Former Houston Reliever Wins Prestigious Canadian Award
Former Houston baseball lefty reliever and 2025 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Antoine Jean just can't stop racking up the accolades from his turnaround campaign.
The Montreal-native and seventh-round, 197th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies earned his 13th major accolade from his final campaign with the Cougars, in which he was named Collegiate Player of the Year by the Canadian Baseball Network, a prestigious award from his nationality.
Just when you thought the awards were over, he earns another one 😤
— Houston Baseball (@UHCougarBB) November 14, 2025
Introducing your Canadian Baseball Network 2025 Collegiate Player of the Year, Antoine Jean! pic.twitter.com/GPSDE8etAZ
The story behind the accolades
It wasn't an easy road for Jean to record a career graduate campaign with the Cougars, in which it picked up steam after going 10-2 with a 3.51 ERA in 16 games over three seasons at Alabama. He entered the transfer portal and followed assistant coach Matt Reida to Houston, awaiting its first Big 12 campaign in 2024.
In Houston's inaugural campaign in the conference, which saw the Cougars going 7-21 in league play, Jean went 3-3 with a 5.97 ERA over 63.1 innings, posting 67 strikeouts and issuing 29 walks.
It was then in the offseason that then-pitching coach Woody Williams, who joined coach Todd Whitting's staff ahead of the 2024 season, helped Jean change the thumb grip in his fastball delivery to where it was more underneath the seams rather than nearly resting on the side, which was what likely previously contributed to his previous shortcomings.
As a result of this change, Jean became Whitting's ultimate high-leverage and long relief tool for 2025 in which across 67 innings, he went 5-1 with a Big 12-leading 2.55 ERA (18th in Division I) while holding opponents to a conference-low .167 average. His 110 strikeouts (19th in Division I) helped him become the second Cougar in program history to record 100 strikeouts in a season behind Ryan Wagner, the 14th overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds in 2003, who set a then-Division I record for K/9 that season.
Jean's 14.8 K/9 helped him finished second nationally on the mark to Tennessee's Liam Doyle. His 5.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio, up from 2.31 in 2024, was good for 17th in Division I.
In being named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and becoming the first Cougar to win a major Big 12 award, Jean's efforts helped lead Houston to a five-win improvement in league play from 2024, which also helped clinch its first Big 12 tournament appearance, which saw a 9-2 opening round upset win over No. 6 seed Kansas State as the No. 11 seed.
Jean's other major accolades, along with his Canadian Baseball Network award announced on Friday, include six All-American selections and semifinalist and finalist selections for College Baseball Hall of Fame National Pitcher of the Year and NCBWA Stopper of the Year, respectively.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.