Baseball America: UF has unanimous All-America First Team selection, also Third Team

UF got some good news from Baseball American, which published its preseason All-America teams ahead of the start of the season on Monday.

The Florida Gators baseball program, which enters 2021 a consensus No. 1 team according to at least three major publications, got some good news from one of those esteemed outlets on Monday when Baseball American published its preseason All-America teams ahead of the start of the season.

Sophomore outfielder Jud Fabian, who recently earned D1Baseball’s SEC Player of the Year honor, was a unanimous choice for the First Team along with the Vanderbilt Commodores’ starting pitcher Kumar Rocker; they were the only two to earn the unanimous distinction.

Last season, Fabian led off the batting order for UF while starting all 17 games in center field, collecting 20 hits and 19 runs — second-best and most on the team, respectively — for a .294 batting average while also drawing 13 walks to post a .407 on-base percentage.

Here is what Baseball America had to say about Florida’s talented sophomore outfielder.

Jud Fabian, OF, Florida

As his contemporaries were playing their senior seasons in high school, Fabian was starting every day as Florida’s center fielder as a true freshman in 2019. While Fabian still has some pure hit tool and swing-and-miss questions to answer (.250 career average, 22% strikeout rate), he has a high-upside blend of athleticism, power that has been proven with wood, speed and defense and will still be 20 on draft day.

Junior starting pitcher Tommy Mace made the magazine’s Third Team after a successful 2020 campaign that was abruptly ended by the coronavirus pandemic. He appeared in four games, recording quality starts in all of them for a 3-0 record while putting up a 1.67 ERA — which ranked second among starters — and a team-leading 27 innings pitched.

Baseball America received votes from 16 major league organizations that comprised these rankings, which you can find in their entirety below.

FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name, School AVG OBP SLG AB HR RBI
C Adrian Del Castillo, Miami .358 ,478 .547 53 2 15
1B Alex Toral, Miami .296 .435 .593 54 5 16
2B Max Ferguson, Tennessee .333 .462 .524 42 2 6
3B Alex Binelas, Louisville .143 .143 .143 7 0 1
SS Matt McLain, UCLA .397 .422 .621 58 3 19
OF Colton Cowser, Sam Houston State .255 .379 .364 55 1 6
OF Jud Fabian, Florida .294 .407 .603 68 5 13
OF Ethan Wilson, South Alabama .282 .329 .465 71 3 12
UT Grant Holman, California .250 .324 .333 60 1 10
Pos. Name, School W L ERA IP SO SV
SP Jaden Hill, LSU 0 0 0.00 11.2 17 2
SP Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt 2 0 1.72 15.2 22 0
SP Ty Madden, Texas 3 0 1.80 25 26 0
SP Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt 2 1 1.80 15 28 0
RP Ryan Webb, Georgia 2 0 1.20 15 26 1
UT Grant Holman, California 1 3 3.28 24.2 20 0

SECOND TEAM

C — Henry Davis, Louisville
1B — Bobby Seymour, Wake Forest
2B — Robert Moore, Arkansas
3B — Zack Gelof, Virginia
SS — Cody Morissette, Boston College
OF — Christian Franklin, Arkansas
OF — Sal Frelick, Boston College
OF — Levi Usher, Louisville

SP — Ryan Cusick, Wake Forest
SP — Steve Hajjar, Michigan
SP — Gunnar Hoglund, Mississippi
SP — Jordan Wicks, Kansas State
RP — Jackson Leath, Tennessee
UT — Spencer Jones, Vanderbilt

THIRD TEAM

C — Hunter Goodman, Memphis
1B — Niko Kavadas, Notre Dame
2B — Darren Baker, California
3B — Jake Rucker, Tennessee
SS — Ryan Bliss, Auburn
OF — Robby Martin, Florida State
OF — John Rhodes, Kentucky
OF — Isaiah Thomas, Vanderbilt

SP — Mason Black, Lehigh
SP — Richard Fitts, Auburn
SP — Tommy Mace, Florida
SP — Mason Pelio, Boston College
RP — Jack Perkins, Louisville
UT — Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska

[lawrence-related id=34406,34249,33517,32607,31306]

[vertical-gallery id=34530]