The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — DH/Utility

This is the ninth post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at designated hitters and utility players.

This is the one spot on this team that includes a bit of fudge factor. I included a DH-Utility player specifically for players who moved around the field throughout their career and never found a regular defensive position. This left me with several close calls to make. Lots of players play multiple positions early in their career, only to settle into one spot at some point and play that position for the bulk of their career. Matt Camp is a perfect example. He played left field and third base as a freshman, then saw time at shortstop and second base as a sophomore before an injury opened up center field for him. He played center field the rest of his career and is a center fielder for the purposes of choosing this team. Others moved around and saw extensive playing time at multiple positions. Those are the players I had in mind for DH-Utility. There also were players who mostly saw their name on the lineup card as a designated hitter. They’re included here as well, for obvious reasons.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Wednesday: Starting pitchers.

• DH-Utility — Pat Clougherty, C-1B-LF-DH (1991-94)

If not for Pat Clougherty, I probably wouldn’t have bothered with a DH/Utility position. Everyone else considered here could have been slotted in at some other spot and no one would have been the wiser. Clougherty, on the other hand, more or less made this position a necessity. A football and baseball star at Raleigh’s Broughton High School and an 11th-round pick by the San Diego Padres in the 1989 MLB draft, Clougherty surprised many by spurning baseball and accepting a football scholarship to Furman. Knee injuries curtailed his football career to the point that after one semester in Greenville he transferred back home to play baseball at NC State. After sitting out the 1990 season, Clougherty joined the Pack in 1991 and made an immediate impact, leading the team in batting average (.378) and slugging percentage (.668) while hitting 11 homers and driving in 49 runs on a team loaded with offensive talent. His numbers tailed off a year later, yet he still contributed to NC State’s 1992 ACC championship by hitting .298 with 14 doubles, eight home runs and 43 RBIs. After getting thrown out three times in four stolen-base attempts as a freshman, he succeeded eight times in nine tries in ’92, and was an effective, if occasional, basestealer the remainder of his career. He earned all-conference for the first time in ’92, making the All-ACC second team. Clougherty’s best season came in 1993, when one of the greatest teams in program history spent most of April and May ranked second or third in all the national polls, winning a then-school-record 49 games. The team’s unquestioned offensive star that year, Clougherty led the Pack with a .368 average, 88 hits, 16 doubles, 21 home runs, 80 RBIs, and a .707 slugging percentage. He stole eight bases in as many attempts. His 80 runs driven in rank second in school history, while his 21 homers rank sixth. He earned first-team All-ACC from the league’s coaches, second-team All-America from the American Baseball Coaches Association, and third-team All-America from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He belted 21 more long balls as a senior in ’94, batting .317 with 12 doubles, 65 RBIs and four steals in five attempts, earning second-team all-conference. Because of his balky knees and subsequent lack of mobility, Clougherty was never a standout defensively at any position. He was a catcher in high school, and saw action at catcher, first base, left field and designated hitter with the Wolfpack. No matter where you put him, however, you had to have that bat in the lineup. He finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in home runs with 61 and RBIs with 237 (now 2nd to Jake Weber’s 239). He is one of just four NC State players ever to hit 10 or more home runs in a season three times, and is one of just two, along with Turtle Zaun, to hit 20 or more homers in a season twice. He is the only player on both lists. He hit 63 career doubles (4th in school history), had 294 hits (6th), scored 195 runs (7th), walked 118 times (tied for 7th), and amassed 548 total bases (3rd) for a career slugging percentage of .633 (4th). His career on-base percentage was .429, giving him a most healthy career OPS of 1.062. Despite his lack of foot speed, he managed to steal 21 bases in 26 attempts, and was 20-of-22 on the basepaths from 1992-94. In addition to compiling big numbers, Clougherty was the ultimate team leader, a tough guy who thrived in the big moments under the bright lights. His game-winning eighth-inning single off of UNC’s Paul Shuey, a former high school rival and future star reliever with the Cleveland Indians powerhouses of the late 1990s, made for big headlines in the local papers in 1991. And it was Clougherty’s seventh-inning homer that provided the go-ahead runs in an elimination game vs. a mouthy Wright State team in the 1994 NCAA Mideast Regional in Knoxville. The Raiders had beaten the Pack 14-12 in the tournament opener and weren’t shy about talking about it. They jumped to a big early lead two days later and again were enjoying themselves immensely when the Wolfpack stirred to life in the middle innings. Clougherty’s bomb concluded a stirring NC State comeback, and as he rounded second base, he reportedly told the suddenly subdued Wright State shortstop, “We play nine innings in this league.” Clougherty, in fact, played nine innings every time he put on the uniform. In fact, he never took an inning off.

• Second Team — Jeff Pierce, LF, 1B, DH, RHP (1990-91)

We discussed NC State’s Dutchess County pipeline in the entry for Jake Weber, but the fact is that former NC State coach Ray Tanner and his staff did a nice job of recruiting the entire Northeast. Among the noteworthy players that Tanner and staff unearthed from the snow belt were Tom Sergio, Scott Lawler, Tim Tracey, Shawn Senior, Vinny Hughes, Gary Shingledecker and Jake Weber, to name a few of the most noteworthy. Add the name of Jeff Pierce to the list. From the tiny hamlet of Staatsburg, N.Y., in rural Dutchess County, Pierce came to NC State from Dutchess Community College in the fall of 1989 as a largely unheralded recruit. Unheralded or not, he made an immediate impact, both at the plate and on the mound. Pierce’s main claim to fame was his hitting. As the scouts say, the bat will play, and Pierce’s bat played big. The man had a short, quick stroke that generated line drives and home runs. In two seasons, he batted .364 with 38 doubles, 32 home runs, 141 RBIs, a .438 on-base percentage and a .630 slugging percentage, fifth-highest in program history. He also worked 33 games as a pitcher, making seven starts and tossing 92 innings while compiling a 10-2 record with a 4.89 ERA. Pierce earned second-team All-ACC honors as a senior by batting .370 with 19 doubles, 19 home runs and 77 RBIs. That RBI total is tied for fifth in the school record book. His 171 total bases that season rank seventh in school history and gave him a .665 slugging percentage for the season. Pierce’s biggest day in an NC State uniform came on May 18, 1991. In a 27-3 blowout of Rider at Chapel Hill’s Boshamer Stadium, Pierce hit four home runs, none of them cheap, and drove in 10 runs. Each of his home runs that afternoon was more prodigious than its predecessor. On the mound, Pierce had a solid repertoire of pitches, threw strikes and kept the ball down. Many area scouts who watched his career thought more of his pitching than his hitting, although none thought enough to draft him after his final season in 1991. The Chicago White Sox signed Pierce as an undrafted free agent following the draft, and he reached the big leagues in 1995 for a brief stay with the Boston Red Sox.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Right Fielders

This is the eighth post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at right fielders.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Saturday: Designated hitters and utility players.

