Miami’s Zack Collins lone first-team All-ACC honoree for No. 3 Hurricanes

University of Miami has the third-ranked baseball team and No. 3 RPI in the country.

But on Monday, when the Atlantic Coast Conference announced its All-ACC teams and players of the year, the Hurricanes were shut out of the latter and had a lone representive on the first-team All-ACC.

Hurricanes junior catcher Zack Collins (.381, 11 home runs, 51 RBI, nation-leading 62 walks, .552 on-base percentage), who coach Jim Morris said earlier in the day was deserving of ACC Player of the Year, was the only Miami player to be voted by the ACC coaches to the first team.

Last year, UM’s David Thompson, who became only the second Hurricane to reach 90 RBI in one season and had led the nation in home runs at the time of the selections, was also bypassed in the ACC Player of the Year voting, a fact repeated Monday by Morris.

“My vote without question was and is that Zack Collins should be the Player of the Year in the conference,’’ Morris said about an hour before the announcement. “Coaches vote. Each program has one vote. Of course, my vote last year was for David Thompson, too.

“[Zack] has had a great year and every coach in the conference respects him. He has been walked 62 times. They pitch around him. Most of the time they just stand up and walk him intentionally. He’s come a long way, has probably made himself a first-rounder.’’

The Canes (43-10, 21-7 ACC) also had only one player — second baseman Johnny Ruiz (.342, 50 RBI) — selected Monday to the second-team All-ACC. They got five on the third team, including shortstop Brandon Lopez, who is hitting .390, and closer Bryan Garcia, who is tied for the all-time school lead in career saves (39). The other third-team Hurricanes: outfielders Willie Abreu and Carl Chester and pitcher Michael Mediavilla.

Reliever Frankie Bartow (3-0, 2.38 ERA in 33 appearances) was named to the ACC’s All-Freshman Team.

Earning ACC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year — the first player to earn both in league history — was Clemson outfielder Seth Beer. Beer is batting .378 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI in 54 games. He has a .528 on-base percentage and .694 slugging percentage.

Louisville junior Drew Harrington (11-1, 1.66) was voted the ACC Pitcher of the Year.

And Louisville coach Dan McDonnell was selected as the ACC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Louisville (46-10) , with the nation’s No. 1 RPI, led all teams with five first-team All-ACC selections. The Cardinals had one second-team player and three third-team selections.

The 6-3, 220-pound Collins, who grew up in Pembroke Pines and graduated from Plantation American Heritage, has a .645 slugging percentage and is pitched around so much that he leads the nation in walks and is second in on-base percentage. Morris said Collins has an uncanny ability to be patient and, obviously, pick his pitches beautifully. He is projected to be selected in the first half of the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft from June 9 to 11.

“He can hit,” Morris said early Monday afternoon at Mark Light Field. “He’s playing a premier position as a catcher and he’s a left-handed hitter that can hit with power. All of those together are hard to find. That’s what pro people look for.’’

Collins is projected to be selected in the first half of the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft from June 9 to 11.

The Hurricanes left later Monday for the ACC Tournament that begins Tuesday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina.

Miami, which won the regular-season ACC title, begins play in the ACC tournament pool-play format at 3 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between No. 8 seed Boston College (31-19, 13-15) and No. 9 Georgia Tech (35-20, 13-16).

Morris announced his probable pitching rotation for the ACC tournament on Monday, saying usual mid-week starter Jesse Lepore (8-0, 2.37 ERA) will start Wednesday, followed by Danny Garcia (9-3, 3.18), Michael Mediavilla (10-1, 3.24) and Andrew Cabezas (2-1, 5.04).

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Miami’s Zack Collins lone first-team All-ACC honoree for No. 3 Hurricanes."