STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford, the No. 1 seed in this week’s Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, won four of the five major Pac-12 yearly awards – in addition to the batting champion – and put 12 players on All-Pac-12 teams, it was announced on Tuesday following a vote by Pac-12 coaches.
Stanford’s Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer won Coach of the Year for the second straight year after guiding Stanford to the 2023 Pac-12 regular season championship – it’s second in as many seasons. The selection is his third at the helm on The Farm after first winning the award in his inaugural season of 2018. The Coach of the Year is the 12th in program history after Mark Marquess earned nine in his tenure at Stanford. The selection is Esquer’s fourth overall after being named Pac-10 Coach of the Year at California in 2001.
Junior Alberto Rios was named Player of the Year, becoming the first Cardinal to win the award since Jed Lowrie in 2004. It is the ninth selection in Stanford history. Rios has had a breakout year for the Cardinal after appearing in only seven games as a pinch-hitter last spring. The junior started 49 of 50 games played primarily in the outfield and became a powerhouse at the plate for the Cardinal. His .400 batting average ranked third in the conference and top-30 in the nation, while he was top-five in the league in slugging percentage (2nd, .742), on-base percentage (3rd, .504), RBI (2nd, 63), hits (4th, 76) and home runs (5th, 16). The Bellflower, Calif., native collected 21 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games and is riding a 15-game hitting streak heading into postseason play. Twice this year, Rios drove in nine runs or more in a game, with his 11 RBI in Stanford’s 24-9 victory over CSU Bakersfield on March 5 setting a new Cardinal record and matching the Pac-12 record that was set by UCLA’s Bill Scott vs. Washington in 1999. The Golden Spikes Award semifinalist earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks on May 8 and May 15 and was the only conference player to earn the award more than once in 2023.
Senior Quinn Mathews secured Stanford’s third consecutive Pitcher of the Year honor, following in the footsteps of Brendan Beck (2021) and Alex Williams (2022). Electing to return to Stanford for his senior season after being drafted in the 19th round of the 2022 MLB draft, Matthews was key to the Cardinal’s second straight Pac-12 title run, going 7-3 this season with a 3.20 ERA in 98.1 innings…
Stanford’s Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer won Coach of the Year for the second straight year after guiding Stanford to the 2023 Pac-12 regular season championship – it’s second in as many seasons. The selection is his third at the helm on The Farm after first winning the award in his inaugural season of 2018. The Coach of the Year is the 12th in program history after Mark Marquess earned nine in his tenure at Stanford. The selection is Esquer’s fourth overall after being named Pac-10 Coach of the Year at California in 2001.
Junior Alberto Rios was named Player of the Year, becoming the first Cardinal to win the award since Jed Lowrie in 2004. It is the ninth selection in Stanford history. Rios has had a breakout year for the Cardinal after appearing in only seven games as a pinch-hitter last spring. The junior started 49 of 50 games played primarily in the outfield and became a powerhouse at the plate for the Cardinal. His .400 batting average ranked third in the conference and top-30 in the nation, while he was top-five in the league in slugging percentage (2nd, .742), on-base percentage (3rd, .504), RBI (2nd, 63), hits (4th, 76) and home runs (5th, 16). The Bellflower, Calif., native collected 21 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games and is riding a 15-game hitting streak heading into postseason play. Twice this year, Rios drove in nine runs or more in a game, with his 11 RBI in Stanford’s 24-9 victory over CSU Bakersfield on March 5 setting a new Cardinal record and matching the Pac-12 record that was set by UCLA’s Bill Scott vs. Washington in 1999. The Golden Spikes Award semifinalist earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks on May 8 and May 15 and was the only conference player to earn the award more than once in 2023.
Senior Quinn Mathews secured Stanford’s third consecutive Pitcher of the Year honor, following in the footsteps of Brendan Beck (2021) and Alex Williams (2022). Electing to return to Stanford for his senior season after being drafted in the 19th round of the 2022 MLB draft, Matthews was key to the Cardinal’s second straight Pac-12 title run, going 7-3 this season with a 3.20 ERA in 98.1 innings…
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