Putnam, Recknagel Tabbed All-Americans
6/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. C Zach Putnam(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) and Nate Recknagel(Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) of the 2008 University of Michigan baseball team have each been named to multiple All-America teams following the completion of their productive campaigns, with Putnam also garnering the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association District V Player of the Year award.
Putnam, a fifth-round selection of the Cleveland Indians in the Major League Draft last Thursday (June 5), earned the NCBWA District V Player of the Year award for the second straight year. He was one of 10 players to earn the national distinction. District V covers Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
In addition to being named District V Player of the Year, Putnam was selected to the NCBWA, Baseball America and Ping! Baseball All-America second teams at the utility position.
Recknagel joined Putnam on the Baseball America and Ping! Baseball All-America second teams, as he was selected at the DH position on both lists. It marks the third All-America selection for Recknagel this season.
Putnam was undefeated on the mound this season with a record of 9-0. He posted a win in all but one of his starts in Big Ten Conference play to finish 7-0 in league play, en route to being named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year.
In his 12 starts, Putnam posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.55-to-1 (78-to-22) over his 76.2 innings of work. He had a stretch of three consecutive starts in which he had 10+ strikeouts, including back-to-back contests with 12 punchouts.
At the plate, Putnam hit .307 with a career-best 11 home runs. Additionally, he recorded 13 doubles, two triples, 51 RBI and was 3-for-3 in steal attempts.
A 19th round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians, Recknagel is the first 1B in the history of the program to be named to an All-America team. He put together one of the most dominant offensive seasons in Michigan history, hitting .368, with 23 home runs, 68 RBI and a .751 slugging percentage.
Recknagels 23 jacks set a single-season school record, as he became the first player in program history to surpass the 20-homer mark in a single season. That total tied for third in the nation during the regular season and helped him earn the distinction of Big Ten Player of the Year.
The senior slugger completed his career ranked in the top 10 of many of U-M's career offensive categories, including homers (second, 43), RBI (sixth, 170), total bases (sixth, 420), hits (seventh, 238) and doubles (ninth, 47). He also finished his career with the third-best slugging percentage in club history at .642 and in 10th place on the all-time batting average list at .364.
Both Putnam and Recknagel, as well as redshirt-junior SP Chris Fetter(Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), were named to the Louisville Slugger second team announced by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on May 29.
