(First Half) Baseball America First Team All-American's

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Freshman of the First Half Alex Bregman, ss, Louisiana State North Carolina’s Skye Bolt (.396/.519/.663) and Cal State Fullerton’s Thomas Eshelman (6-1, 1.26 with no walks in 50 innings as the Friday starter) have strong cases, but we’re giving the nod to Bregman, who has stepped into one of college baseball’s most stressful jobs—starting shortstop for LSU—and handled it like a seasoned superstar. Through 28 games, Bregman is hitting .442/.489/.617 with eight doubles, two triples, three homers, 24 RBIs and nine stolen bases in nine attempts. The Tigers slid him into the No. 3 hole in the order from the onset of his career, and he hit the ground running. Bregman was a big name on the scouting circuit in high school, and his success comes as no surprise. But that doesn’t make it any less remarkable. “Everybody knew about Bregman, and I didn’t do anything to squelch the promotion of him—whenever anyone asked me about him I spoke in raving terms because I knew he could handle it,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said in mid-March. “He hasn’t done anything to disappoint us. He’s probably been even better defensively than we anticipated. He’s just been remarkable on defense.” After starting his career with 13 straight errorless games, Bregman has made seven errors in the last 15 games, but he is still fielding at a solid .941 clip. He had big shoes to fill at shortstop, where Austin Nola was the model of consistency over the last four years, but Bregman has held his own on defense while also providing a huge offensive upgrade for the 26-2 Tigers.

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