University of Minnesota Athletics
McCallum Named First-Team All-American
6/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) was named an NCBWA First-Team All-American on Wednesday, June 10 according an announcement by the National College Baseball Writers Association.
McCallum is the first Golden Gopher to be named a First-Team All-American since Shane Gunderson claimed the honors in 1995 as a catcher. McCallum is also the first Minnesota second-baseman to claim first-team honors since Mark Merila did so in 1993-94, and first player overall to do since Glen Perkins was a Second-Team All-American in 2004.
Joining McCallum on the first-team was catcher J.T. Wise (Oklahoma), first baseman Dustin Ackley (North Carolina), third baseman Tommy Mendonca (Fresno State), shortstop Ben Orloff (UC Irvine), outfielders Kent Matthes (Alabama), Jason Kipnis (Arizona State) and Tyler Townsend (Florida International) and utility player Bryce Brent (Middle Tennessee State). Pitching wise, McCallum was joined on the first-team by Mike Leake (Arizona State), Deck McGuire (Georgia Tech), Eric Arnett (Indiana), A.J. Morris (Kansas State), Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State), and relievers Kyle Bellamy (Miami), Jake Hale (Ohio State) and Addison Reed (San Diego State).
Last week, McCallum also received Second-Team All-America honors from Ping!Baseball.com. He was also named the District Player of the Year and is one of 16 finalists for the Dick Howser Player of the Year Award.
On the season, McCallum batted .409 with 57 runs, 95 hits, 17 doubles, 18 home runs, 86 RBI, a .741 slugging percentage and a .484 on-base percentage. He led the Big Ten in home runs, slugging percentage, RBI, hits and total bases, and was second in batting average, sixth in runs, second in on-base percentage and fourth in doubles.
McCallum is currently second in the nation in RBI, fifth in the RBI per game (1.46), 29th in slugging percentage and tied for 19th in hits. He is first in the nation among second baseman in RBI.
This year, McCallum broke the Minnesota single-season record in RBI (previously held by Robb Quinlan at 84 in 1999) with 86. He also finished sixth on the Golden Gopher single-season list in batting average, fourth in hits, tied for third in home runs, was third in total bases and sixth in slugging percentage. His batting average was the highest in a single-season by a Minnesota player since 1994 and the home run total was the most since 1998.
McCallum was one of three players to be a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten selection. He was also one of two players to be named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and an NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. In postseason play (five Big Ten Tournament games and four NCAA Regional games), McCallum batted .457 (16-for-35) with 11 runs, five doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI, an .857 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.
McCallum is the first Golden Gopher to be named a First-Team All-American since Shane Gunderson claimed the honors in 1995 as a catcher. McCallum is also the first Minnesota second-baseman to claim first-team honors since Mark Merila did so in 1993-94, and first player overall to do since Glen Perkins was a Second-Team All-American in 2004.
Joining McCallum on the first-team was catcher J.T. Wise (Oklahoma), first baseman Dustin Ackley (North Carolina), third baseman Tommy Mendonca (Fresno State), shortstop Ben Orloff (UC Irvine), outfielders Kent Matthes (Alabama), Jason Kipnis (Arizona State) and Tyler Townsend (Florida International) and utility player Bryce Brent (Middle Tennessee State). Pitching wise, McCallum was joined on the first-team by Mike Leake (Arizona State), Deck McGuire (Georgia Tech), Eric Arnett (Indiana), A.J. Morris (Kansas State), Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State), and relievers Kyle Bellamy (Miami), Jake Hale (Ohio State) and Addison Reed (San Diego State).
Last week, McCallum also received Second-Team All-America honors from Ping!Baseball.com. He was also named the District Player of the Year and is one of 16 finalists for the Dick Howser Player of the Year Award.
On the season, McCallum batted .409 with 57 runs, 95 hits, 17 doubles, 18 home runs, 86 RBI, a .741 slugging percentage and a .484 on-base percentage. He led the Big Ten in home runs, slugging percentage, RBI, hits and total bases, and was second in batting average, sixth in runs, second in on-base percentage and fourth in doubles.
McCallum is currently second in the nation in RBI, fifth in the RBI per game (1.46), 29th in slugging percentage and tied for 19th in hits. He is first in the nation among second baseman in RBI.
This year, McCallum broke the Minnesota single-season record in RBI (previously held by Robb Quinlan at 84 in 1999) with 86. He also finished sixth on the Golden Gopher single-season list in batting average, fourth in hits, tied for third in home runs, was third in total bases and sixth in slugging percentage. His batting average was the highest in a single-season by a Minnesota player since 1994 and the home run total was the most since 1998.
McCallum was one of three players to be a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten selection. He was also one of two players to be named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and an NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. In postseason play (five Big Ten Tournament games and four NCAA Regional games), McCallum batted .457 (16-for-35) with 11 runs, five doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI, an .857 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.
Players Mentioned
SS/2B
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