Baseball Ends Year Ranked in Top 25
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami baseball program closed out the 2019 season ranked in the top 25 of every major poll.
The Hurricanes (41-20) were ranked as high as No. 19 in the final edition of the D1Baseball Top 25. Miami came in at No. 20 in the final edition of the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 22 in the Baseball America Top 25 and No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Div. I Baseball Poll. The Canes were also ranked No. 24 in the final NCBWA Division I Poll.
Miami had an impressive first season under head coach Gino DiMare’s tutelage, winning 41 games and returning to the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2016. The Canes earned the 46th postseason berth in program history and reached the Starkville Regional final before falling to No. 6 Mississippi State.
The Hurricanes went 18-12 in ACC play, winning seven conference series and turning in their best conference record since 2016.
Four Canes were named All-ACC, as redshirt sophomore Michael Amditis, freshman Adrian Del Castillo and redshirt junior Brian Van Belle were selected to the All-ACC Second Team, while sophomore Raymond Gil was named to the All-ACC Third Team. Del Castillo was also one of 12 players picked for the 2019 ACC All-Freshman Team.
Del Castillo earned a litany of awards after his outstanding collegiate debut season. The Miami native was named a Freshman All-American by Baseball America, D1 Baseball, NBCWA and Perfect Game and was joined by freshman Slade Cecconi on Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s Freshman All-America Team. Del Castillo was also named to the ABCA All-Region Team and was one of five Hurricanes named to the all-regional team at the Starkville Regional, joined by Gil, Van Belle, sophomore first baseman Alex Toral and freshman designated hitter JP Gates.
Toral led a powerful Hurricane lineup that clubbed and ACC-best 85 home runs on the season, the most since Miami hit 106 in 2010. The herculean first baseman smashed a conference-leading 24 home runs on the season that ranked third in Division I and moved him into a tie with Yonder Alonso for the second-most home runs by a Hurricane in a single season.
Twelve different Hurricanes hit at least one home run in 2019, sparking an explosion of power from the Miami bats that matched the 2018 season home run total of 23 after just 15 games in 2019. The Canes’ 85 homers were more than the combined team home run total of 58 from the previous two seasons (35 in 2017 and 23 in 2018).
After the season, five Hurricanes were selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, with Amditis and pitchers Evan McKendry, Gregory Veliz and Mark Mixon all signing contracts to begin their professional careers.
