Bozar's MWC All-Conference Picks for 2016

Another Season is in the Books

The MWC ended the regular season last weekend with Fresno State being the team that finished first. New Mexico and Nevada had their chances to tie but came up short. All that is left now is the MWC Tournament (pairings elsewhere on this site) and then the NCAA bids go out. As Jeremy Mauss stated, the Mountain West is mostly assured of one bid and that's it. You better win the conference tournament as no team but the winner gets in. I ain't saying anything else as it would be inflammatory.

I know the MWC has its own All-Conference team so theirs is official and mine isn't. Be that as it may, I took it upon myself to make an All-Conference team and the choices were tough as you'll see. Catcher was actually the toughest as there were no real standouts. Anyway, read on and remember this is my list and has nothing to do with the MWC's All-Conference team.

C - Jusin Hazard (Nevada)
Justin hit .313 with 3 home runs and was by quite a bit the best BA among MWC catchers. San Jose State's Joe Stefanki and SDSU's Hunter Stratton received some consideration

1B - Aaron Arruda (Fresno State)
Aaron hit .321 and 10 for the Bulldogs. His power along with the Dawgs pitching propelled them to the top of the heap in the MWC. His 43 RBIs and 105 total bases were also notable. San Jose State's Shane Timmons also received recognition on my part. The power, dude, the power.

2B - Miles Mastrobuoni (Nevada)
Miles hit .362 for the Wolf Pack. San Jose State's Ozzy Braff got my eye but cooled off late in the season.

SS - Alan Trejo (SDSU)
He hit .308 and 2 with 34 RBIs. His BA and RBIs led the team. Shortstops that can hit are always in short supply.

3B - Carl Stajduhar (New Mexico)
A hitting machine since he arrived on campus. He hit .351 and 17 with 61 RBIs. He might get some AA votes on a national level. He deserves it. Air Force's Bradley Haslam also deserved this award but, again, the home runs were the deciding factor.

OF - Brody Russell (Fresno State)
Brody was one of the few .400 hitters in the Mountain West as he hit .415 and 4. He and Arruda made quite a tandem for opposing pitchers to face.

OF - Tyler Jones (Air Force)
Tyler hit .343 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs for the Falcons. The Falcons could hit, of course, but Tyler was the best power bat by far on this team and he seemed to hit wherever he was playing.

OF - Adam Groesbeck (Air Force)
Adam hit .384 and 5 and was a great leadoff hitter. With that kind of BA he certainly set the table for this power-laden team. He also led the team in steals with 18. A word about outfielders. There are always plenty that need to be considered so I'll mention the others that I had to leave off the team; Luis Gonzalez (New Mexico), TJ Friedl (Nevada), and Payton Squier (UNLV).

DH - Chris DeVito (New Mexico)
He hit .373 and 14 with 58 RBIs. I always remember that game where the team hit 6 home runs and he had 3 of them. That's some power.

SP - Jimmy Lambert (Fresno State)
Jimmy probably warrants POY for the MWC also but I had to choose one and I gave my reasons. He ended up 10-1 and 2.37 and was nails for most of the season. It will be interesting to see how highly he's rated by the pros when draft day arrives. Does anyone expect him to return to FSU next year?

SP - Griffin Jax (Air Force)
Griffin was 9-2 with an astounding 1.74 ERA. Yes, astounding, if you consider where he pitched most of the time. That alone convinced me to make him Pitcher of the Year in the MWC. His ERA was almost 4 runs better than anyone else on his team.

SP - Ricky Tyler Thomas (Fresno State)
Ricky was 9-4 and 1.94 with 99 strike outs in 97 IP. I think the strike outs led the conference and that helped me put him on my team. Strike outs, as with home runs, is just too sexy a stat to ignore. I know the pros don't.

SP - Edgar Gonzalez (Fresno State)
Edgar was 2-3 and 3.97 and helped make the Bulldog staff a tough one to face on a weekend.

RP - Tim Borst (Fresno State)
Tim was 3-2 and 1.42 along with 8 saves and wins and losses don't define a closer. Strike outs and ERA do. He had 58 strike outs in 50 IP so there you have it.

Pitcher of the Year - Griffin Jax (Air Force)
See comments above. His final game against New Mexico was a jewel; a 1-0 win. Close with FSU's Jimmy Lambert.

Player of the Year - Chris DeVito (New Mexico)
See comments above. Close with FSU's Brody Russell and New Mexico's Carl Stajduhar.

Freshman Pitcher of the Year - Edgar Gonzalez (Fresno State)
See comments above.

Freshman Player of the Year - Nic Ready (Air Force)
Nic hit .327 with 5 home runs, 46 RBIs, and 106 total bases. Close with UNLV's Kyle Isbel (.323 and 1 and 100 total bases). This one was especially tough. I like Isbel a lot and he is a position player (which gathers points over a DH) but the home runs again.