Alabama Baseball Picked to Finish Last in SEC West, 11th in Conference
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama’s Connor Prielipp and Owen Diodati were selected to the 2021 Preseason All-Southeastern Conference Baseball teams, the league office announced on Thursday. Prielipp was named a first-team honoree at starting pitcher while Diodati was tabbed a second-teamer at outfielder.
In addition to the all-conference honors, the Crimson Tide was selected to finish 11th overall in the SEC, as voted on by the league coaches. Florida was selected as the league champion, receiving 12 first-place votes, with Mississippi State and Vanderbilt each receiving one first-place vote.
After finishing the shortened 2020 campaign with a record of 16-1, Alabama was picked to finish last in the SEC West.
First Team All-SEC
Connor Prielipp, Starting Pitcher
- Tabbed as a 2021 preseason first team All-American by three separate outlets
- Put together an impressive freshman season that earned him D1Baseball.com’s “Top Freshman Pitcher” honors at the end of the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign
- Finished with a 3-0 record and totaled 21.0 innings across his four starts as a freshman
- Tallied 35 strikeouts with only six walks to lead the SEC in WHIP at 0.52
- Allowed the fewest earned runs (0) and hits (5) in the league
- Gave up just 2.14 hits per nine innings to lead the conference and rank third nationally while limiting the opposition to an SEC-low .077 average
Second Team All-SEC
Owen Diodati, Outfielder
- Wrapped up 2020 with 22 RBI and a .673 slugging percentage to lead all freshmen hitters in the SEC
- Also added five home runs and 13 walks to tie for the league lead among first-year players
- Tied for third in RBI and seventh in home runs across all league hitters before the season was cut short
- Finished as Alabama’s leader in RBI while ranking second in home runs
- Picked up SEC Co-Freshman of the Week honors after an impressive Opening Weekend that saw the Canadian total six hits – five of which went for extra-bases – while adding eight RBI, six runs and four walks against Northeastern
2021 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll
Eastern Division
1. Florida (13) – 91
2. Vanderbilt (1) – 79
3. Tennessee – 58
4. South Carolina – 55
5. Georgia – 51
6. Missouri – 28
7. Kentucky – 23
Western Division
1. Ole Miss (7) – 78
2. Mississippi State (3) – 73
3. Arkansas (2) – 72
4. LSU (2) – 63
5. Texas A&M – 36
6. Auburn – 32
7. Alabama – 31
() – First place votes
SEC Champion: Florida (12), Mississippi State (1), Vanderbilt (1)
Preseason All-SEC Team
First Team
C: Casey Opitz, Arkansas
1B: T.J. Collett, Kentucky
2B: Robert Moore, Arkansas
3B: Rankin Woley, Auburn
SS: Ryan Bliss, Auburn
OF: Jud Fabian, Florida
OF: Christian Franklin, Arkansas
OF: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
DH/UTL: Matt Goodheart, Arkansas
SP: Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt
SP: Connor Prielipp, Alabama
RP: Devin Fontenot, LSU
Second Team
C: Hayden Dunhurst, Ole Miss
1B: Josh Hatcher, Mississippi State
2B: Max Ferguson, Tennessee
3B: Tim Elko, Ole Miss
SS: Josh Rivera, Florida
OF: Rowdey Jordan, Mississippi State
OF: Owen Diodati, Alabama
OF: Cade Beloso, LSU
DH/UTL: Wes Clarke, South Carolina
SP: Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt
SP: Tommy Mace, Florida
RP: Ben Specht, Florida