• Right Field — Jake Weber (1995-98)

Dutchess County, N.Y., is Ichabod Crane’s neck of the woods, a modern-day Sleepy Hollow. The county, about 75 miles up the Hudson River from New York City, had a population of 297,488 according to the 2010 census, with Poughkeepsie, the county seat and largest city, checking in with a population of 32,736. A host of sleepy bedroom communities with colorful names surround Poughkeepsie, including Amenia, Fishkill Plains, Poughquag, Rhinebeck, Hyde Park, Pine Plains, Shekomeko, Staatsburg and Wappingers Falls. Between the fall of 1989 and the fall of 1994, those last two, Staatsburg and Wappingers Falls, produced three of NC State’s greatest baseball players — Jeff Pierce (1990-91) from Staatsburg (population 377), and Vinny Hughes (1990-92) and Jake Weber (1995-98) from Wappingers Falls (5,522). Between them, Pierce, Hughes and Weber played nine seasons with the Wolfpack, 542 combined games, and batted .363 with a .437 on-base percentage and a .581 slugging percentage. They combined to hit 127 doubles, 26 triples and 91 homers. They drove in 500 runs and stole 61 bases between them. All three were considered for this team, for obvious reasons. Of the three Weber was by far the best, one of NC State’s greatest players of the last 36 years. From Day One, Weber’s career was monotonously consistent and consistently excellent. He was 1995 ACC Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He earned second-team All-ACC in 1996 and ’97, and made first-team all-conference in 1998. He never made All-America (other than Academic All-America, which he accomplished three times), which is baffling, but there is little question he was one of the best players in college baseball during that time, especially his junior and senior seasons. In 2003, the Atlantic Coast Conference named Weber to its 50-man 50th Anniversary team, making him one of just seven Wolfpack players so honored. Weber had season batting averages of, in order, .326, .354, .391 and .393. He had 84 hits each of his first two seasons, and 99 in each of his last two. He drew 42, 47 and 47 walks his last three years, leading to on-base percentages of .448 in 1996, .484 in 1997 (9th best in school history) and .497 in 1998 (5th). He scored 71, 68, 72 and 77 runs. He was not a prolific basestealer, with 49 steals for his career, but he was, predictably, dependable as sunrise on the bases. He still is tied for fourth in school history for career steals, with season totals of 10, eight, 16 and 15. When he did run, he was successful 80 percent of the time or better all four years. His career success rate of .875 was just a hair south of the .890 turned in by all-blur leader Trea Turner. Weber’s career was, in other words, absolutely free of slumps, no hiccups, no droughts, no extended oh-for streaks. He did everything incredibly well and could beat you in so many ways. Eighteen years after he played his last game here, he is still NC State’s career record-holder for at-bats (1,000), hits (366), triples (21), RBIs (239), walks (co-leader with 154) and total bases (582). He ranks second in runs scored (288). His career on-base percentage was .449, his career slugging percentage .582, giving him a career OPS of 1.031. Defensively, Weber played the difficult right field at the old Doak Field better than anyone. He ran down fly balls with ease and had no problem dealing with the sharp, downhill slope into the right-field corner. He had a strong, accurate throwing arm, yet only aired out a throw when a game was on the line and an out was critical. Otherwise, he always made the right play, always threw to the right base, always hit the cutoff man, always kept the double play in order. Above and beyond all of his other accomplishments on the field, however, Weber’s signature claim to fame in a Wolfpack uniform was never missing a game. NC State played 248 games during his college career, and he played and started all 248 of them. That’s the second most games played in a career by an NC State player (thanks in large part to NCAA-imposed limits on games per season), and the most consecutive games played by anyone in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Weber not only started all 248 games, but I honestly don’t remember him ever missing so much as an inning, although I’m fairly certain that he must have at some point. Jake Weber was arguably the most consistent player in program history, and we’re talking about consistency at the highest possible level. I don’t know if the people naming the All-America teams overlooked him or took him for granted because of that — it certainly seems possible — but those of us following NC State baseball at the time certainly didn’t. And if there was anyone who didn’t appreciate him when he was here, well, they damn sure missed him when 1999 rolled around and he was gone.

• Second Team — Mark Withers (1985-88)

A soft-spoken country boy from the city of Charlotte, Mark Withers came to NC State as an infielder and played third base most of his first two years, but when he moved to right field as a junior to make room at third for Oklahoma State transfer Bryn Kosco, the final piece of a great Wolfpack lineup fell into place. Withers proved to be an offensive force in right field in 1987 and ’88, hitting a combined .376 with a .431 on-base percentage, a .590 slugging percentage, 23 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs, 106 RBIs, 117 runs scored, 48 walks and just 30 strikeouts. He batted .360 (9th in the ACC) with six doubles, three triples, 11 home runs, 61 RBIs and 52 runs scored as a junior in 1987. He led the team with eight game-winning RBIs. At the time, his 77 hits ranked as the third most in a single season in school history. A year later, 1988, with NC State enjoying its greatest offensive season ever, Withers contributed by batting .391 with 17 doubles, two triples, nine homers, 54 RBIs, 49 runs scored, 30 walks and 86 hits, third most in school history behind teammates Brian Bark (100) and Turtle Zaun (91). That’s right, in 1988 Bark, Zaun and Withers each broke the existing school record for hits in a season. Withers finished second on that great team in batting and on-base percentage (.464), and fifth in slugging (.609). He was third in runs scored and tied for fifth in RBIs. To appreciate how loaded that 1988 team was, six different hitters on that club hit 10 or more home runs and the team hit 123 long balls. Eight players drove in 40 or more runs, with three driving in 60 or more. Eight different players batted better than .300, including four who batted better than .370. It was hard for one player to stand out on that team, and Withers, like Paul Borawski four years later, was overshadowed by the likes of Zaun, Bark, Kosco (17 homers), Bill Klenoshek (.373 average, 15 homers, 72 RBIs, .445 OBP, .652 slugging) and several others. For two seasons, however, he was a vital cog in one of NC State’s greatest lineups.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Center Fielders

This is the seventh post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at center fielders.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Tuesday: Right Fielders.

