Full Perfect Game All-American Teams
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech standouts Kevin Parada (Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) and Chandler Simpson (Atlanta, Ga./St. Pius X (UAB)) are the latest to be honored as All-Americans as Perfect Game named the pair this week.
Parada earns his third first-team All-American selection, while Simpson was named to Perfect Game’s third team. The Yellow Jackets were one of just four schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference to earn multiple selections and one of just 13 overall in Division I.
A 2022 Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA first-team All-American already, Parada had an excellent sophomore campaign in which he was named first-team all-ACC and all-Region, a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, and earned National Player of the Week honors three times.
The Pasadena, Calif. native ranked among the nation’s best all year, finishing the regular season ranking sixth with a school-record 26 home runs, second in total bases (174), third in RBI (85), fifth in runs (74) and 35th in hits (85). In the Atlantic Coast Conference, Parada led in runs and RBI, ranked third in home runs, fourth in hits and was the fourth-toughest hitter to strikeout in the league.
The nation’s batting average leader, Simpson hit a blistering .433, becoming the first Yellow Jacket to hit .400 since Mark Teixeira in 2000 and just a thousandth of a percentage point shy of tying Jay Payton’s school record of .434 (min. 200 at-bats) in 1994. Simpson also led the country in hits per game at 1.87 per contest.
Renowned for his speed and his eye at the plate, the Atlanta native stole a team-best 27 bases on the year (good for third in the ACC), was the toughest hitter to strikeout in the ACC at 12.7 at-bats per strikeout and led the league with a gaudy .506 on-base percentage (ninth nationally). He also scored 1.36 runs per game, which was good for third in the country.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on Twitter (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
