National Player of the Year Will Craig of Wake Forest headlines D1Baseball's 2016 All-America teams.

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Will Craig Leads 2016 All-America Teams

National Player of the Year Will Craig, a two-way star for Wake Forest, headlines the 2016 D1Baseball All-America teams, released Thursday.

The 22nd overall pick by the Pirates in last week’s draft, Craig stands out most for his prodigious offensive production in the nation’s No. 1 RPI conference. He hit .379/.520/.731 for a 1.251 on-base-plus-slugging mark that ranks second in the nation, only trailing Mercer’s Kyle Lewis (1.266), another first-rounder. And Craig did it against better competition, while also serving as Wake Forest’s most trusted reliever.

Power is Craig’s calling card — both at the plate (where he slugged 16 homers and 16 doubles) and off the mound (where his fastball sits at 91-94 and touches 95, and his hard curveball is an out pitch). In 28 innings of work over 19 relief appearances, Craig went 2-0, 3.54 with nine saves.

Wake Forest star Will Craig (Aaron Fitt)

Craig also played solid defense at third base and demonstrated a very advanced approach at the plate to go along with his power. And he played a huge role in leading Wake Forest to its first regional since 2007. Perhaps his value is best illustrated by what happened when he missed a few games to injury midway through the year.

“I guess all you have to say is in the four games he wasn’t available to hit, we went 0-4 in the league, and the one game he wasn’t available to pitch against Notre Dame, we lost the lead late,” Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said during the ACC tournament.

“He will be successful at the next level,” Walter said the day before. “Will’s got one of those swings where he hits the ball to all fields. He’s got unbelievable strike zone awareness and discipline and he hits the fastball and the breaking ball, so he hits all sorts of pitches. Will has handled upper-tier pitching. He’ll handle velocity. He’ll handle soft. He’s just a complete hitter. He’s a guy that’s very dangerous in all situations because his batting average, believe it or not, is better with two strikes than it is with less than two strikes. He’s a guy that’s not afraid to go deep in the count and not afraid to battle you, and can take you out of the ballpark to all fields, so he’s a special hitter. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”

Craig is one of five players to earn first-team All-America honors in both the preseason and postseason, joining Louisville’s Brendan McKay and Corey Ray, Miami’s Zack Collins and Mercer’s Lewis. Louisville leads all teams with three players on the first team and five All-Americans overall, followed by Florida (two first-teamers and three total). Clemson, Texas A&M, Virginia and UNC Wilmington also produced two All-Americans apiece.

McKay is the only repeat member of the first team; he has now earned first-team All-America honors in each of his first two collegiate seasons. The only other member of the 2015 All-America teams to repeat as an All-American in 2016 is McKay’s teammate Ray, who jumped from the third team last year to the first team this year.

Clemson outfielder Seth Beer, who actually beat out Craig for ACC player of the year honors, is the only freshman to earn first-team honors. TCU’s Luken Baker is the only other freshman to make any of the teams.

First Team

Pos. Player, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG AB R H HR RBI SB C Zack Collins, Miami Jr. .357/.538/.649 185 53 66 15 67 1 1B Peter Alonso, Florida Jr. .373/.468/.652 204 50 76 13 58 2 2B Jake Noll, Florida Gulf Coast Jr. .367/.427/.620 237 58 87 12 61 9 3B Will Craig, Wake Forest Jr. .379/.520/.731 182 53 69 16 66 0 SS Sheldon Neuse, Oklahoma Jr. .369/.465/.646 198 42 73 10 48 12 OF Seth Beer, Clemson Fr. .369/.535/.700 203 57 75 18 70 1 OF Kyle Lewis, Mercer Jr. .395/.535/.731 223 70 88 20 72 6 OF Corey Ray, Louisville Jr. .310/.388/.545 268 55 83 15 60 44 DH Jameson Fisher, SE Louisiana Jr. .424/.558/.692 198 49 84 11 66 15 UT Brendan McKay, Louisville So. .333/.414/.513 228 43 76 6 41 0

Pos. Player, School Year W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO SP Thomas Hatch, Oklahoma State So. 8 2 2.04 17 0 119.1 98 30 105 SP Eric Lauer, Kent State Jr. 10 2 0.69 15 0 104 49 28 125 SP A.J. Puckett, Pepperdine Jr. 9 3 1.27 14 0 99.1 65 26 95 SP Logan Shore, Florida Jr. 12 0 2.24 17 0 100.1 77 17 89 RP Troy Rallings, Washington Sr. 4 1 0.89 28 16 61 32 12 60 UT Brendan McKay, Louisville So. 12 4 2.3 17 0 109.2 89 42 128

Second Team

Pos. Player, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG AB R H HR RBI SB C Matt Thaiss, Virginia Jr. .375/.473/.578 232 55 87 10 59 0 1B Eric Gutierrez, Texas Tech Sr. .326/.458/.571 224 53 73 12 58 3 2B Nick Solak, Louisville Jr. .376/.470/.564 165 49 62 5 29 9 3B Boomer White, Texas A&M Jr. .386/.462/.517 259 49 100 5 46 10 SS C.J. Chatham, Florida Atlantic Jr. .357/.422/.554 249 48 89 8 50 2 OF Ronnie Dawson, Ohio State Jr. .331/.419/.611 257 55 85 13 51 21 OF Connor Owings, Coastal Carolina Sr. .379/.485/.692 224 60 85 16 53 14 OF Heath Quinn, Samford Jr. .343/.452/.682 242 62 83 21 77 4 DH Nick Feight, UNC Wilmington So. .349/.410/.726 241 60 84 21 91 1 UT Luken Baker, TCU Fr. .379/.488/.560 232 56 88 9 57 1

Pos. Player, School Year W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO SP Aaron Civale, Northeastern So. 9 3 1.73 15 0 114.1 91 15 121 SP Drew Harrington, Louisville Jr. 12 2 1.95 17 0 110.2 92 25 92 SP Connor Jones, Virginia Jr. 11 1 2.34 15 0 103.2 85 38 72 SP Cody Sedlock, Illinois Jr. 5 3 2.49 14 0 101.1 80 31 116 RP Mark Ecker, Texas A&M Jr. 4 2 0.39 25 8 46.2 24 7 56 UT Luken Baker, TCU Fr. 3 1 1.7 10 0 47.2 37 16 41

Third Team

Pos. Player, School Year AVG/OBP/SLG AB R H HR RBI SB C Chris Okey, Clemson Jr. .339/.465/.611 239 61 81 15 74 4 1B Tim Lynch, Southern Miss Sr. .365/.470/.545 233 49 85 10 59 0 2B Brian Mims, UNC Wilmington So. .371/.443/.614 259 71 96 14 64 4 3B Nick Senzel, Tennessee Jr. .352/.456/.595 210 57 74 8 59 25 SS Taylor Walls, Florida State So. .355/.479/.516 248 72 88 6 46 14 OF Anfernee Grier, Auburn Jr. .366/.457/.576 238 56 87 12 41 19 OF Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt Jr. .330/.461/.603 224 59 74 13 57 8 OF Ryan Scott, Arkansas-Little Rock Sr. .435/.516/.713 216 56 94 12 66 7 DH Jake Burger, Missouri State So. .349/.420/.689 235 59 82 21 72 3 UT Darick Hall, Dallas Baptist Jr. .302/.418/.630 235 46 71 20 72 1