Baylor baseball sophomore catcher Shea Langeliers and senior closer Troy Montemayor were named third-team preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), the organization announced Monday.
Both Bears garnered All-America attention following outstanding 2017 seasons. Langeliers was the first freshman in Baylor baseball history to earn Freshman All-America honors from three or more different publications as he was by Baseball America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game/Rawlings. Montemayor was an NCBWA second-team All-American, marking Baylor’s first All-America choice since 2012.
The last time the Bears had two preseason All-Americans in the same year was in 2009 (Aaron Miller and Kendal Volz). The program also has back-to-back years with preseason All-Americans (Troy Montemayor, 2017) for the first time since 2004 and 2005. Langeliers and Montemayor are two of 25 third team choices and two of 71 on the three-team NCBWA list.
Already a D1Baseball.com first-team and Baseball America and Perfect Game/Rawlings second-team preseason All-American, Langeliers gathered a fourth honor in the last month. He was already the first BU player to earn three or more All-America honors in a single preseason since at least 1998.
The Keller, Texas native was named to the 2017 All-Big 12 second team and Big 12 All-Freshman team as well. During the 2017 season, he hit .313 with 43 runs, 66 hits, 14 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 38 RBI, 114 total bases and 24 walks. He also threw out 26 base stealers at a 44 percent rate with a .991 fielding percentage in 55 starts. He set the BU freshman catcher home run record and was one shy of tying the program’s all-time freshman home run record (Max Muncy, 11, 2010).
Montemayor, a right-handed San Antonio native, earned the accolade from the NCBWA for a second straight season, and is the first BU player to be a preseason All-American in two straight seasons since Mark McCormick in 2004 and 2005. In 2018, he appeared in career-high 25 games in relief, tallying a career-high three wins with a 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings with nine walks and 29 strikeouts. His 12 saves ranked third in the Big 12 and 25th in the country. He currently ranks second all-time at Baylor in career saves (26), 14th in lowest ERA (3.12) and tied for 17th in most appearances (70), and is the second BU player to have two 10-save seasons (Zane Carlson 2000 (15), 2003 (11)).
The Bears begin the 2018 season Feb. 16-18 with a home series vs. Purdue. For tickets, visit: http://www.baylorbears.com/tickets/. For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Baylor Preseason All-Americans Since 1998
Shea Langeliers (2018, first team, D1Baseball.com)
Shea Langeliers (2018, second team, Baseball America)
Shea Langeliers (2018, second team, Perfect Game/Rawlings)
Shea Langeliers (2018, third team, NCBWA)
Troy Montemayor (2018, third team, NCBWA)
Troy Montemayor (2017, second team, Collegiate Baseball)
Troy Montemayor (2017, third team, NCBWA)
Aaron Miller (2009, third team, Baseball America)
Kendal Volz (2009, first team, Baseball America)
Nick Cassavechia (2007, third team, NCBWA)
Mark McCormick (2005, first team, Baseball America)
Zane Carlson (2004, third team, NCBWA)
Michael Griffin (2004, first team, NCBWA)
Michael Griffin (2004, third team, Baseball America)
Mark McCormick (2004, second team, Baseball America)
Steven White (2002, third team, Baseball America)
Zane Carlson (2001, first team, Collegiate Baseball)
Jeremy Dodson (1998, third team, Baseball America)
Kip Wells (1998, second team, Baseball America)
