Cooper and Lowell named Freshman All-Americans

[shocks771]

Congrats to Jordan Cooper and Charlie Lowell!

http://www.baseballnews.com/allamericans/currentfrallamericans.htm?DB_OEM_ID=7600

[ShockerFever]

Congrats to both.

The future looks bright. :posterwu:

[BostonWu]

A little surprised Grimes wasn't on the list.

[Shocker85]

A little surprised Grimes wasn't on the list.

Not too surprising. Tyler didn't crack the magical .300 and his 5 HR and 26 RBI are rather paltry. I will say, he's not far behind a couple of the SS named, though.

OTOH, Where can the Shox find guys like this to plug in as Frosh? ...

Third Basemen
Anthony Rendon, Rice — Collegiate Baseball’s National Freshman Player of The Year, Rendon became the first player in Conference USA history to be named both the league Player of The Year and Freshman of The Year in the same season. He had a sensational debut at the NCAA Division I level, leading the league in home runs (19) and leading the Owls in batting average (.375) and RBI (64). Rendon scored 54 runs, walked 28 times and added 12 doubles to help account for a conference-best .704 slugging percentage. If that wasn’t enough, he swiped 9 of 11 bases and struck out only 22 times in 216 at-bats.

[ShockCity]

That is an incredible season for a Freshman. Rice benefited from him going relatively unnoticed out of Lamar HS in Houston. He wasn't drafted until the 27th round by the Braves last year and decided to go to college instead of sign.

[CharlieHog]

A little surprised Grimes wasn't on the list.

Not too surprising. Tyler didn't crack the magical .300 and his 5 HR and 26 RBI are rather paltry. I will say, he's not far behind a couple of the SS named, though.

OTOH, Where can the Shox find guys like this to plug in as Frosh? ...

Third Basemen
Anthony Rendon, Rice — Collegiate Baseball’s National Freshman Player of The Year, Rendon became the first player in Conference USA history to be named both the league Player of The Year and Freshman of The Year in the same season. He had a sensational debut at the NCAA Division I level, leading the league in home runs (19) and leading the Owls in batting average (.375) and RBI (64). Rendon scored 54 runs, walked 28 times and added 12 doubles to help account for a conference-best .704 slugging percentage. If that wasn’t enough, he swiped 9 of 11 bases and struck out only 22 times in 216 at-bats.

It's pretty helpful to have your school in Houston, right in the middle of one of the best recruiting areas in the country.

[ShockCity]

A little surprised Grimes wasn't on the list.

Not too surprising. Tyler didn't crack the magical .300 and his 5 HR and 26 RBI are rather paltry. I will say, he's not far behind a couple of the SS named, though.

OTOH, Where can the Shox find guys like this to plug in as Frosh? ...

Third Basemen
Anthony Rendon, Rice — Collegiate Baseball’s National Freshman Player of The Year, Rendon became the first player in Conference USA history to be named both the league Player of The Year and Freshman of The Year in the same season. He had a sensational debut at the NCAA Division I level, leading the league in home runs (19) and leading the Owls in batting average (.375) and RBI (64). Rendon scored 54 runs, walked 28 times and added 12 doubles to help account for a conference-best .704 slugging percentage. If that wasn’t enough, he swiped 9 of 11 bases and struck out only 22 times in 216 at-bats.

It's pretty helpful to have your school in Houston, right in the middle of one of the best recruiting areas in the country.

Very true. They do have an advantage there, but also there are alot of teams competing for those players. You have Texas, aTm, TCU, Houston, Rice, Baylor, Texas St. just to mention the in state schools. Then add in regional teams like LSU, Ark., OU, OSU, Lafayette, Tulane, etc... and it is a VERY competitive landscape.

[billybud]

Didn't realize the Shockers had two freshman pitchers with those kind of stats...almost a strike out an inning and ERA's below 3.00.

Looks like there is a nucleus for a strong pitching staff next year. Will they be Friday and Saturday starters?

[ShockCity]

Junior to be Tim Kelley (5-4, 2.86 ERA, 102 K, 22 BB, 94 1/3 IP) who was the ace of the staff and the Friday starter will continue to be the Friday starter with Cooper and Lowell the Saturday and Sunday guys. The Shockers also have a commitment from Garrett Gould, but he is expected to be a first round draft pick, so he will likely not be here next year. Pitching has always been the strong point for the Shox and will continue to be. What we really need is some offensive power in the lineup.

[billybud]

yeah...hard to beat the $$$ offered a first round pick.

Y'all have some pitchers for next year...should carry you far if you can knock in a few runs. Having pitchers like those three is half the battle.

[rrshock]

So these guys weren't All-MVC selections, but they were freshman AA's? Did I miss something here?

[CharlieHog]

So these guys weren't All-MVC selections, but they were freshman AA's? Did I miss something here?

We had one Freshman All-American, Zack Cox, and he wasn't an All-SEC Freshman selection. In fact, we had zero all-conference selections this year.

[Shocker85]

So these guys weren't All-MVC selections, but they were freshman AA's? Did I miss something here?

Wierd, eh?

Considering the coaches vote for All Conference and half of them never saw one or the other Cooper or Lowell due to the various weather challenges, I guess ... well ... I'm just sayin'.

MVC Coaches <> Sharpest Tools in the Shed

-'85.

[ShockCity]

The rest of the MVC has had a grudge/jealousy towards the Shox and Gene for years! It's not surprising at all that neither Jordan nor Charlie made the all conference team. It's ok. What the other coaches don't realize is that by snubbing the Shox, they are actually fueling the fire by motivating these kids to kick the crap out of them every time they play.

[t7017s]

Junior to be Tim Kelley (5-4, 2.86 ERA, 102 K, 22 BB, 94 1/3 IP) who was the ace of the staff and the Friday starter will continue to be the Friday starter with Cooper and Lowell the Saturday and Sunday guys. The Shockers also have a commitment from Garrett Gould, but he is expected to be a first round draft pick, so he will likely not be here next year. Pitching has always been the strong point for the Shox and will continue to be. What we really need is some offensive power in the lineup.

I don't think Kelley will be our Friday guy next year. JMO. I think Cooper moves up to Friday and Kelley falls to Saturday. Again just my opinion.