Trevor Bauer Named Pac-10 Pitcher Of The Year

When a pitcher leads a conference in several major statistical categories, he is probably going to win that conference's Pitcher of the Year award. When a pitcher sets a record by winning conference Pitcher of the Week honors six times in a 15-week season, he is probably going to win that conference's Pitcher of the Year award. Well, Trevor Bauer is Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.

The junior may add National Pitcher of the Year honors as well, but he has the conference award and is it very well deserved. Bauer led the Pac-10 with a 1.27 ERA, .152 opponent batting average, 189 strikeouts and 127.2 innings pitched. His strikeout mark is also tops in the nation and is just 13 short of the conference record for strikeouts in a season. He also finished the regular season with a mind-boggling eight consecutive complete games. In short, Bauer was as dominant as can be.

The last time a UCLA pitcher won Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year honors was in 1992 when Pete Janicki won the award. UCLA history is no stranger to Bauer, who set school strikeout and win records this season. The award caps off a season in which he was also named to the All-Pac-10 team for the third time in as many seasons in Westwood.

Joining Bauer on the All-Pac-10 team are Beau Amaral and Adam Plutko, who each made it for the first time in their careers. Amaral started all 27 Pac-10 games for the Bruins, hitting.347 and holding a .445 on-base percentage, fourth-best in the conference. Plutko has a 2.14 ERA, fourth-best in the conference, but was snubbed for Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.

Five more Bruins were also acknowleged by the conference. Mitchell Beacom, Gerrit Cole, Cody Keefer, Steve Rodriguez and Nick Vander Tuig were all named Pac-10 honorable mention.