Virginia’s Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) was named the winner of the John Olerud Two-Way Player Award on Sunday evening. The award was presented at the College Baseball Foundation’s Night of Champions at the College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas.
The John Olerud Award was announced in conjunction with several other prestigious college baseball awards – Brooks Wallace Award (Clemson’s Brad Miller), NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award (Texas’ Cory Knebel), Dick Howser Trophy (Texas’ Taylor Jungmann) and National Pitcher of the Year (UCLA’s Trevor Bauer).
The honor added another award to Hultzen’s long list for the 2011 season. He already was a unanimous first-team All-American, earning the honor from the ABCA, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger and NCBWA. Hultzen was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row, becoming the first pitcher in league history to earn that distinction twice. He also was picked First-Team All-ACC for the third year in a row. Hultzen succeeded in the classroom as well and was a Capital One First-Team Academic All-American.
The first three-time All-American in Virginia history, Hultzen was 12-3 this year with a 1.37 ERA, which was fifth lowest in Division I. He also struck out 165 batters, which ranked second among all Division I pitchers and the most in a single season in UVa history. He became Virginia’s all-time career leader in wins (32) and strikeouts (395) this season and also is a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
Hultzen was the second pick in the MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners this year. In 118 innings this season, Hultzen allowed 26 runs (18 earned), 76 hits and 23 walks. Batters hit just .184 against him.
At the plate Hultzen hit .309 in 43 games (39 starts). He hit 11 doubles, one triple and one home run and drove in 35 runs while racking up a .396 on base percentage. He also stole six bases in seven attempts.
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Chris Graham
