2022 NCBWA Baseball All-America Teams
Already in an exclusive club in Hillsdale College baseball history as an All-American, sophomore shortstop Aidan Brewer (Dexter, MI/Ann Arbor Greenhills) added the biggest honor to date in his career over the weekend.
Brewer became just the second baseball player in Hillsdale College history to earn First Team All-American honors at the NCAA DII level on Thursday, earning the distinction from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. That honor comes in addition to the third team All-American honors Brewer received from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association earlier in the week.
He joins outfielder and 2016 graduate Luke Ortel as the only Charger baseball players to be named a First Team NCAA DII All-American by any outlet, and, having been recognized by two of the three major awards bodies in the sport of college baseball, just the second consensus All-American at the DII level as well.
Brewer’s earlier recognition from the D2CCA had already made him just the fifth player in Hillsdale College baseball history to earn NCAA DII All-American honors, along with Ortel, Steven Ring (2017, 2019), Chris McDonald (2016) and Ethan Wiskur (2017).
Brewer had an offensive season for the ages in 2022 at Hillsdale that propelled him to join an elite club of Charger All-Americans, leading the G-MAC in the regular season in batting average (.435), on-base percentage (.500), total hits (81) and doubles (19), while also finishing third in OPS (1.226), fourth in RBIs (50), sixth in runs scored (50), seventh in slugging percentage (.726), eighth in home runs (11) and ninth in stolen bases. He also finished the regular season in the top 15 in the nation among NCAA DII players in batting average, total hits and on-base percentage as well.
The sophomore really stood out in conference play, leading the G-MAC in batting average (.468), on-base percentage (.529) and hits (58) as well while ranking in the top 10 in every relevant offensive category except for triples.
Defensively, he showed impressive range for a shortstop, playing a role in 32 double plays, the most by a Charger field player since 2007 and one of the top numbers in the country in 2022.
Brewer's monster season has him in rarefied air in Hillsdale College history, ranking in the top 10 in seven single-season categories. He's third in hits (81), sixth in batting average (.435), sixth in runs scored (50), seventh in slugging percentage (.726), second in doubles (19), seventh in RBIs (50) and tied for 10th in home runs (11). His 23 career home runs are also tied for fourth all-time at Hillsdale, just one behind third place.
Along with All-American honors, Brewer was a unanimous first team All-Midwest Region selection to the NCBWA, D2CCA and American Baseball Coaches Association, and was named first-team All-G-MAC as well, earning conference recognition for the second consecutive season.
Brewer is currently playing in the Northwoods League over the summer, and will return to Hillsdale in the fall, looking to prepare for an even more impressive encore season and to help the Chargers contend for what would be the program's first regular season conference title in the modern era in 2023.