A Note About BA Awards For College And High School Baseball

Had it not been canceled, the College World Series would be entering its best-of-three finals now. 

We at Baseball America feel the loss of the CWS acutely, but it is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

We just wrapped the July issue of the magazine. Last year in our July issue we were writing about our Midseason Top 100 Prospects update and celebrating our amateur baseball award winners, including College Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year and High School Player of the Year and Team of the Year.

It is also the time of year that we traditionally present our All-America Teams for both college and high school baseball. 

This year, the BA editorial team decided not to name any amateur baseball award winners or select any postseason teams because of the incomplete nature of the season.

At the time the coronavirus pandemic ground baseball to a halt in March, college baseball had not yet entered conference play and high school teams in cold-weather states had not played a single game. Even southern California teams had played only about a dozen.

So we will never know which players would have risen to the occasion in 2020 to become Players of the Year, nor do know which players would have been deserving of All-America status.

The best we can do is point you to our Preseason College and High School All-America Teams, which indicate major league scouting directors’ preferences but do not indicate the top performers of 2020. Please note that these All-America teams are not considered “official,” like the ones you would normally find in our July issue or in our Almanac.

Because of the unprecedented circumstances of 2020, BA will shift its postseason award focus from on-field accomplishment to off-field community service. Look for more about those awards later this year.

Baseball America has used the word “cancel” more times in print this year than any of us care to remember. It is our sincere hope that we can discontinue its use in the months ahead.