• Center Field — Brian Bark (1987-90)

Brian Bark set 18 NC State single-season or career records during his four years in Raleigh. He ended his Wolfpack career ranked as the school’s all-time leader with 241 games played, 215 consecutive games played, 980 at-bats, 265 runs scored, 323 hits, 70 doubles, 199 RBIs, 127 walks and 538 total bases. He was second in triples with 11 and fourth in home runs with 41. He set single-season records as well. He set a freshman record when he bashed 11 home runs in 1987. A year later, he set school records with 20 doubles, 83 runs scored and 100 base hits, six of which came in a single NCAA regional game, tying an NCAA Tournament record that still stands. He set a single-season record as a senior in 1990 with 272 at-bats. He was the first NC State player ever to hit 10 or more home runs in a season three times, and still is one of just four ever to do so. A two-way threat, he set NC State single-season records with 11 saves in 1989 and 72 appearances in 1990. He left Raleigh with the career marks for both categories (72 appearances and 20 saves). While most of his records were broken in the ensuing two-plus decades, Bark still ranks near the top of most offensive categories in the school record book. He is second in school history in career at-bats (980); third in runs scored and doubles; fourth in hits, RBIs and total bases; and fifth in walks. He is seventh in home runs and eighth in triples. He still ranks seventh in career pitching appearances and second in saves. His 11 saves in 1989 still tie him for fifth in the school record book. Bark made an immediate impact as a freshman with the Wolfpack in 1987, hitting .351 with 16 doubles, 11 home runs and 49 RBIs, while going 4-2 with a 4.93 ERA on the mound. Bark’s greatest season was in 1988 when he was a sophomore. He batted .388 with 20 doubles, 13 homers and 61 RBIs. He set the aforementioned school records for doubles, runs scored and hits. He struck out just five times in 280 plate appearances. Read that last one again, just in case you missed it. Five strikeouts in 280 plate appearances. That’s one strikeout every 56 times he went to the plate, or once ever 12-14 games. He had a .458 on-base percentage and a .647 slugging percentage, both career highs. The 1988 Wolfpack was the best offensive team in school history. Bark batted second in a lineup that set a slew of school records, including a .345 team batting average, 123 home runs, 9.4 runs per game, and a 1.010 team OPS (on-base plus slugging). Bark’s season hit its zenith on May 27 in the NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., when he singlehandedly buried sixth-ranked Florida, going 6-for-6 with a double, two home runs, four runs scored and five RBIs to lead the Wolfpack to a 13-3 rout. He also had a terrific year on the mound, making 12 appearances, 11 of them starts, with a 7-3 record and a 3.78 ERA in a career-high 69 innings. He allowed 61 hits, walked 22 and struck out 53. That, ladies and gentlemen, is one hell of a great year, easily one of the greatest in school history. Bark was not as productive his last two years as he was his first two. Part of that had to do with the team that surrounded him. The Wolfpack lost most of the offensive firepower from its 1988 juggernaut to the draft and graduation. Suddenly, it was easier just to pitch around Bark in tight spots, whereas before it was pretty much impossible. He also assumed a more prominent role on the pitching staff those last two years, going from starter to reliever and more than doubling his appearances on the mound without significantly reducing his workload. He pitched in 22 games as a junior, throwing 43 2/3 innings with a 3-4 record, a 4.95 ERA and a then-school-record 11 saves. A year later he made 27 appearances, five of them starts, and pitched 67 2/3 innings, just four outs short of his career high for innings. He went 4-2 with a 3.46 ERA and nine saves. He appeared in 23 games his first two seasons, 21 of them starts, which has to be easier for a position player because of the routine of starting. He made 49 appearances his last two seasons, only five of them starts. Warm-ups usually consisted of a few long tosses to one of his outfield mates while the coach visited the mound, although he occasionally got to throw in the bullpen between innings. His role was far less certain and far less routine. The only thing he knew for sure was that NC State needed him more than ever, both his bat and his arm. And he delivered. NC State won a combined 63 games in 1989 and ’90, and Bark won or saved 27 of them. At the plate, he batted .325 with 15 doubles, seven homers, 41 RBIs, 34 walks and 15 strikeouts as a junior in 1989. His batting average dipped to .261 as a senior, but he hit 19 doubles and 10 home runs, and drove in 48 runs. He set career highs with 44 walks and 16 stolen bases without being caught (he was 8-for-16 on the bases his first three seasons). Shockingly, Bark never earned All-America honors, but he is one of just four players in conference history to earn first-team All-ACC four times. The Braves drafted Bark as a pitcher in the 12th round in 1990. He reached the big leagues briefly with the Boston Red Sox in 1995. In 2003, he was voted to the ACC’s 50-man 50th Anniversary team.

• Second Team — Matt Camp (2003-06)

Matt Camp played all over the diamond his first two seasons at NC State, playing left field, third base, second base and shortstop before finally finding a home in center field late in his sophomore year. He was a mainstay there the rest of his career, leading off and setting the tone for two of the greatest everyday lineups — 2005 and ’06 —  in NC State history. In ’05, NC State batted .311 with a .405 on-base percentage and a .441 slugging percentage while scoring 7.3 runs per game. The ’06 Wolfpack batted .333 with a .422 OBP and a .482 slugging percentage, scoring 8.5 runs per game. Camp led the Wolfpack in batting three times and sported on-base percentages of .397 or better three times, including a .450 OBP during his standout senior campaign. A .331 career hitter with a .408 OBP and a .413 slugging percentage, Camp still ranks fourth in school history with 973 at-bats and 49 stolen bases, fifth with 216 runs scored and 322 hits, and ninth with 113 walks. He played 245 games, which ranks fourth in school history, and he played the last 233 of those games in a row, which is the school’s second longest consecutive-games-played streak. As a senior, Camp batted .387 with a .450 OBP and a .502 slugging percentage, had 101 hits (3rd most in school history) and 22 doubles, scored 64 runs and drove in 46, walked 31 times and hit six sacrifice flies, all of which were career highs. He earned first-team All-ACC honors, and Collegiate Baseball magazine named him a third-team All-American. With Camp in center field, Jake Muyco (2005) and Caleb Mangum (2006) behind the plate, Ramon Corona at second base and Jonathan Diaz at shortstop, NC State in 2005-06 was peerless defensively up the middle, Gold-Glove caliber at all four positions. Camp ran down everything in sight in center field. He was fearless near the wall yet was always aware of it and seldom made hard contact with it. He had a good throwing arm and always threw to the right base, always hit the cutoff man. And on those teams, with Corona and Diaz manning the middle of the infield, Camp knew — he absolutely knew — that the cutoff man was always going to be in position. Camp and Diaz were perhaps the two smartest players in the same lineup during Elliott Avent’s 20 years as head coach, as close to real coaches on the field as you’ll find. The Chicago Cubs took Camp in the 13th round of the 2006 MLB Draft.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Left Fielders

This is the sixth post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at left fielders.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Thursday: Center fielders.

• Left Field — Brian Wright (1999-2002)

