TEMPE – Several NCAA Baseball and Pac-12 Baseball postseason awards were released on Thursday, with the Sun Devils being well-represented across the board.
Freshman Spencer Torkelson was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, earning All-Conference honors while being named to two All-America teams on the day. Junior Gage Canning also earned All-Pac-12 recognition and a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team while also seeing his name on two All-America lists.
Sophomores Carter Aldrete and Lyle Lin also earned Honorable Mention nods on the Pac-12 All-Conference team.
Both Torkelson and Canning were recognized by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball News on both outlet's All-America teams. Torkelson was a Second-Team selection on both lists while Canning was selected as a First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and a Third-Team All-American by Baseball America. It was the first All-America selection in the careers of either player.
The two selections mark the first All-America honors for Sun Devils since 2016 and Canning became the first Sun Devil player to be selected as a First-Team All-American by any outlet since Joey DeMichele in 2011 (ABCA). ASU now has 125 All-Americans in school history with 61 total First-Team selections.
Canning wrapped the season as one of the elite five-tool players in the country, finishing with a .369 average and a Pac-12 leading 87 hits on the season. Canning was the national leader in triples with 11, and now has 25 in his career at ASU – good for third in school history and the most since Ed Irvine tied the school record of 26 between 1977-79.
Canning reached base in 54 of 55 games for the Sun Devils this season and logged a hit in 47 of those. He led the team with multiple hits in 26 games and had 11 games with three or more hits, becoming the first Sun Devil player to have at least 10 games with 3+ hits since Brett Wallace did so from 2007-08.
With one more home run, Canning would have become the first player in the BBCOR batting era (since 2011) to record double digit numbers in doubles, triples AND home runs. He finished the season with nine homers, 17 doubles and 11 triples, slugging .648 for the season – good for third in the Pac-12 and 38th nationally.
Defensively, Canning was flawless after shifting to center field and logged just one error on the season on 144 chances for a .993 fielding percentage. The lone error came from right field in the opening weekend on play on a fluke play where his throw to second base skipped off a runner sliding into the bag and into the outfield. His spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team was the first of his career.
Torkelson was the only freshman at any position to be selected as an All-American by Baseball America and the only positional freshman selection by CBN, joining two freshmen pitchers from Minnesota on that All-America team.
Torkelson is just the seventh Sun Devil in school history to earn an All-America accolade as a freshman. He joins Mike Kelly (1989) and Casey Myers (1998) as the only two ASU position players to be named All-Americans as freshman. Pitchers Kendall Carter (1981), Phil Lowery (1996), Mike Leake (2007) and Ryan Kellogg (2013) are the only other freshmen in program history to be named All-Americans.
He is the third Sun Devil to be named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, joining Ike Davis (2006) and Jason Kipnis (2008).
The freshman took the nation by storm, leading the country with 25 home runs during the regular season – two more than any other player and just one shy of the NCAA freshman record. Torkelson is just the sixth player to reach 25 home runs since the BBCOR batting technology changes took effect in 2011 and the only freshman in the NCAA to reach the milestone in that time.
Against Washington State, he surpassed the previous Sun Devil freshman record of 11 home runs set by Barry Bonds in 1983. Torkelson finished tied with Bob Horner (1978) for second in ASU single-season history, just two shy of Mitch Jones' school record 27 in 2000.
Torkelson slugged .743 on the season (25 homers, 12 doubles), the third-highest total for any freshman in the NCAA in the past two decades and the highest for a freshman in the BBCOR era (since 2011). Only Rickie Weeks (.849 in 2001) and Jeremy Baltz (.771, 2010) have posted higher freshman slugging percentages in the past 20 years.
In Pac-12 games only, Torkelson led the conference in slugging (.754), runs (38), total bases (86) and home runs (14). No other player in the league led the conference in more than two categories – compared to four for Torkelson.
Torkelson scored 59 runs on the season, third-most in ASU freshman history while his 53 total RBI were fifth among all freshmen in Sun Devil lore. Torkelson's 66 hits are ninth in ASU freshman history as well.
Carter Aldrete earned All-Conference honors for the first time in his career and was one of ASU's most clutch hitters down the stretch. Aldrete finished the season on a nine-game hitting streak and logged at least one RBI in seven of those games.
The sophomore had 20 RBIs in Pac-12 games, which were third on the team behind Torkelson and Canning. Aldrete finished with a .293 average on the season with 31 RBI, three home runs, two triples and 10 doubles.
Lin earned All-Pac-12 recognition for the second consecutive season and was a warrior behind the plate for ASU, starting all 55 games on the season with 49 of those coming at catcher.
Lin bat .312 on the campaign with 16 doubles and 72 total hits. He helped turn nine double plays on the season and caught 11 runners trying to steal a base on the year.
ASU now has 304 all-time Pac-12 All-Conference selections, 152 of those being First-Team selections and 152 as Honorable Mentions.
2018 Trophy Case
Freshman Spencer Torkelson was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, earning All-Conference honors while being named to two All-America teams on the day. Junior Gage Canning also earned All-Pac-12 recognition and a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team while also seeing his name on two All-America lists.
