Gonzalez and Elliott Named to 2023 Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America Team
TUCSON, Ariz. – (Release) Collegiate Baseball News released their 2023 Preseason All-America teams this week and both Jacob Gonzalez and Hunter Elliott earned preseason honors from the national publication.
Gonzalez was named as the only shortstop on the First Team while Elliott was named as one of just three left-handed starters on the Second Team. This is the second-consecutive season that Gonzalez has been named to the team, earning Third Team honors ahead of the 2022 season.
This is already the third preseason recognition for Gonzalez as he was named the No. 3 MLB prospect in all of college baseball by D1Baseball and the No. 5 2023 MLB Draft prospect by MLB Pipeline earlier this month. Gonzalez is coming off a 2022 season in which he earned First Team All-SEC honors while being selected to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team for the second-consecutive season.
Gonzalez started every game of the 2022 season at shortstop for the Rebels while leading Ole Miss in runs scored (73) and walks (50). He also finished second on the team in RBI (52), total bases (135), and home runs (18).
The junior hit .273 with an OPS of .963 and a slugging percentage of .558 while leading the Rebels to their first National Championship in program history. Gonzalez put together a phenomenal postseason, scoring at least one run in every game of both the Coral Gables Regional and the Hattiesburg Super Regional. He also went 3-for-4 with a solo home run that sparked the scoring for the Rebels in the National Title clinching game against Oklahoma in the College World Series Final.
Elliott was one of the best freshmen in the country in 2022, earning Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball News, Perfect Game, and D1Baseball. He was also named to the All-SEC Freshman Team and the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team at the end of the season. Elliott finished third in the SEC in ERA with a 2.70 and was sixth in the conference in total strikeouts with 102 in his first season.
The Tupelo native put together one of the best postseasons by a freshman in recent memory, going 2-0 and allowing just four earned runs over 25.1 innings of work. He also struck out 28 batters in his first collegiate postseason.
The Rebels will begin their national title defense on February 17 as they host Delaware for the first of a three-game series at Swayze Field.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
