Stewart Named Louisville Slugger All-American

For the first time in five years, the Vols will open the baseball season with a pre-season All-American on the roster. Junior outfielder Christin Stewart was selected by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for their 2015 Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-American first team.  He is the first Vol since Cody Hawn before the 2010 season to make a pre-season All-American list.

Stewart was the only Volunteer to start in all 54 games this past season, where he hit .330 with 39 RBIs,5 home runs, and 45 runs scored, which helped earn him First Team All-SEC honors.  He spent the summer playing for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team where he helped them win the gold medal at the 27th Haarlem Honkbalweek (Baseball Week) in the Netherlands, the USA's first gold in that tournament since 2008.  He led the National Team in batting average, hits, doubles, total bases, and slugging percentage.  He also received the tournament's Best Hitter award. Below you can see a video interview with him discussing his time with the National Team.

Christin Stewart was also listed by Perfect Game as the 25th ranked draft prospect for next year's 2015 Major League Baseball Draft. Joining Stewart on the list are current Vols AJ Simcox (#185) and Drake Owenby (#232), as well as early signees for the 2015 Class Chris Betts (#13) and Ke'Bryan Hayes (#82).

Kyle Serrano was also getting attention from the national media this month. He was ranked 16th in Perfect Game's 2016 Top 100 draft prospect list.  He was joined on the list by Tennessee commit Zach Linginfelter (#59, Sevierville, TN).

The full All-American list is:

The Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-Americans for 2015 include:

FIRST TEAM
RHP Kyle Funkhouser (Louisville)
RHP Preston Morrison (Texas Christian)
RHP Carson Fulmer (Vanderbilt)
RHP Walker Buehler (Vanderbilt)
LHP Nathan Kirby (Virginia)
RHP Thomas Eshelman (Cal. St. Fullerton)
Relief Riley Ferrell (Texas Christian)
Relief David Berg (UCLA)
C Zack Collins (Miami, Fla.)
1B Eric Gutierrez (Texas Tech.)
2B Casey Jones (Elon)
3B Connor Panas (Canisius)
SS Dansby Swanson (Vanderbilt)
OF D.J. Stewart (Florida St.)
OF Brandon Rawe (Morehead St.)
OF Christin Stewart (Tennessee)
UT Jacob Cronenworth (Michigan)

SECOND TEAM
LHP Blake Fox (Rice)
RHP James Kaprielian (UCLA)
LHP Christian Trent (Mississippi)
LHP Cole Irvin (Oregon)
RHP Mike Murray (Florida Gulf Coast)
LHP Andrew Suarez (Miami, Fla.)
RHP Zach Plesac (Ball St.)
RHP Tyler Davis (Washington)
RHP Justin Garza (Cal. St. Fullerton)
RHP Casey Bloomquist (Cal. Poly)
LHP Jared Poche’ (Louisiana St.)
LHP Brandon Waddell (Virginia)
LHP Tyler Jay (Illinois)
RHP Matt Warren (Creighton)
Relief Sam Moore (U.C. Irvine)
Relief Dillon Tate (U.C. Santa Barbara)
Relief Bryan Garcia (Miami, Fla.)
C Taylor Ward (Fresno St.)
C Shaun Chase (Oregon)
1B Alex Close (Liberty)
1B Sikes Orvis (Mississippi)
1B Jacob Hoyle (Western Carolina)
2B Bradley Strong (Western Carolina)
3B Brett Hoffman (S.E. Louisiana)
SS Alex Bregman (Louisiana St.)
SS Kevin Newman (Arizona)
SS Blake Trahan (Louisiana-Lafayette)
OF Joe McCarthy (Virginia)
OF Gio Brusa (Pacific)
OF Chris Shaw (Boston College)
UT Alex Robles (Austin Peay)

THIRD TEAM
RHP Bailey Ober (College of Charleston)
RHP Matt Eckelman (St. Louis)
LHP Brett Lilek (Arizona St.)
LHP Ryan Kellogg (Arizona St.)
RHP Kyle Cody (Kentucky)
RHP Jake Lemoine (Houston)
RHP Trent Thornton (North Carolina)
RHP Cal Quantrill (Stanford)
RHP Chance Sinclair (Nebraska)
RHP Brennan Leitao (Sacramento St.)
Relief Reilly Hovis (North Carolina)
Relief Ryan Burr (Arizona St.)
Relief Ashton Perritt (Liberty)
Relief Thomas Burrows (Alabama)
Relief Brandon Koch (Dallas Baptist)
C/2B Paul DeJong (Illinois St.)
C Jameson Fisher (S.E. Louisiana)
1B Austin Byler (Nevada)
1B Charles Sikes (Savannah St.)
1B Reagan Fowler (Creighton)
2B Scott Kingery (Arizona)
2B Mark Mathias (Cal. Poly)
2B Hutton Moyer (Pepperdine)
2B Jake Noll (Florida Gulf Coast)
3B Ty France (San Diego St.)
3B Andy Lennington (S.E. Missouri St.)
SS Dylan Bosheers (Tennessee Tech.)
SS Kevin Kramer (UCLA)
SS Travis Maezes (Michigan)
OF Steven Duggar (Clemson)
OF Ian Happ (Cincinnati)
OF Kewby Meyer (Nevada)
OF Bryan Reynolds (Vanderbilt)