STARKVILLE – Mississippi State second baseman RJ Yeager picked up yet another accolade on Friday (June 17) after being named an All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings.
ABCA/Rawlings All-Region first-team selections, which were announced on June 15, were nominated for All-America honors.
Yeager, who was named to the ABCA’s third team All-America squad, has already garnered an All-America honor by Collegiate Baseball and an Academic All-America accolade by CoSIDA.
In 2022, Yeager led the Diamond Dawgs with a .317 average at the dish and finished sixth in the SEC with 18 home runs, while his 56 RBIs ranked seventh in the league. The graduate from Lynn Haven, Florida, also ranked seventh in the SEC with a .668 slugging percentage and recorded 15 doubles during his lone season in Starkville.
Yeager transferred to State prior to the 2022 campaign after spending four years at Mercer and led Mississippi State in average, slugging, hits, RBIs, doubles and home runs. He also paced the Diamond Dawgs with a team-best 21 multi-hit games and tied for first on the squad with 13 multi-RBI games.
First recognized in 1949, the ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams are selected by the ABCA All-America & Coach of the Year committee, which is chaired by Tommy Raffo of Arkansas State University. Also on the committee are Dean Ehehalt (Monmouth University), Brian Green (Washington State University), Dan Heefner (Dallas Baptist University), Rick Heller (University of Iowa), Brian O’Connor (University of Virginia), Jim Penders (University of Connecticut), and Butch Thompson (Auburn University).
The ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. I Gold Glove finalists will be announced on Monday, June 20. In all divisions, the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 22. The ABCA/Rawlings National Pitchers and Position Players of the Year will be announced Monday, June 27.
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 13,000 members represent all 50 states and 25 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth.
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