Alek Manoah Named District 2 Player of the Year

West Virginia University pitcher Alek Manoah continues to add hardware to his collection. Just a few days after being taken 11th overall in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, the junior right-hander was named the District 2 Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (NCBWA).

Manoah is the third Mountaineer to earn this honor and the second in three seasons. Right-hander Branden Zarbinsky was also named PotY in 2017 and current St. Louis Cardinal Jedd Gyorko earned this distinction in back to back years, 2009 and 2010.

Manoah had a historic season for the Mountaineers, leading the Big 12 in both ERA and strikeouts while winning Pitcher of the Week honors three (3) consecutive weeks and earned a fourth award later in the year. He is the first player ever to win the D1Baseball.com Performance of the Week award three weeks in a row. Manoah set the single-season record for strikeouts (144), breaking the previous record (124) in his final regular season start of the year.

Nationally, Manoah was named a semi-finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and is a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the Player of the Year in College Baseball.