During his nine years as Wolfpack head coach (1988-96), Ray Tanner had a tradition of hiding bats in left field. Defensively challenged sluggers such as Jeff Pierce, Pat Clougherty and Tony Ellison regularly patrolled left field at the Doak during Tanner’s tenure, and whatever defensive deficiencies they may have had were more than offset by their bats. Between them, Pierce, Clougherty and Ellison clubbed 117 home runs in seven combined seasons, about 17 long balls a year. That many home runs can more than atone for a few misplayed fly balls and overthrown cutoff men. In 1999, then-third-year head coach Elliott Avent revived that tradition with Brian Wright, an offense-first outfielder who went on to become one of the greatest hitters in school history. A three-time first-team All-ACC selection who was All-America as a senior in 2002, Wright’s career was as good offensively as that of anyone ever to wear the uniform. He holds the school record with 78 career doubles. He ranks second in total bases (557), and third in batting average (.373), hits (341) and RBIs (222). He’s fourth in runs scored (225), tied for fifth in home runs (42), sixth in walks (121) and tied for eighth in stolen bases (41). His career on-base percentage was .447. He slugged.610 for an eye-popping career OPS of 1.057. Along with Colt Morton, he is one of just two players in school history to hit 10 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. Wright finished his career by playing in 205 consecutive games, the fourth longest consecutive-games streak in school history. He accomplished all that despite the misfortune of playing on three mediocre teams that did not make the NCAA Tournament. In retrospect, that certainly cost him some much-deserved recognition — seeing his career stats for the first time in 14 years was definitely an eye-opener for me — and probably cost him some protection in the lineup as well. Didn’t matter. He put up dazzling offensive numbers and when we debate the topic of greatest player later in this series, Wright’s name will be right in the middle of the discussion. His first three seasons were more than great enough to get him on this all-time team. His slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG) his first three years was .358/.424/.570. As a freshman in 1999, he batted .363 with 14 doubles, six homers, 35 RBIs and 12 steals in as many attempts, despite not becoming an everyday starter until the final five weeks of the season. His 21-game hitting streak that year was, and remains, the longest ever by an NC State freshman, and was just six games short of Greg Briley’s school-record 27-game streak from 1986. No surprise to anyone, he was a consensus Freshman All-American. A year later, Wright hit .366 with 17 doubles, 12 homers, 52 RBIs and nine steals. He batted .407 over the final 40 games. His junior year was more of the same. He led the Wolfpack in batting (.347), slugging (.569), doubles (21) and RBIs (62). He hit 10 homers and stole 10 bases. His on-base percentage was .417. He batted .400 (42-for-105) with seven doubles, five homers and 31 RBIs in 24 ACC games. So after such an auspicious first three seasons and with a great legacy already assured, what could Wright possibly do for a career finale? In storybook fashion, he had one of the greatest single seasons ever by a Wolfpack player, batting .418 (3rd best in school history) with 26 doubles (3rd), 14 homers, 73 RBIs (tied for 9th), 46 walks (tied for 8th), 10 stolen bases, a .510 on-base percentage (3rd) and a .728 slugging percentage (5th). He earned second-team All-America honors from Baseball America and the NCBWA. During one stretch that year, he hit safely in 11 consecutive at-bats. Not 11 consecutive games, mind you, but 11 consecutive at-bats. At the time, Wright’s .418 batting average for 2002 was second highest in school history (Aaron Bates batted .425 three years later, bumping Wright to No. 3). The record is held by Chris Cammack, who batted .429 in 1969, but in just 28 games and 104 total plate appearances. In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that Wright batted .418 in 59 games and 287 plate appearances, a considerably longer season. (Also in the interest of fairness, it should be noted that in 1969 Cammack batted .429 using wood bats.) As for Wright’s defense, well, to be kind, he had his misadventures in the outfield, especially early in his career. To his credit, Avent promised Wright early on that he would never make him a designated hitter, that he would work with him to make him a better outfielder. Avent kept his word. With hard work, opportunity, and more than a little pride in his craft, Wright became a decent left fielder by the time he graduated. Of course, no matter how good an outfielder Wright may have become, with an offensive resume like his he could have been a Gold Glove outfielder and defense would still be the weakest part of his game. Let’s just say that by the end of his four years in Raleigh, he was still an offense-first outfielder but was no longer carrying the tradition of hiding a bat in left field. The Cleveland Indians drafted Wright in the seventh round in 2002, and after a solid start to his professional career, he came down with back problems and had to retire. He deserved better than that, just as he deserved to play on better teams in college.

• Second Team — Chuckie Canady (1979-81)

Chuckie Canady’s last season at NC State’s was 1981, which was my first covering the baseball team. I did the play-by-play for games on WKNC-FM, the student radio station, from 1981-83, and when I wasn’t broadcasting, I was contributing occasional articles to the Wolfpacker and the Technician, and when I wasn’t doing that I was at the ballpark just watching. So while it was only one season, I still saw more than enough of Chuckie Canady to understand that he was one of NC State’s best and most overlooked players ever. He also was one of the most consistent. A career .371 hitter, Canady batted .371, .369 and .372 in his three seasons in Raleigh. He not only hit consistently, he hit the ball hard consistently: screamers, liners, blue darters, pearods, bombs, bullets, lasers, whatever you care to call them, Canady hit them, seemingly every time he swung the bat. In the ACC in 1981, the two players who were generally acknowledged to hit the ball harder than anyone else were Canady and the appropriately named Brick Smith of Wake Forest. Every time either of them came to bat, you watched because both just crushed the ball. As a freshman Canady hit seven doubles, a triple and seven home runs, scored 35 times with 21 RBIs, all in just 36 games. He also stole five bases in as many attempts. In three fewer games a year later, he hit nine doubles, two triples, seven homers, drove in 39 runs and scored 21. NC State played a then-school-record 45 games in Canady’s junior season, 1981, and he responded to the extended schedule with 10 doubles, two triples, 10 homers, 59 RBIs and eight steals in nine attempts. The Texas Rangers took Canady in the second round of the 1981 MLB draft, and he left Raleigh as NC State’s career leader in batting average (.371), home runs (24), RBIs (119), and total bases (271). He ranked second in runs scored (102), hits (163) and doubles (26). He held single-season records with 66 hits (1981) and 59 RBIs (1981), and tied for the single-season record with 10 home runs (1981). We discussed length of schedule in the entry for Tracy Woodson at first base, and it applies here as well. Canady, who did not miss a game in his college career, played just 114 games in three seasons. Why? Because the Wolfpack did not play past final exams in late April. That is just inexcusable. At a time when NCAA Tournament contenders were playing 60 or more games a year, with some schools out west playing upwards of 90, NC State didn’t think it was worth its while to play the entire final month of the regular season. The school record for games in a season is now 68, set in 1990 and ’91. Canady played just 69 games in his first two seasons combined. Even after he left, the Wolfpack stayed well behind the curve on this for years to come, not playing 40 games in a season again until 1984 and not cracking the 50-game barrier until 1986. Canady still ranks fifth in school history in career batting average, but the Wolfpack played so few games in those days that all of his other marks were overwhelmed by a tidal wave of hitters who came along in ensuing decades and who routinely played 60-plus games a year. It’s both enticing and frustrating to contemplate what Canady might have done given the same opportunity. He was a fantastic hitter and deserved better.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Shortstops

This is the fifth post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at shortstops.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Sunday: Left fielders.

