LSU Baseball: Preseason All American Team

NCBWA All American Team - this is a PDF of the release

From LSU:
LSU senior outfielder Raph Rhymes and senior first baseman Mason Katz have received 2013 preseason all-America recognition from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Rhymes was named to the NCBWA first-team squad, and Katz was voted to the third team.

Rhymes, a 2012 first-team all-American and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, hit an NCAA-leading .431 (100-for-232) last season, establishing an LSU record for single-season batting average. He recorded 11 doubles, four homers, 53 RBI, a .530 slugging percentage and a .489 on-base percentage.

Rhymes, a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, led the conference in hits (100) and on-base percentage (.489), and he was No. 5 in the league in RBI (53), No. 6 in slugging percentage (.530) and No. 8 in total bases (123).

Katz, a 2012 second-team all-SEC selection, hit .320 last season with 15 doubles, one triple, a team-high 13 homers and 52 RBI. Katz led the SEC in runs scored (65), and he was No. 3 in the league in home runs, No. 4 in slugging percentage (.552), No. 4 in total bases (133) and No. 6 in RBI.

Katz, a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, is the leading returning home run hitter in the league for the 2013 season.

LSU opens the season at 7 p.m. on February 15, when the Tigers play host to Maryland in Alex Box Stadium.

My thoughts:

I'm pretty surprised at a few things, Rhymes being the only position player in the SEC to make the 1st team. Mississippi St had the only pitcher to make the 1st team. Happy to see Katz make the 3rd team. Surprised not to see Nola on any of these teams. Also how is Bobby Wahl from Ole Miss not on any of these teams???