Sophomores Carter Aldrete and Lyle Lin also earned Honorable Mention nods on the Pac-12 All-Conference team.
Both Torkelson and Canning were recognized by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball News on both outlet's All-America teams. Torkelson was a Second-Team selection on both lists while Canning was selected as a First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and a Third-Team All-American by Baseball America. It was the first All-America selection in the careers of either player.
The two selections mark the first All-America honors for Sun Devils since 2016 and Canning became the first Sun Devil player to be selected as a First-Team All-American by any outlet since Joey DeMichele in 2011 (ABCA). ASU now has 125 All-Americans in school history with 61 total First-Team selections.
Canning wrapped the season as one of the elite five-tool players in the country, finishing with a .369 average and a Pac-12 leading 87 hits on the season. Canning was the national leader in triples with 11, and now has 25 in his career at ASU – good for third in school history and the most since Ed Irvine tied the school record of 26 between 1977-79.
Canning reached base in 54 of 55 games for the Sun Devils this season and logged a hit in 47 of those. He led the team with multiple hits in 26 games and had 11 games with three or more hits, becoming the first Sun Devil player to have at least 10 games with 3+ hits since Brett Wallace did so from 2007-08.
With one more home run, Canning would have become the first player in the BBCOR batting era (since 2011) to record double digit numbers in doubles, triples AND home runs. He finished the season with nine homers, 17 doubles and 11 triples, slugging .648 for the season – good for third in the Pac-12 and 38th nationally.
Defensively, Canning was flawless after shifting to center field and logged just one error on the season on 144 chances for a .993 fielding percentage. The lone error came from right field in the opening weekend on play on a fluke play where his throw to second base skipped off a runner sliding into the bag and into the outfield. His spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team was the first of his career.
Torkelson was the only freshman at any position to be selected as an All-American by Baseball America and the only positional freshman selection by CBN, joining two freshmen pitchers from Minnesota on that All-America team.
Torkelson is just the seventh Sun Devil in school history to earn an All-America accolade as a freshman. He joins Mike Kelly (1989) and Casey Myers (1998) as the only two ASU position players to be named All-Americans as freshman. Pitchers Kendall Carter (1981), Phil Lowery (1996), Mike Leake (2007) and Ryan Kellogg (2013) are the only other freshmen in program history to be named All-Americans.
He is the third Sun Devil to be named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, joining Ike Davis (2006) and Jason Kipnis (2008).
The freshman took the nation by storm, leading the country with 25 home runs during the regular season – two more than any other player and just one shy of the NCAA freshman record. Torkelson is just the sixth player to reach 25 home runs since the BBCOR batting technology changes took effect in 2011 and the only freshman in the NCAA to reach the milestone in that time.
Against Washington State, he surpassed the previous Sun Devil freshman record of 11 home runs set by Barry Bonds in 1983. Torkelson finished tied with Bob Horner (1978) for second in ASU single-season history, just two shy of Mitch Jones' school record 27 in 2000.
Torkelson slugged .743 on the season (25 homers, 12 doubles), the third-highest total for any freshman in the NCAA in the past two decades and the highest for a freshman in the BBCOR era (since 2011). Only Rickie Weeks (.849 in 2001) and Jeremy Baltz (.771, 2010) have posted higher freshman slugging percentages in the past 20 years.
In Pac-12 games only, Torkelson led the conference in slugging (.754), runs (38), total bases (86) and home runs (14). No other player in the league led the conference in more than two categories – compared to four for Torkelson.
Torkelson scored 59 runs on the season, third-most in ASU freshman history while his 53 total RBI were fifth among all freshmen in Sun Devil lore. Torkelson's 66 hits are ninth in ASU freshman history as well.
Carter Aldrete earned All-Conference honors for the first time in his career and was one of ASU's most clutch hitters down the stretch. Aldrete finished the season on a nine-game hitting streak and logged at least one RBI in seven of those games.
The sophomore had 20 RBIs in Pac-12 games, which were third on the team behind Torkelson and Canning. Aldrete finished with a .293 average on the season with 31 RBI, three home runs, two triples and 10 doubles.
Lin earned All-Pac-12 recognition for the second consecutive season and was a warrior behind the plate for ASU, starting all 55 games on the season with 49 of those coming at catcher.
Lin bat .312 on the campaign with 16 doubles and 72 total hits. He helped turn nine double plays on the season and caught 11 runners trying to steal a base on the year.
ASU now has 304 all-time Pac-12 All-Conference selections, 152 of those being First-Team selections and 152 as Honorable Mentions.
2018 Trophy Case
All-Americans
Spencer Torkelson - Collegiate Baseball News (2nd Team); Baseball America (2nd Team)
Gage Canning - Collegiate Baseball News (1st Team); Baseball America (3rd Team)
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
Spencer Torkelson
Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
Spencer Torkelson
Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist
Spencer Torkelson
Pac-12 All-Conference
Spencer Torkelson - First Team
Gage Canning - First Team
Carter Aldrete - Honorable Mention
Lyle Lin - Honorable Mention
Pac-12 All-Defensive Team
Gage Canning - First Team, Outfielder