American Athletic Conference baseball awards

At the end of each regular season, the American Athletic Conference names major award winners in baseball. Currently, it names a Coach, Pitcher, Player, and Freshman of the Year. The selections are determined by a vote of the conference's coaches at the end of each regular season. The awards were first given out in 2014, the conference's first season of competition.

Coach of the Year

In 2014, UCF head coach Terry Rooney was chosen as the conference's best coach. In the regular season, UCF went 34-22 (17-7 American) to finish second in the conference.^[1][2]

Winners by season

Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season	Coach	School	Conf. (Rk.)	Overall
2014	Terry Rooney	UCF	17–7 (2nd)	36–23
2015	Cliff Godwin[3]	East Carolina	15–9 (2nd)	36–20
2016	Jim Penders[4]	Connecticut	14–9 (3rd)	38–25
2017	Greg Lovelady[5]	UCF	15–9 (1st)	40–22
2018	Todd Whitting[6]	Houston	16–8 (1st)	38–25
2019	Cliff Godwin[7]	East Carolina	20–4 (1st)	47–18
2020	none	- none -
2021	Cliff Godwin[8]	East Carolina	20-8 (1st)	44-17
2022	Cliff Godwin[9]	East Carolina	20–4 (1st)	46-21

Winners by school

The following is a table of the schools whose coaches have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined)	Awards	Seasons
Connecticut (2014)	1	2016
East Carolina (2015)	4	2015, 2019, 2021, 2022
Houston (2013)	1	2018
UCF (2014)	2	2014, 2017

Pitcher of the Year

In 2014, UCF's Eric Skoglund was chosen as the conference's best pitcher. In the regular season, the junior went 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 92 strikeouts. After the season, he was selected in the third round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals.^[2][10]

Winners by season

Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season	Pitcher	School
2014	Eric Skoglund	UCF
2015	Carson Cross[3]	Connecticut
2016	Anthony Kay[4]	Connecticut
2017	Trey Cumbie[5] Robby Howell[5]	Houston UCF
2018	Aaron Fletcher[6]	Houston
2019	Jake Agnos[7]	East Carolina
2020	- none -
2021	Gavin Williams[8]	East Carolina
2022	Carter Spivey[9]	East Carolina

Winners by school

The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined)	Awards	Seasons
Connecticut (2014)	2	2015, 2016
East Carolina (2015)	3	2019, 2021, 2022
Houston (2013)	2	2017, 2018
UCF (2014)	2	2014, 2017

Player of the Year

In 2014, Jeff Gardner was chosen as the conference's best player. Gardner had been selected as the Preseason Player of the Year, and in the regular season, he led the conference in slugging percentage, runs batted in, and total bases. After the season, he was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 8th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.^[2][11]

Winners by season

Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season	Pitcher	School
2014	Jeff Gardner	Louisville
2015	Ian Happ[3]	Cincinnati
2016	Joe DeRouche-Duffin[4]	Connecticut
2017	Jake Scheiner[5] Hunter Williams[5]	Houston Tulane
2018	Bryant Packard[6]	East Carolina
2019	Kody Hoese[7]	Tulane
2020	- none -
2021	Connor Norby[8]	East Carolina
2022	Griffin Merritt[9]	Cincinnati

Winners by school

The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined)	Awards	Seasons
Cincinnati (2014)	2	2015, 2022
Connecticut (2014)	1	2016
East Carolina (2015)	2	2018, 2021
Houston (2013)	1	2017
Louisville (2014)[a]	1	2014
Tulane (2014)	2	2017, 2019

1. After the 2014 season, Louisville left to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Newcomer Pitcher of the Year

In 2014, the Newcomer Pitcher of the Year award was shared by Houston pitcher Andrew Lantrip and Rutgers pitcher Gaby Rosa. Lantrip, as a midweek starter, went 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in the regular season; Rosa went 6-2 with a 2.28 ERA. In the summer of 2014, Lantrip played for the California Collegiate League's Santa Barbara Foresters, and Rosa played for the Staten Island Tide of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.^[2][12][13]

Winners by season

Below is a table of the award's winners.

Season	Pitcher	School
2014	Andrew Lantrip Gaby Rosa	Houston Rutgers
2015	Seth Romero[3]	Houston
2016	Tim Cate[4]	Connecticut
2017	Mason Feole[5]	Connecticut
2018	Alec Burleson[6]	East Carolina
2019	Devon Roedahl[7]	Houston
2020	- none -
2021	Jake Kaminska[8]	Wichita State
2022	Landon Gartman[9]	Memphis

Winners by school

The following is a table of the schools whose players have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined)	Awards	Seasons
Connecticut (2014)	2	2016, 2017
East Carolina (2015)	1	2018
Houston (2014)	3	2014, 2015, 2019
Memphis (2014)	1	2022
Rutgers (2014)[a]	1	2014
Wichita State (2017)	1	2021

Newcomer Position Player of the Year

Winners by season

Below is a table of the Newcomer Position Player of the Year award's winners.

Season	Player	School
2016	Joe Davis[4]	Houston
2017	Rylan Thomas[5]	UCF
2018	Christian Fedko[6]	Connecticut
2019	Hunter Goodman[7]	Memphis
2020	- none -
2021	Bennett Lee[8]	Tulane (2014)
2022	Brock Rodden[9]	Wichita State

Winners by school

The following is a table of the schools whose coaches have won the award, along with the year each school joined the conference, the number of times it has won the award, and the years in which it has done so.

School (year joined)	Awards	Seasons
Connecticut (2014)	1	2018
Houston (2014)	1	2016
Memphis (2014)	1	2019
Tulane (2014)	1	2021
UCF (2014)	1	2017
Wichita State (2017)	1	2022

1. After the 2014 season, Rutgers left to join the Big Ten Conference.