• Shortstop — Trea Turner (2012-14)

I admit to being conflicted here, but in the end this was an easy choice. When that AL East cross-checker got this project started by asking me who my favorite all-time NC State player was, the answer was easy — Jonathan Diaz. Period. And I say that with no disrespect or lack of love for Trea Turner or anyone else. Diaz was just a special player. No one else like him. You had to see him play defense to understand but with all that said, Turner was NC State’s greatest shortstop and the most physically gifted player in program history. He possessed electrifying sub-6.3 speed in the 60-yard dash, great hand-to-eye coordination, uncanny bat-to-ball skills, terrific instincts, and above-average defensive tools. As an offensive player, Turner ranks among the very greatest in program history. He terrorized opposing pitchers and catchers with his speed and daring on the basepaths. He had a potent combination of patience and pop at the plate, drawing enough walks to post a career on-base percentage of .435, and driving the ball with enough authority to slug .507. And when he got on base, he completely disrupted the defense because of his wheels. He hit 38 doubles, nine triples and 20 homers, scored 203 runs and drove in 121, walked 113 times to 94 strikeouts, and stole a school-record 113 bases in 127 attempts, a success rate of 89 percent. Defensively, Turner was a fine college shortstop, with superior range to his left, excellent hands, and a solid throwing arm. With Chris Diaz (Jonathan’s kid brother) established at shortstop in 2012, Turner spent his freshman year playing third base, batting .336 with 41 walks, five homers, 43 RBIs, 72 runs, and a school-record 57 steals. With range to his right not as critical at third base, Turner played Gold-Glove-caliber defense. The College Baseball Writers Association of America voted him third-team All-America. He was also first-team All-ACC and a consensus first-team Freshman All-American. Back at shortstop as a sophomore, he earned second-team All-America honors by batting .368 with 13 doubles, four triples, seven homers, 38 walks, 42 RBIs, 66 runs scored and 30 steals while leading the Wolfpack to the 2013 College World Series. He played two-thirds of the season on a fractured ankle, but still slugged .533 with a .455 on-base percentage, both career highs. With the draft looming, he tailed off just a bit as a junior in 2014, batting .321 with 12 doubles, three triples, eight homers, 37 walks, 36 RBIs and 65 runs scored. He slugged .516 with a .418 OBP. He batted third for about half the season and seemed to change his approach accordingly. Instead of just putting the ball in play and trying to reach base, he appeared to be swinging for the fences instead. At the same time, he wasn’t nearly as aggressive on the bases although he still swiped 26 bags. He won the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s top collegiate shortstop (he was a two-time finalist, btw) and was a consensus first-team All-American. That’s a hell of a season by any standards other than those he set the year before, and the inescapable truth is that Turner was an all-time great college player, the only three-time All-American in program history, and will likely be the first NC State player inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. If Turner and Jonathan Diaz played on the same team, Turner probably would probably have to change positions, depending on how much you value elite-level defense, but Turner’s career more than speaks for itself. With all phases of the game considered, Diaz was the better defender, better than anyone, but Turner was NC State’s greatest shortstop. Case closed.

• Second Team — Jonathan Diaz (2004-06)

Jonathan Diaz was the best defensive shortstop I’ve seen in 36 years working college baseball, and an absolute joy to watch. Blessed with acrobatic athleticism, hands of velcro, a good throwing arm, a flair for the spectacular, and an off-the-charts baseball IQ, Diaz put on a show at shortstop for 182 games from 2004-06. Every day, you went to the ballpark wondering what kind of magic act he was going to pull off this time. He made all the routine plays, of course. He also made countless plays that no one else could dream of, and did it with style and aplomb. His footwork and positioning were textbook. His execution on double plays, cutoffs and relays was flawless. His hands did not know the meaning of the term “bad hop.” And just when you thought you’d seen it all, he’d pull a rabbit out of his hat — metaphorically, at least — by turning a play that would just make your jaw drop. Diaz wasn’t much of a hitter. He batted .167 as a freshman in 2004 but played 59 of 60 games because his glove had to be in the lineup. No one was sure how he managed to hit .317 as a sophomore, and he hit a much more believable .255 as a junior in 2006, earning second-team All-ACC and finishing his career with an even .250 average. He was patient at the plate. He drew 80 walks to go with 93 strikeouts, giving him a .370 career OBP. The Blue Jays picked Diaz in the 12th round in the 2006 MLB draft. He reached the big leagues with the Red Sox in 2013 and with the Blue Jays in 2014 and ’15, despite the fact that minor league pitchers often knocked the bat out of his hands. His defense and instincts were so otherworldly that he found his way to the big leagues despite lacking the one tool that scouts consider essential for a position player — the hit tool. His game was defense, and in three years at NC State he played defense better than anyone, ever. Those of you new to Wolfpack baseball the last 10 years, well, you missed it, and that’s your loss for we will almost certainly never see the likes of Jonathan Diaz again.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Third basemen

This is the fourth post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at third basemen.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Wednesday: Shortstops.

• Third Base — Tim Tracey (1993-94)

Tim Who? There will be some names on this team that no doubt will leave many current Wolfpack fans scratching their heads, not because these guys couldn’t play but because they played before NC State baseball attained the popularity it currently enjoys. Lights were first erected at Doak Field in 1995. The stadium wasn’t renovated until 2003-04. Those two events marked a turning point in the popularity of the program. Prior to that, however, NC State baseball was a comparatively anonymous endeavor. Attendance at the Doak was mostly paltry — the average per-game attendance most years was in the mid-triple digits and never passed 1,000 until lights went up in ’95 — but not because the product on the field didn’t warrant any love. Quite the opposite, in fact. Tim Tracey was a stud third baseman with a deadly line-drive stroke to the opposite field. He came to NC State from Massasoit Community College in his hometown of Brockton, Mass., and quickly established himself as the Wolfpack’s starting third baseman. He earned first-team All-ACC honors as a junior in 1993 when he batted .357 with 13 doubles, three triples, eight homers and 47 RBIs. He posted a .429 on-base percentage and slugged .538, helping that team win a then-school-record 49 games, a mark that stood until the 2013 team won 50 and went to the College World Series. He followed that with an even better season in ’94, yet somehow didn’t make first- or second-team all-conference despite hitting .379 with 24 doubles, five triples, four homers, 51 RBIs, a .452 on-base percentage and a .559 slugging percentage. Tracey finished his two-year stint with a .368 career batting average, good for third in school history at the time and still an impressive seventh, a .441 on-base percentage and a .553 slugging percentage. He played on two excellent power-hitting teams — the 1993 Wolfpack hit 62 homers and slugged .463, while the ’94 team belted 105 homers and slugged .544 — and he batted in the middle of the lineup for both. A big guy at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds but with deceptive athleticism, Tracey made all the plays at third base. He had a quick step towards the line, soft hands and a strong, accurate throwing arm. In particular, he came in and easily gobbled up those slow rollers that eat up so many college third basemen. At the plate, the righthanded hitter wore out the right-field line, repeatedly ripping screamers into the corner. And at the old Doak Field, where right field was about 15 feet lower than home plate and the world occasionally seemed on the verge of tipping over, balls hit into the right-field corner were a sizable advantage for the home team. It should be noted, also, that Tracey’s shots to the opposite field were not balls he sliced because of a late swing. He hit pearods, straight line drives off his bat, down the line and into the corner. Tracey’s anonymity with Wolfpack fans comes from 1.) playing just two years and 2.) playing before NC State baseball became a local fan favorite. His anonymity has nothing to do with the caliber of his play.

