Player Of The Year Kevin Kopps Leads D1Baseball All-Americans

Awards D1 Baseball Staff - June 28, 2021

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Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps is the D1Baseball Player of the Year, headlining our 2021 All-America teams.

Kopps was a revelation as a sixth-year senior closer for the Razorbacks. After posting an 8.18 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Kopps returned to Fayetteville for one final go-round and posted a season for the ages, going 12-1, 0.90 with 11 saves and a dazzling 131-18 K-BB mark in 89.2 innings as the Arkansas stopper. Thanks in large part to his signature cutter — the most dominant pitch in college baseball this season — Kopps held opponents to a .162 batting average. Even working out of the bullpen, the rubber-armed Kopps threw enough innings to qualify for the national ERA title, which he won by 0.39 runs, despite facing the best competition college baseball has to offer (Arkansas faced the toughest schedule in the nation). He was the most important player for a team that won every weekend of the regular season and entered the postseason as the No. 1 national seed.

CWS Finalists Vanderbilt and Mississippi State each placed two players on the All-America First Team, as did East Carolina. Vandy pitchers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter both lived up to their first-team preseason All-America billing and landed on the postseason team as well. SEC Player of the Year Tanner Allen and closer Landon Sims represent Mississippi State on the first team. And East Carolina placed second baseman Connor Norby and pitcher Gavin Williams on the first team.

Vanderbilt and NC State are tied for the most total All-Americans with three apiece. Third-team outfielder Enrique Bradfield joins Rocker and Leiter in the Vandy contingent. NC State is represented by second-team outfielder Jonny Butler, third-team outfielder Tyler McDonough, and third-team reliever Evan Justice.

Other teams with multiple All-Americans include Florida State and Notre Dame out of the ACC; Ole Miss and LSU out of the SEC; Stanford and Arizona out of the Pac-12; and Wright State out of the Horizon. The SEC leads all conferences with 12 All-Americans, followed by the ACC (10), Pac-12 (six), and Conference USA (four).

D1Baseball editors and national writers determined the All-America teams based on performance in the regular season and postseason, factoring in quality of competition.

First Team

Pos.	Name, School	AVG/OBP/SLG	OPS	G	AB	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Matheu Nelson, Florida State	.330/.436/.773	1.209	53	194	17	23	66	31	58	4
1B	Niko Kavadas, Notre Dame	.305/.479/.766	1.245	46	154	8	21	62	50	53	2
2B	Connor Norby, East Carolina	.415/.484/.659	1.143	61	246	15	15	51	33	34	18
3B	Tyler Locklear, VCU	.345/.515/.686	1.201	54	194	12	16	66	46	40	8
SS	Brooks Lee, Cal Poly	.342/.384/.626	1.010	55	222	27	10	57	18	34	3
OF	Tanner Allen, Mississippi State	.380/.451/.624	1.075	63	245	17	11	65	22	33	10
OF	Quincy Hamilton, Wright State	.374/.535/.771	1.306	48	179	18	15	65	56	32	20
OF	Colton Cowser, Sam Houston	.374/.490/.680	1.170	55	203	10	16	52	42	32	17
DH	Aaron Zavala, Oregon	.392/.525/.628	1.153	55	199	14	9	38	50	31	11
UT	Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska	.284/.403/.459	.862	48	183	12	6	40	30	44	9

Pos.	Name	W	L	ERA	APP	GS	CG	SV	IP	BB	SO	OBA
SP	Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt	10	4	2.08	17	17	2	0	104	42	171	.128
SP	Ty Madden, Texas	7	5	2.45	18	18	1	0	113.2	44	137	.188
SP	Doug Nikhazy, Ole Miss	12	2	2.45	16	15	1	0	92	31	142	.186
SP	Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt	14	3	2.52	19	19	1	0	117.2	37	173	.164
SP	Gavin Williams, East Carolina	10	1	1.88	15	12	1	1	81.1	21	130	.193
RP	Kevin Kopps, Arkansas	12	1	0.90	33	1	0	11	89.2	18	131	.162
RP	Landon Sims, Mississippi State	4	0	1.64	22	0	0	11	49.1	14	91	.161
UT	Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska	3	1	0.57	18	0	0	10	31.2	8	34	.198

