Predicting the ACC Season Awards

Player photos courtesy of their respective athletic departments.

The regular season is finally over and the ACC will announce their individual season awards later today. Back in early April, we published an article detailing where these races stood at the halfway mark, which you can read here. Although most awards seem to have a clear winner, I’ll discuss the candidates for each one before making a prediction and sharing who I think should win the award.

All ACC Teams and Season Awards will be announced at approximately 4pm this afternoon.

ACC Coach of the Year

Before the season, Georgia Tech was picked to finish 10th in the ACC. Instead, the Yellow Jackets won their first outright regular season title since 2005. At 39-16 on the year, head coach Danny Hall’s team is enjoying their best season in over 15 years. In late March, Hall announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the season after 32 years in Atlanta. Georgia Tech is Top 5 in the conference in bothing hitting and ERA, while leading all Power 4 teams in doubles. The Yellow Jackets should be hosting a regional in 2025 and it’s a testament to the players and coaching staff Danny Hall has assembled.  

Shawn Stiffler’s Notre Dame team was 4-14 in the ACC on April 13th following back to back heartbreaking road losses to Boston College and sat dead last in the conference standings. Since then, the Irish have gone 16-3 to finish the season with big wins over potential tournament teams in Louisville and Miami to finish the year. As it stands today, most publications are projecting the Irish to make the NCAA Tournament– an impressive feat given where Notre Dame stood a little over a month ago. 

While Link Jarrett (FSU), Elliott Avent (NC State), and Scott Forbes (UNC) all enjoyed fantastic seasons following Omaha visits, each of their teams were preseason Top 25 and mostly met expectations.

Prediction: Danny Hall (Georgia Tech)

Monty’s Pick: Danny Hall (Georgia Tech)

ACC Defensive Player of the Year

This is the most wide open of the awards being announced today. Advanced metrics favor certain players while reputation and highly viewed game changing plays favor others. Perhaps the fan favorite for the award is human highlight reel Cam Cannarella, who is well known for making incredible plays in the outfield– including big home run robberies against Louisville and Florida State this season. Despite those incredible plays, Cannarella has just three outfield assists and is just 15th in the ACC in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). 

Carson Kerce leads the ACC and is 5th in the nation with a 14.76 Defensive Runs Saved. He’s played outstanding infield defense for Georgia Tech at third base, second base, and shortstop this year. Traditional metrics such as fielding percentage don’t tell the whole story when it comes to how good Kerce has been this year. What he’s done at the hot corner to rob hits and quick start double plays has been critical in Tech’s run to a regular season ACC title.

Luke Stevenson and Tyson Bass of North Carolina have anchored one of the league’s best team defenses. Stevenson is perhaps the top catcher available in this year’s draft and has shown elite framing ability while also providing great reliability blocking pitches behind the plate. Bass, who does have four errors on the year, provides elite range in right with a strong arm that has resulted in four outfield assists.  

Alex Lodise (FSU) and Wallace Clark (Duke) could also be in the discussion following their defensive play this season. Lodise is currently 5th in the ACC and first among league shortstops with a 11.11 DRS while Clark is just behind him with a 10.41 DRS. The pair have been putting on a clinic in recents weeks and could make a late surge for the award.  

Prediction: Cam Cannarella (Clemson)

Monty’s Pick: Carson Kerce (Georgia Tech)

ACC Freshman of the Year

Tatum Marsh (Stanford) led ACC freshman with a .374 batting average while Tague Davis (UL) tied Ben Miller for the overall conference lead in home runs with 18. Both of those star freshmen, along with Myles Bailey (Florida State), are very much in contention for the award following sensational first year campaigns. But two-way star Alex Hernandez (Georgia Tech) is the odds on favorite to win, and deservedly so.

While batting cleanup for the regular season champions all season, Hernandez put up a .337/.421/.596 slash line, which was good for 2nd/4th/2nd among qualified freshmen. He’s the only first year to boast an OPS over 1.000 and his 26 extra base hits is the most among his class. Advanced stats also support Hernandez as his 3.39 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is by far the best among freshmen in the ACC and he also earned two saves on the mound while throwing 7.1 innings this season and holding opponents to just a .160 batting average.

If Alex Hernandez does win Freshman of the Year, he and last year’s winner Drew Burress will be the first back-to-back winners at Georgia Tech since Yellow Jacket and Boston Red Sox legends Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra in 1991 and 1992.

Prediction: Alex Hernandez (Georgia Tech)

Monty’s Pick: Alex Hernandez (Georgia Tech)

ACC Pitcher of the Year

Jake Knapp entered his final start of the season against Florida State as the frontrunner for the Pitcher of the Year and put an exclamation on his incredible comeback season. He outdueled his closest competition in Jamie Arnold by going the distance and striking out seven. The right-handed ace leads the ACC with 11 wins and a sparkling 2.14 ERA over a league best 80.0 innings pitched. He held opposing batters to just a .187 average while walking just 13 batters all year.

The Tar Heels expected Jake Knapp to be their ace in 2024, but an injury in the preseason forced the star to miss all of North Carolina’s season. He rushed back to be ready in time for Opening Day in 2025 and after a few shorter stints in non-conference play, flourished as the calendar turned to league play. Against tougher opposition, Knapp went 10-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 72 innings of work, holding hitters to a .173 average. He tossed eight Quality Starts and never gave up more than three runs.

Knapp would be UNC’s first ACC Pitcher of the Year winner since JB Bukauskas in 2017.

Prediction: Jake Knapp (North Carolina)

Monty’s Pick: Jake Knapp (North Carolina)

ACC Player of the Year

In the midseason article breaking down this race, Alex Lodise was neck and neck with his cousin Kyle Lodise (Georgia Tech) for Player of the Year before an upper body strain cooled off Kyle’s campaign. Kade Lewis (Wake Forest) and Sam Tackett (Virginia Tech) were also in the discussion, but were already starting to fade. Drew Burress (Georgia Tech) and Carson Tinney (Notre Dame) made late surges, but Alex Lodise has been a beacon of consistency all season long and has emerged as one of the country’s best players. 

Lodise finished the season hitting .427 with 36 extra bases and 62 runs batted in. He led the conference in hitting, OPS, slugging, and total bases. He was Top 5 in home runs, RBI, and OBP despite having four ACC games canceled. Defensively, he is the best shortstop in the conference according to DRS while boasting a 4.94 WAR– good for fourth in the entire country. It would be a major shock if Lodise didn’t win the award.

If Alex Lodise does win Player of the Year, he and last year’s winner James Tibbs III will be the first back-to-back winners at Florida State since Tony Thomas Jr and Buster Posey  in 2007 and 2008.

Prediction: Alex Lodise (Florida State)

Monty’s Pick: Alex Lodise (Florida State)