Gibbs, Sawyer among eight to garner Baseball America pre-season honours
*Photo courtesy of University of Maine/Post Production: Tru North Cropping Studios
Right-hander Jeff Gibbs was a 48th round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2009. He'll go a lot higher than that in 2012 with the numbers he's putting up for the Maine Black Bears.
By Bob Elliott
College baseball is already underway south of the border.
And with the season kick off comes the highly-respected Baseball America preview issue, which includes pre-season teams in each and every conference.
Like RHP Jeff Gibbs (Toronto, Ont.) of the Maine Black Bears, who earned America East all-conference honours.
Gibbs was 5-4 with a 3.94 earned run average in 2010 striking out 72 in 75 innings.
Gibbs was also named the top prospect for 2012.
The others honoured:
-1B Joel Blake, (Langley, BC) of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits gained All-Summit League honours after hitting .391 with 33 doubles.
-LHP Shane Davis (Belmont, Ont.) of the Canisius Griffs earned Metro Atlantic Conference honours after going 9-3, with a 4.58 mark. Davis also fanned 70 in 98 innings and was named the conference’s third-best prospect.
-SS Sean Jamieson (Simcoe, Ont.) of the Canisius Griffs earned Metro Atlantic Conference honours after he hit .371.
-LHP Kyle Kotchie (Pickering, Ont.) of the Texas-Pan American Broncos earned Great West Conference honours. Kotchie was 4-6 with a 4.28 ERA, striking out 68 in 55 innings.
-3B Jesse Sawyer (Calgary, Alta.) of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits not only gained All-Summit League honours, but he was named the pre-season player of the year. Sawyer is coming off a 2010 season in which he hit .359, with 19 homers and 79 RBIs. Sawyer was the Canadian Baseball Player of the Year in 2009.
-2B Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ont.) of the Stony Brook Sea Wolves and the America East Conference, who hit .344.
And rated among the top newcomers in the Sun Belt Conference is
-Freshman RHP Mike Ellis (Surrey, BC) of the Florida International Golden Panthers.