• Second Team — Paul Borawski (1989-92)

Paul Borawski’s career took some time to get off the ground, but once airborne, he was a standout. He was a part-time player as a freshman in 1989, seeing action in 34 games, almost all as a back-up. He batted .253 with six doubles, a home run and nine RBIs. He then missed all but 10 games of his sophomore campaign for academic reasons. This is a touchy subject and I don’t want to cast the wrong light on Borawski. He was eligible to play by NC State standards. He was eligible to play by Atlantic Coast Conference standards. Hell, he was eligible to play by NCAA standards. At almost any other school in the country, he would have played that spring without so much as a whisper of academic problems. Unfortunately for Borawski, he was not eligible to play by head coach Ray Tanner’s standards, and consequently he sat out until the end of the spring semester. Once final grades were posted, he returned to action and batted .391 with a .417 on-base percentage and a .478 slugging percentage in 24 plate appearances. Yes, that’s a tiny sample size, but in this case it proved to be a harbinger of things to come. In 1991 and ’92 Borawski was one of the all-around best and most consistent players in the ACC, helping NC State win a combined 94 games and an ACC championship while advancing to two NCAA regionals. Borawski batted .351 as a junior in ’91, belting 23 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs, with 56 RBIs. He drew 30 walks and sported a .429 on-base percentage. He slugged .595. He also stole nine bases in 10 attempts. His 23 doubles are still tied for eighth in a single season in school history. On a team that won 48 games and scored 7.27 runs per game, Borawski ranked second in hits (91), second in doubles, second in home runs, second in RBIs, second in total bases (137), third in on-base percentage, second in slugging percentage, and third in steals. Shockingly, no one on that team made first-team All-ACC (go figure), and Borawski somehow didn’t make second-team all-conference, either. His numbers tailed off a bit in 1992, but he made the All-ACC second team after hitting .304 with 17 doubles, a team-leading 15 home runs, 52 RBIs, 59 runs scored and 15 steals in 16 attempts. He led the team with 44 walks, which led to a .413 on-base percentage. Again, he ranked among the team’s offensive leaders in almost every category, on a balanced club that won 46 games, scored 7.1 runs per game and won the school’s last conference championship in baseball. Borawski finished second in hits (75), third in doubles, second in RBIs, second in total bases (137), fifth in on-base percentage, second in slugging and second in stolen bases. The 1991 and ’92 teams were loaded with star players — Matt Donahue, Jeff Pierce, Pat Clougherty, Vinny Hughes, Andy Barkett, Jeff Meszar, Terry Harvey, Jamie Wolkosky, Sean Drinkwater, Chris Long, Scott Snead, Greg Almond. There just wasn’t enough spotlight to go around. Some players got lost in the shuffle, Borawski included. As a result, not many people understood just how good he was until he was gone.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Second basemen

This is the third post in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at second basemen.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Saturday: Third basemen.

• Second Base — Tom Sergio (1994-97)

Tom Sergio came to NC State as an unheralded recruit from the Philadelphia suburbs, a late signee whose only other Division I offer was from Virginia Commonwealth. He quickly established himself as one of the best hitters on one of the best hitting teams in college baseball, and was arguably the greatest leadoff hitter in program history. When he reached base, which he did about as frequently as anyone to ever wear the uniform, he usually made his way around the bases and crossed home plate. He still holds the Atlantic Coast Conference record with 290 runs scored. His speed enabled him to break the school’s career record for stolen bases (since shattered by Trea Turner). That same speed helped him turn singles into doubles, and doubles into triples. Sergio was ACC Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American in 1994 after batting .366 with 72 runs scored, 15 steals in 16 attempts. He had a .441 on-base percentage while slugging .469. And that was just a taste to whet the appetite. As a sophomore a year later, Sergio truly burst on the national scene, batting .391 with 70 runs scored, 17 steals, a then-school-record .489 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage. In addition to earning first-team All-ACC, he was second-team All-America by The Sporting News. Typical of many draft eligible juniors, Sergio suffered something of an offensive drop-off in ’96. He batted .317 with a .399 on-base percentage, both figures representing a decline of nearly 20 percent from his 1995 totals. On the plus side, he belted 17 doubles and stole 23 bases, both career highs. His 21 extra-base hits gave him a .455 slugging percentage. It was a down season only by his own previous standards, and he more than atoned for it all as a senior in ’97. Sergio’s finale for the Wolfpack was grand, indeed. He batted .412 with 14 doubles, 16 homers, 85 runs scored, 68 runs driven in, 18 steals in 22 attempts, 51 walks, a .700 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage. He set school records that year for runs scored, walks and OBP, and also set career highs in homers, hits (100), total bases (170) and RBIs. He was All-America for the second time in three years, and this time he was just the fourth-ever first-team All-American in NC State history. Nineteen years after playing his last college game, Sergio still figures prominently in the school record book. In addition to being the ACC record-holder for runs, he ranks among NC State’s career leaders with 362 hits (2nd), 19 triples (2nd), 73 steals (2nd), 150 walks (3rd), 243 games played (4th), 521 total bases (5th), a .370 batting average (6th) and 167 RBIs (8th). Career records for on-base percentage have not been kept by the NC State athletics communication office, but Sergio’s .461 mark would have to rank near the top of the list. He finished with a remarkable ratio of 150 career walks to just 105 strikeouts. He slugged .534, giving him a career OPS of .995. For what it’s worth, he is, to my memory, the only hitter in NC State history who never, not one single time, took a practice swing in the on-deck circle. Never once. He saved his swings for when it counted. And he definitely made each and every swing count.

• Second Team — Brian Ward (1998-99)

