STANFORD, Calif. – One day after being named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Freshman All-America team, Teddy Tokheim has been tabbed the 2026 NCBWA Freshman Hitter of the Year.
Texas right-hander Sam Cozart was named National Freshman Pitcher of the Year.
Tokheim is the sixth Stanford player to be named Freshman of the Year, including the first since Mark Romanczuk was lauded in 2003 by Collegiate Baseball. Tokheim is also the first hitter to be honored since Jeffrey Hammonds was selected as the 1990 Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America.
Named All-ACC second team and to the ACC All-Freshman squad, Tokheim led the Cardinal in hitting with a .352 average, posting 40 runs scored, 19 doubles, 17 home runs and 47 RBIs while compiling a .414 on-base percentage and a .704 slugging percentage. The native of Seattle, Wash. recorded a team-best 23 multi-hit games and a team-leading 15 multi-RBI contests, hit safely in 38 of his 48 games played, and reached in all but eight of his contests.
Tokheim batted .372 with 23 runs scored, 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 33 RBIs in ACC play while posting a .760 slugging percentage and a .423 on-base percentage.
Among true freshmen this year, Tokheim ranks first nationally in extra-base hits (36) and total bases (140), second in home runs, third in doubles, fourth in slugging and OPS (1.118), 10th in batting average, and 17th in RBIs. His 17 home runs were one shy of the Stanford freshman record of 18 set by Braden Montgomery in 2022.
Freshman Hitters of the Year since the award's inaugural season in 2009 have included MLB players Mike Conforto of Oregon State (2012), Alex Bregman of LSU (2013) and Spencer Torkelson of Arizona State, along with Dick Howser Trophy Award winners Seth Beer of Clemson (2016) and Charlie Condon (2023) among others. Freshman Pitchers of the Year have included MLB pitchers Chase Burns of Tennessee (2022), Bailey Ober of the College of Charleston (2014), Carlos Rodon of N.C. State (2012) and Corey Knebel of Texas (2011), among others.
NCBWA voting membership for the Freshman Hitter and Pitcher of the Year includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport's only college media-related organization, founded in 1962.