THE FLATS – Drew Burress (Houston County, Ga. / Houston County HS) was named 1st Team All-America by Perfect Game, the publication announced today. Additionally, Alex Hernandez (1st Team) and Caleb Daniel (2nd Team) were each named to the Freshman All-America teams.
Burress is one of four underclassmen to make 1st Team All-America and the only one to do so out of the ACC. This is his first 2nd team selection after being named 1st Team by the NCBWA last season. The Houston County man is the 19th 1st Team All-American in program history and the 15th of the Danny Hall era (since 1994). He is the first Yellow Jacket to repeat as an All-American since Deck McGuire in 2009 (1st Team) and 2010 (3rd Team).
Burress continued his illustrious career in 2025, leading the ACC in extra base hits (43), doubles (23) and finishing 2nd in the conference in home runs (19) and runs scored (77). His .756 career slugging percentage is the best in program history with a minimum of 300 ABs (446), nearly half a point above second place, Mark Teixeira (.712 slug over 528 ABs). This season, he became the fastest Yellow Jacket in program history to reach 30 and 40 career homeruns, currently sitting at 44 career long balls, the 10th most in program history and just 13 shy of the program record. His 23 doubles this season are the most by a GT player in the BBCOR era (since 2011) and tied for the 7th most in program history.
Hernandez (Cumming, Ga. / Forsyth Central HS) and Daniel (Cartersville, Ga. / Cartersville HS) each made the PG Freshman All-America team, marking the 11th time Georgia Tech has earned multiple Freshmen All-Americans from the same class, first since 2020 (Drew Compton, Stephen Reid and Dalton Smith).
This is the second 1st Team Freshman All-America selection for Hernandez who earned the title, yesterday, from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). The ACC Freshman of the Year played in 59 games this season, only missing one due to injury. He reached base in each of his first 17 games, launching a grand slam for his first-career homerun, one of two grand slams he’d hit on the year. Hernandez started in six different spots this year: 2nd Base (27), Right Field (14), 1st Base (7), Left Field (7), DH (4) and pitcher (1).
The Cumming, Ga. native became a mainstay in the Georgia Tech lineup, starting 48 games in the cleanup spot and delivering a team-high 69 RBI while slashing .335 avg. / .415 OBP / .609 slug. He led the Jackets in at bats (230), hits (77 – tied with Vahn Lackey) and RBI (69) on his way to becoming the 7th ACC Freshman of the Year in program history. He finished with 47 runs scored, 11 doubles, two triples and 16 home runs, serving as the primary RBI man for a lineup that proved to be one of the most potent in the country.
After missing the first four games of the season with an illness, Daniel burst onto the scene in conference play, recording a hit in nine of his first 10 ACC games including a 4-for-5 performance with five runs scored at Notre Dame (March 21) – becoming the only Power 4 freshman to score five or more runs in a conference game this season. When he wasn’t impressing with his bat, he was making SportsCenter with his glove. The Cartersville, Ga. product made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays twice over the course of the year after robbing two home runs from his spot in left field, both during conference play.
Daniel becomes the 8th Freshman All-American over the last six seasons, joining Hernandez (2025), Drew Burress (2024), Kristian Campbell (2023), Kevin Parada (2021), Drew Compton (2020), Stephen Reid (2020) and Dalton Smith (2020). He is the 43rd Freshman All-American in program history.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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