BAA | |
| SP | Chris Hernandez, Miami | 11 | 0 | 2.72 | 18 | 0 | 113 | 92 | 18 | 117 | .223 | |
| SP | Seth Maness, East Carolina | 9 | 2 | 3.57 | 16 | 0 | 98 | 99 | 20 | 81 | .254 | |
| SP | Shane Davis, Canisius | 12 | 1 | 2.42 | 13 | 0 | 89 | 89 | 24 | 47 | .264 | |
| SP | Chance Ruffin, Texas | 8 | 3 | 1.96 | 23 | 3 | 78 | 54 | 24 | 82 | .191 | |
| RP | Chase Dempsay, Houston | 8 | 3 | 2.53 | 33 | 11 | 64 | 47 | 19 | 49 | .214 | |
| UT | Brett Eibner, Arkansas | 3 | 1 | 4.50 | 11 | 0 | 24 | 25 | 14 | 24 | .269 | |
| SECOND TEAM | ||||||||||||
| Pos. | Player, School | AVG | OBP | SLG | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | ||
| C | Rafael Neda, New Mexico | .323 | .374 | .530 | 198 | 40 | 64 | 6 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 1B | Jaren Matthews, Rutgers | .294 | .363 | .505 | 214 | 37 | 63 | 10 | 54 | 8 | ||
| 2B | Jedd Gyorko, West Va. | .409 | .450 | .612 | 232 | 62 | 95 | 8 | 63 | 4 | ||
| 3B | Victor Sanchez, San Diego | .268 | .346 | .495 | 220 | 47 | 59 | 12 | 47 | 5 | ||
| SS | Christian Colon, CS Fullerton | .329 | .406 | .444 | 243 | 59 | 80 | 4 | 39 | 13 | ||
| OF | Ben Klafczynski, Kent State | .339 | .385 | .630 | 165 | 37 | 56 | 11 | 35 | 2 | ||
| OF | Gary Brown, CS Fullerton | .292 | .374 | .426 | 195 | 46 | 57 | 5 | 27 | 25 | ||
| OF | Michael Choice, Texas-Arlington | .376 | .440 | .558 | 197 | 39 | 74 | 7 | 51 | 8 | ||
| DH | Derek Dietrich, Ga. Tech | .332 | .410 | .592 | 238 | 53 | 79 | 14 | 66 | 3 | ||
| UT | Brooks Raley, Texas A&M | .259 | .358 | .259 | 58 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 4 | ||
| Pos. | Player, School | W | L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | BB | SO | BAA |
|
| SP | Matt Harvey, North Carolina | 7 | 2 | 2.79 | 19 | 0 | 68 | 52 | 47 | 80 | .214 | |
| SP | Kyle Blair, San Diego | 8 | 4 | 3.86 | 16 | 0 | 75 | 62 | 34 | 99 | .221 | |
| SP | Barret Loux, Texas A&M | 6 | 2 | 4.18 | 16 | 0 | 90 | 76 | 35 | 81 | .227 | |
| SP | Thain Simon, Santa Clara | 9 | 2 | 2.59 | 20 | 2 | 63 | 61 | 24 | 71 | .253 | |
| RP | Kevin Rhoderick, Oregon State | 0 | 1 | 2.39 | 20 | 12 | 26 | 11 | 20 | 32 | .131 | |
| UT | Brooks Raley, Texas A&M | 7 | 2 | 4.76 | 18 | 0 | 93 | 98 | 27 | 68 | .271 | |
-UF-