Second Team

Pos.	Name, School	AVG/OBP/SLG	OPS	G	AB	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Henry Davis, Louisville	.370/.482/.663	1.145	50	184	9	15	48	31	24	10
1B	Dillan Shrum, Nevada	.468/.527/.968	1.495	35	124	15	15	47	10	19	1
2B	Jace Jung, Texas Tech	.337/.462/.697	1.159	56	208	10	21	67	49	45	4
3B	Hunter Wells, Louisiana Tech	.385/.456/.645	1.101	62	262	20	14	61	34	37	1
SS	Jacob Gonzalez, Ole Miss	.355/.443/.561	1.004	67	262	16	12	55	38	34	2
OF	Jonny Butler, NC State	.376/.452/.663	1.115	52	202	12	14	53	26	45	16
OF	Dylan Crews, LSU	.362/.453/.663	1.116	63	246	16	18	42	39	44	12
OF	Brock Jones, Stanford	.311/.453/.646	1.099	56	206	13	18	62	49	59	14
DH	Jacob Berry, Arizona	.352/.439/.676	1.115	63	247	19	17	70	33	58	2
UT	Paul Skenes, Air Force	.410/.486/.697	1.183	48	188	21	11	43	22	45	0

Pos.	Name	W	L	ERA	APP	GS	CG	SV	IP	BB	SO	OBA
SP	Andrew Abbott, Virginia	9	6	2.87	19	17	0	0	106.2	32	162	.228
SP	Brendan Beck, Stanford	9	2	3.06	16	15	2	0	106	25	138	.200
SP	Geremy Guerrero, Indiana State	10	1	2.08	14	14	2	0	99.1	14	98	.182
SP	Matt Mikulski, Fordham	9	0	1.45	11	11	5	0	68.1	27	124	.127
SP	Andrew Taylor, Central Michigan	11	4	1.81	15	15	5	0	94.1	24	125	.189
RP	Brett Kerry, South Carolina	5	1	2.15	17	3	1	4	54.1	10	84	.226
RP	Carson Palmquist, Miami	1	1	2.22	25	0	0	14	44.2	8	75	.143
UT	Paul Skenes, Air Force	1	1	2.70	18	0	0	11	26.2	9	30	.208

Third Team

Pos.	Name, School	AVG/OBP/SLG	OPS	G	AB	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Daniel Susac, Arizona	.335/.392/.591	.983	61	242	24	12	65	19	47	0
1B	JT Schwartz, UCLA	.396/.514/.628	1.142	44	164	12	8	45	37	28	1
2B	Jackson Glenn, Dallas Baptist	.361/.429/.717	1.146	58	233	19	20	53	30	33	13
3B	Austin Knight, Charlotte	.342/.398/.615	1.013	60	234	29	11	63	15	49	13
SS	Ryan Bliss, Auburn	.365/.428/.654	1.082	50	211	14	15	45	23	30	6
OF	Kyle Battle, Old Dominion	.319/.464/.681	1.145	59	207	15	18	61	56	37	7
OF	Enrique Bradfield Jr., Vanderbilt	.346/.462/.419	.881	64	234	8	1	38	44	39	46
OF	Tyler McDonough, NC State	.339/.423/.631	1.054	55	233	21	15	45	33	48	13
DH	Tyler Black, Wright State	.383/.496/.683	1.179	48	183	14	13	59	39	25	11
UT	Garett Delano, Mercer	.337/.433/.558	.991	53	190	13	9	52	31	35	3

Pos.	Name	W	L	ERA	APP	GS	CG	SV	IP	BB	SO	OBA
SP	Rodney Boone, UC Santa Barbara	11	4	2.31	16	16	1	0	97.1	39	128	.165
SP	Landon Marceaux, LSU	7	7	2.54	18	17	1	0	102.2	26	116	.238
SP	Nicholas Sinacola, Maine	9	3	2.04	12	12	5	0	79.1	23	139	.208
SP	Hunter Stanley, Southern Miss	6	4	2.56	16	15	1	0	102	19	127	.198
SP	Parker Messick, Florida State	8	2	3.10	16	16	0	0	90	23	126	.234
RP	Evan Justice, NC State	5	2	3.77	24	4	0	13	59.2	25	74	.188
RP	Tanner Kohlhepp, Notre Dame	7	2	3.08	23	1	0	2	61.1	22	65	.195
UT	Garett Delano, Mercer	6	1	4.32	15	12	0	0	81.1	20	60	.231