NOT The ACC Rookie of the Year!!

After climbing their soapbox to profess their preference for the new football coach, Tech fans should join together to clamor and make their opinion heard, this time for an injustice done to one of the school's outstanding baseball players. Earlier today the All-ACC team's were released, a group of players who performed outstandingly during the baseball season. There were the obvious names from the power schools like FSU, UNC and Miami. Even four Jackets made the 2nd team, a surprise for this unheralded team.

Reading down the press release I wanted to verify something I had assumed, that Derek Dietrich would be named Freshman of the Year. I mean he's leading all freshman in RBI's, OPS & Slug. so of course there's no way this guy will be not given this award. But like when you pass a bear on a journey through the woods, my brain hit the brakes and stopped. Alas, Dietrich wasn't the ACC Freshman of the Year, but instead it was Miami's SP Chris Hernandez. Now don't get me wrong Hernandez was a worthy candidate. He lead his team with 10 victories, the lowest ERA of any starter and had the highest strikeout total on the team. It looked like the toss-up between Kobe and CP3 in the NBA, but here's why Dietrich is Kobe to Chris' Paul.

It's not just the stats that Dietrich received, but also how he earned them. Early in the year he didn't have a Feltes and Plagman behind him who were crushing the ball, instead he was a one-man show out there carrying the team offensively. In one early series he even won games all alone with his bat. Secondly Miami's pitching staff has been aided by their team's great offensive outbursts to put pressure on the other team. When your down by six in the first two innings, it makes it easier to have a low ERA and great winning percentage. On the other hand, Dietrich has had to fight through times when his pitching staff was blowing leads and putting the bats in precarious situations.

Fortunately however, Dietrich can still do something about when the Jackets take on the Hurricanes in the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville on Thursday at 5 p.m. (That Game can be heard on WREK-Atlanta 91.1 FM, along with all other postseason games. Play-by-Play courtesy of Jason Boral and Kyle Tait at the ACC Tourn.)

Hopefully for all our sake this argument won't end like the BCS, untied with a bunch of loose ends, or the Democratic primary, instead Dietrich is talking his own smack, silently celebrating with an ACC Championship.