STANFORD, Calif. - Senior Brendan Beck has been named the Academic All-America of the Year for Division I baseball, as voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Beck, a first-team Academic All-American, is one of three Stanford players lauded this year, as senior Tim Tawa and sophomore Brock Jones earned spots on the second team.
Beck is the first Stanford baseball player to earn Academic All-America of the Year, and becomes the first first-team selection since Tom Williams in 1972. With three lauded this season, Stanford has now earned 18 Academic All-America selections. The three selections are the most for the Cardinal in a single season - surpassing the two selections in 1984 and 2002.
A native of Corona, Calif., Beck graduated from Stanford with a degree in science, technology & society while carrying a 3.63 GPA.
Beck earned All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (first team), Collegiate Baseball (second team), D1Baseball (second team), NCBWA (second team), Baseball America (third team) and Perfect Game (third team) this season. He went 9-3 with a 3.15 earned run average in 15 starts and was named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Year to help guide Stanford to its 17th College World Series appearance in program history. Beck struck out a Pac-12 best 143 batters while walking just 26 over 108 2/3 innings of work, finishing with a 5.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 11.84 strikeouts per nine innings. His 143 strikeouts were the most for a Cardinal in a single season since 2003 and the fourth-most strikeouts in the nation this season.
Following his outstanding senior season, Beck was selected 55th overall by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft - the highest for the Cardinal since Nico Hoerner (Chicago Cubs) and Kris Bubic (Kansas City Royals) went 24th and 40th, respectively, in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
Tawa graduated with a degree in communication while carrying a 3.52 GPA. He hit .290 with 46 runs scored, 13 doubles, 12 homers and 39 RBIs over 52 games played and 51 starts as a senior. The native of West Linn, Ore. stole 14 bases in 17 attempts and hit safely in 37 of his 52 games played. The team-leader in multi-hit games with 18, Tawa posted a .386 average with 13 runs scored, three doubles, five homers and 10 RBIs in postseason play - compiling four three-hit games over the nine games in the tournament.
Jones owns a 3.73 GPA over his first two years on The Farm. A second team All-American according to Baseball America, Perfect Game and D1Baseball, he also earned a spot on the Freshman All-America first team according to Baseball America, as the publication included second-year players due to the shortened 2020 season. Jones, an All-Pac-12 first team selection and an All-Region second team pick according to the ABCA, reached safely in all but five games this year while hitting .311 with 18 home runs to rank first in the Pac-12 and 16th nationally. The native of Fresno, Calif. compiled a team-high 62 RBIs, 56 runs scored and a .453 on-base percentage. Jones amassed 32 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles and a triple, while compiling a .646 slugging percentage to rank third in the Pac-12. Showing patience at the plate, Jones walked a team-best 49 times to rank third in the Pac-12 and 11th nationally.
For more information regarding the Academic All-America® program, visit academicallamerica.com.
