Vradenburg Tabbed NCBWA District 5 Player Of The Year

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's Brock Vradenburg was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) District 5 Player of the Year, as announced by the NCBWA as part of their 25th annual awards on Friday afternoon.

Vradenburg, a junior first baseman from Pasadena, California, is the first Spartan baseball player to earn the NCBWA District Player of the Year honor in the 25 years that the award has been presented. District 5 includes teams in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

This recent honor adds to Vradenburg's award collection, as he was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® First-Team baseball team. Along with garnering CSC Academic All-America® accolades, Vradenburg was also named a Third-Team Collegiate Baseball All-American, becoming only the second MSU Baseball student-athlete to earn both Athletic and Academic All-American Honors in the same season. He is the first since 1974 when Dale Frietch also earned Third-Team Athletic All-American accolades and First-Team Academic All-American honors.

The Spartan first baseman's award collection also includes being named a semifinalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award and the USBWA Dick Howser Trophy.

Vradenburg was the Spartans' starting first baseman for all 55 games, and led MSU while ranking second in the B1G and 24th in the NCAA in batting average exactly a .400 average, becoming the first Spartan to hit .400 or better since 2002 and becoming the 28th member of MSU's ".400 Club." The Spartan first baseman is the first member of the club since 2002 when Brady Burrill (.414), Chris McCuiston (.404) and Bob Malek (.402) all hit over .400.

Vradenburg earned Big Ten All-Tournament Team accolades, after he led all first basemen in the tournament with a .455 average, going 5-for-11, with one double, finishing with six total bases and three RBI, posting a .545 slugging percentage and added two walks for a .571 on-base percentage.

He also ranked fourth in the league and 34th in the nation in total bases (155). Vradenburg was also third in the B1G and 30th in the NCAA in RBI (69), while ranking second in the league and 41st in the country in RBI/game (1.26). He also was fifth in the B1G and 86th in the NCAA in runs (62), just ahead of teammate Trent Farquhar (59). Vradenburg also led the B1G and ranked 24th in the NCAA in doubles (22), along with second in the league and 34th in the nation in doubles per game (0.40). The 22 doubles tied MSU's single-season doubles record, tying Blaise Salter (2014) & Chris McCuiston (2002) for the top spot.

With the 69 RBI, Vradenburg is ranked No. 2 on MSU's single-season RBI list, while the 13 HR ranks tied for eighth on the Spartans' single-season HR list, and the 86 hits ranks seventh on MSU's single-season hits list

Vradenburg had a season-long and MSU season-best 41-game on-base streak (March 4 - May 16), which came after a seven-game streak to open the season was halted and finished with a five-game streak after the 41-game streak came to an end, finishing with reaching base in 53 of the 55 games, only not reaching base vs. Charleston (March 3) and Indiana (May 18).

Vradenburg was also sixth in the B1G in triples with four, ranking 70th in the nation and also third on the team, trailing teammates Mitch Jebb (7) and Casey Mayes (5), and just ahead of teammates Sam Busch and Dillon Kark (3).

Michigan State concluded the 2023 season with a 33-22 record, finishing eighth in the Big Ten Conference with a 12-12 league mark and qualifying for the B1G Tournament in Omaha, where the Spartans finished sixth. MSU's 33 wins are its most since 36 in 2016.

Players Mentioned

Sam Busch

Trent Farquhar

Mitch Jebb

Dillon Kark

Casey Mayes

Brock Vradenburg

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