Dec. 12, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four Vanderbilt baseball players were named to the initial Brooks Wallace Award Watch List and three were named preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association today.
Junior third baseman Pedro Alvarez, senior outfielder Dominic de la Osa, junior shortstop Ryan Flaherty and sophomore pitcher Mike Minor were named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch list. The award is given to the top player in college baseball and was won by former Commodore hurler David Price a year ago.
Alvarez and de la Osa were also named preseason first-team All-Americans by the NCBWA with Minor picking up second-team recognition.
Alvarez led the Commodores with a .386 batting average to go along with 18 homers and 68 RBI en route to unanimous All-American honors a year ago. He led the USA Baseball National Team in hitting for the second straight summer and is listed by Baseball America as the No. 1 college prospect entering the 2008 season.
De la Osa led the Commodores with 20 homers in the 2007 season and also batted .378 with 20 stolen bases and 62 RBIs. He was one of only three players in the country to have 20 homers and 20 stolen bases and was also a unanimous All-American selection. The Florida native was drafted in the 10th round by the Detroit Tigers, but returned to Vanderbilt for his senior year after playing the Cape Cod League over the summer.
Flaherty finished the spring with a .381 batting average to go with four homers, 23 doubles (tied for team high) and 57 RBI. He carries a school record 35 game-hitting streak into the 2008 campaign. The Maine native was a second-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rivals.com and started at second base for the USA Baseball National Team over the summer.
Minor went 9-1 with a 3.09 ERA with 88 strikeouts and 19 walks in 90.1 innings en route to Freshman All-American honors. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by sebaseball.com and also played on Team USA, finishing with a team best five wins and 1.64 ERA.