Brian Ward looked more than a wee bit like Barney Rubble from The Flintstones. He stood about 5-foot-7 and was listed at 188 pounds. At times he appeared to be about as wide as he was tall, although that was certainly an optical illusion. Ward also was a slow runner, to put it kindly. But my, oh my, how the little guy could hit. With a bat in his hands, he was the biggest guy in the room, anywhere he went. He had quick hands, a short stroke, superb bat-to-balls skills, and a high baseball IQ. If hitting is a craft, then Ward was a master craftsman. After a record-shattering career at Brevard Community College in Orlando, Fla., where he twice led the state in batting (hitting .434 and .471), Ward came to Raleigh and twice earned second-team All-ACC honors with huge offensive years for the Wolfpack. He finished second in the ACC with a .393 average as a junior in 1998, belting 11 home runs with 66 RBIs. He had 105 hits, including 31 doubles, both of which still stand as school records. He walked 33 times. He had 267 at-bats (4th most in a single season in Wolfpack annals) and amassed 173 total bases (6th). He had a .466 on-base percentage and a .648 slugging percentage. There are times when you wonder what the voters of all-star teams are thinking, and the fact that Ward finished second in the All-ACC voting that year is one of those cases. The league’s coaches voted Clemson’s Kurt Bultmann first-team all-conference at second base, ahead of Ward. Bultmann hit .299 with 18 doubles, 10 home runs, 54 RBIs, a .383 on-base percentage and a .513 slugging percentage. Ward hit for a higher average (by .094 points), a higher on-base percentage (by .083 points), a higher slugging percentage (by .135 points), had more hits (105 to 70), hit more doubles (30 to 24) and home runs (11 to 10), and drove in more runs (66 to 54). And finished second. Whatever the coaches were smoking that day, I’m happy to report that it’s now legal in several states. A year later, Ward batted .367 with 18 doubles, 16 homers and 73 RBIs. He scored a team-best 65 runs and even stole nine bases in 12 attempts. He drew 37 walks and got hit by pitch nine times, giving him a .460 on-base percentage to go with a .671 slugging percentage. He led the team in home runs, RBIs, slugging and OPS (1.131). Again, Ward finished second in the all-conference balloting at second base, and this time the coaches got it right. Florida State’s Marshall McDougall earned conference player of the year honors by hitting .419 with 28 homers and 106 RBIs. He led the nation in RBIs and hits (126). In one game at Maryland, he belted six homers and drove in 16 runs. In one game! So Ward only got robbed by the coaches once in two years. Ward left NC State as the school’s career leader in batting average with a .380 mark, which still ranks second only to Aaron Bates’s .387 average from 2005-06. He also ranks third in school history with a .659 career slugging percentage. Again, there are no official rankings for career OBP in the school record book, but his .463 mark is two points better than Sergio’s, although in about half as many plate appearances. His career OPS was an eye-opening 1.122. The Padres drafted Ward in the 12th round of the 1999 MLB draft. After playing parts of three seasons in the Padres organization, he spent four years with Fargo-Moorhead of the independent Northern League, where he hit a combined .270 with 81 doubles and 27 homers in 364 games. After retiring, Ward spend seven seasons as an assistant coach on Elliott Avent’s staff.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — First basemen

This is the second installment in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. Today, we look at first basemen.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Tuesday: Second basemen.

• First Base — Turtle Zaun (1985-88)

Not surprisingly, two names jumped off the page when I went through the candidates at first base, and this was about as close a call as I had to make. In the end, I chose Turtle Zaun by a nose over Tracy Woodson. Zaun, whose nickname was given to him as an infant and had nothing to do with his celebrated lack of foot speed, won on a combination of longevity and peak value. Woodson’s great 1984 season was the greatest individual offensive season in school history, but it wasn’t that much greater than Zaun’s two great seasons in 1987 and ’88. Woodson’s slugging percentage in ’84 was a school-record and otherworldly .930, the only time a Wolfpack player ever slugged better than .900 in a season. His overall stat line that year was jaw-dropping. Still, Zaun is the only Wolfpack player ever to slug better than .800 twice (.834 in 1987 and .811 in 1988, which rank 2nd and 3rd in school history). He still stands among the school’s all-time leaders with a .372 career batting average (4th), 54 home runs (2nd), 195 RBIs (5th) and a .711 slugging percentage (2nd). He earned first-team All-ACC honors three times — in 1986, ’87 and ’88 — and captured ACC Player of the Year honors as a senior in ’88. He is one of just two Wolfpack players, along with Pat Clougherty, to hit 20 or more homers in a season twice (22 in 1987, 25 in 1988) and holds the school record for RBIs in a season with 87 in 1988. Zaun didn’t show much power his first two seasons, but he did hit for a solid average, batting .305 as a freshman and .322 as a sophomore. Head coach Sam Esposito, looking for more than singles from a corner infielder and DH, challenged Zaun after the 1986 season, demanding more run production. So Zaun hit the weight room and the results were dramatic. No player in program history has enjoyed back-to-back seasons comparable to Zaun’s junior and senior campaigns. He batted .402 (10th in school history) with 18 doubles, 22 homers (5th), 66 RBIs and a .485 on-base percentage (8th) as a junior in 1987; then topped that by hitting .399 with 19 doubles, 25 homers (tied for 1st), 87 RBIs (1st) and a .489 on-base percentage (tied for 6th) as a senior in ’88. He was never quite as great as Woodson at his peak but he was great for longer, and the overall arc and length of Zaun’s career pushed him past Woodson and over the top here. In short, his peak was close enough to Woodson’s and lasted twice as long. In 2003, he was voted to the ACC’s 50-man 50th Anniversary team.

• Second Team — Tracy Woodson (1982-84)

Quite honestly, Tracy Woodson could have been listed as a utility player for the purposes of choosing this team. He played second base as a freshman in 1982, shifted to third as a sophomore, then settled in at first base as a junior in 1984. First base was his position from then on and in all candor, he’s here because of that 1984 season, an utterly mind-blowing campaign, which, again, he turned in as a first baseman. Woodson batted .373 in 1984 and led the ACC with a school-record 25 homers (one every 6.32 at-bats), a then-school-record 77 RBIs, and a video-game-like .930 slugging percentage. He did all of that in just 40 games. That will almost certainly stand forever as the greatest single offensive season in school history. He was an easy choice for All-ACC, ACC Player of the Year and All-America. Woodson’s ’84 season didn’t quite come out of nowhere but it kind of seemed that way. He batted just .232 as a freshman in 1982, but with a team-best eight homers and 37 RBIs in 33 games. He followed that by hitting a respectable .299 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs as a sophomore in 1983, again leading the team in homers and RBIs. That’s two solid if unspectacular seasons, but hardly predictive of the explosion to come. Woodson’s ’84 season made national headlines, yet critics and naysayers were quick to note NC State’s soft non-conference schedule, a semi-valid point that ignores the fact that Woodson hit everybody that year, not just the cupcakes. Besides, if it was that easy, how come no one else did it? We’re talking a homer every 6.32 at-bats. There are numerous players who can’t do that in batting practice. Woodson earned second-team All-America honors in ’84, becoming just the second Wolfpack All-American in 15 years (by comparison, 13 NC State players made All-America the following 15 years). At this point, we need to talk about opportunity and length, not strength, of schedule. Before 1986, the Wolfpack never played 50 games in a season, usually playing way fewer than 40. Rivals around the country, meanwhile, were routinely playing more than 60. Some West Coast teams played 90 or more games. In this respect, NC State was very late arriving to college baseball’s modern age. That was hardly Woodson’s fault but he was certainly a victim of it. The Pack played just 115 games in his three seasons. He saw action in 110 of them. By comparison, Turtle Zaun played 115 games combined in 1987-88 alone. Jeff Pierce played 135 games in his two seasons in Raleigh, 1990-91. Despite the glaring lack of opportunity, Woodson still ranks third in school history with 46 home runs and ninth with 166 RBIs. His career slugging percentage of .720 is a school record. Records for homers per at-bat have not been kept over the years, but it’s unfathomable that anyone can approach his career mark of a home run every 8.78 ABs. No one considered for this all-time Wolfpack team was even close. It’s quite fair to assume that had NC State given Woodson more opportunities by playing, say, 50-60 games a year (as opposed to 38, 37 and 40), he might well be listed ahead of Zaun on this all-time Wolfpack team. Food for thought, but I don’t deal in hypotheticals. It may be unfair because of it, but it’s Zaun and Woodson, not Woodson and Zaun. End of discussion. In 2003, Woodson was voted to the ACC’s 50-man 50th Anniversary team. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him in the third round of the 1984 June draft, and he was in the big leagues in time to play in the 1988 World Series. He had the game-winning RBI in Game 3. He played in parts of five big league seasons for the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. He currently is head baseball coach at his hometown University of Richmond.

The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team 1981-2016 — Catchers

This is the first installment in The Unofficial Scorer’s All-Wolfpack Baseball Team, 1981-2016. We begin at catcher.

To recap how this team was selected, current players and players who finished their eligibility prior to 1981 were not eligible. Players who began their college career before 1981 but finished in 1981, ’82 or ’83 were eligible, with their pre-1981 achievements more or less grandfathered into this. This affected several players from the 1981 and ’82 teams.

At the end of the day, both objective analysis and subjective opinion played a role in determining who made this team. I’ve taken painstaking care in going over this to make sure I’ve included everyone who is worthy. If, however, I left off a deserving name, it was wholly inadvertent. And if your favorite player did not make this team, it was not intended in any way to diminish that player. NC State has had more than its share of great players. I couldn’t list everyone.

Coming Friday: First basemen.

• Catcher — Colt Morton (2001-03)

NC State has been blessed with an abundance of excellent catchers over the years. I considered about a dozen of them, but always came back to Colt Morton. Blessed with a great name, movie-star good looks, upper-deck raw power and surprising athleticism and flexibility for a big man — 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds — Morton was the complete package behind the plate. The son of a personal trainer, his flexibility was especially noteworthy, and no doubt helped him to get into a low crouch, move around fluidly and set a nice low target for his pitchers. While there was a little too much swing-and-miss in his game (174 career K’s, including 76 in 267 plate appearances his freshman season), his power was a game-changer. Most of his home runs were moon shots, the kind of majestic, tape-measure bombs that demoralize opposing pitchers. Along with Brian Wright, he is one of just two NC State players ever to hit 10 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons (12 in 2001, 13 in 2002, and 19 in 2003). He was easily the most irreplaceable player on NC State’s first-ever NCAA Super Regional team, the 2003 squad, which went 45-18 despite playing just 10 games at Doak Field due to stadium renovations. He led the team in homers (19), RBIs (54) and walks (43) while guiding a talented but razor-thin pitching staff that featured three All-Americans. His game-tying bomb vs. Virginia Commonwealth at the 2003 NCAA Wilson Regional not only left Fleming Stadium, but also cleared the parking lot beyond the left-field fence, estimated by a Wilson Tobs official at about 500 feet. Morton belted 35 doubles to go with his 44 career homers, giving him a .520 career slugging percentage. Consistent from start to finish, Morton batted .260, .263 and .265 in his three seasons at NC State, not great averages, no, but he augmented that with 98 walks, giving him a .366 on-base percentage. He averaged a homer every 15.07 at-bats for his career, and upped that ratio to every 12.5 ABs in ’03. Defensively, he was a plus receiver, and fielded his position adroitly, blocking balls in the dirt, and vacuuming up bunts and dribblers in front of the plate. He had a plus arm and cut down the running game. He handled pitchers extremely well and was always — ALWAYS — the man in charge. On fly balls to the outfield with runners on base, Morton’s call to the outfield (“no tag” when the runner wasn’t tagging up, or the number of the base to throw to when the runner was tagging) was audible throughout even the loudest and most hostile stadiums. Most significant, at least to me, Colt Morton was the last NC State catcher to call pitches without prompts from the dugout. There are reasons why college coaches call every pitch, not the least of which is their tendency to be control freaks. The biggest factor, however, is the amount of skull work entailed in calling pitches. A catcher has to know his pitchers. He has to know the opposing hitters. As the game wears on, he has to remember how certain hitters were pitched, the exact pitch sequences, in previous at-bats. He has to understand game situations — the ball-strike count, the number of outs, runners on base and which bases, and whether those runners are a threat to steal or hit-and-run. And he usually has to boil all that down in a split second, pitch after pitch, before signaling the next offering from his pitcher. It’s not easy and it takes tremendous effort to learn. Morton was as smart behind the plate as he was physically gifted. His baseball IQ and understanding of game situations were unsurpassed. And all of that separated Colt Morton from the rest of a crowded field of NC State catchers.

• Second Team — Greg Almond (1992-93)

Greg Almond was NC State’s best defensive catcher of the last 36 years, and the Wolfpack, as mentioned previously, has had more than its share of great backstops. Catcher’s ERA is largely discounted by statheads. At some point, though, you have to believe the data and assume it’s not just a coincidence or luck. In the three years before Greg Almond arrived at NC State (1989-91), the staff ERAs were 4.54, 4.93 and 4.18. During Almond’s two seasons, that dropped precipitously, to 2.98 and 3.48. In the three years after he left, the staff ERA ballooned to 5.01, 5.08 and 6.95. To be fair, Almond wasn’t the only variable in the equation. In particular, the 1992 starting rotation may have been the best in school history, and the ’93 rotation wasn’t far behind. Still, behind every great pitching staff is a great catcher, one who can give a pat on the back or a kick in the ass as needed, who can be trusted to block that 0-2 breaking ball in the dirt, cut down the running game, and quickly field balls dribbled in front of home plate. That was Greg Almond. Wild pitches and passed balls both dropped by about half during his two years, and while the rules of baseball charge wild pitches to the pitcher, don’t think for a second that the catcher isn’t a huge factor. It was a rare sight, indeed, to see Almond chasing an errant pitch to the backstop. The running game slowed with Almond in the lineup, with the number of successful steals and total stolen-base attempts dropping by about 25 percent. And rather than risk running into outs, opponents tended to play station-to-station with Almond behind the plate. And if you didn’t believe the numbers, there was always the eye test. Almond was like a hockey goalie. Balls in the dirt got knocked down and smothered. Short-hop throws from the outfield or relayed from infielders never seemed to handcuff him. He set up a nice, low target and framed pitches well. Pitchers loved working with him. A good hitter overshadowed by several great hitting teammates and one extra-famous in-conference rival, Almond batted .251 with eight homers and 38 RBIs as a junior for the Wolfpack’s 1992 ACC championship team. A year later, he hit .315 with five homers and 31 RBIs for NC State’s 49-game winner, which was the school record for W’s until 2013. He posted a .281 career average with a .377 OBP and a .461 slugging percentage. Surrounded by the likes of Pat Clougherty, Tim Tracey, Vinny Hughes, Andy Barkett and Robbie Bark, standout hitters one and all, Almond’s offense was overlooked, even taken for granted. Then there was the presence of Georgia Tech’s Jason Varitek, an all-world catcher and future big league star who overshadowed everyone in college baseball those years. Varitek was genuinely great, especially with a bat in his hands. Behind the plate, however, Almond was better. In fact, Almond was easily the ACC’s best defensive catcher in both 1992 and ’93, no contest, and NC State’s best defensive catcher since 1981, hands down.