NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State's Paul DeJong was one of 16 players named to D1Baseball.com's Midseason All-America team, the organization announced Friday. DeJong was selected as a catcher on the All-America team.
Just past the midway point in the regular season, DeJong currently leads the Redbirds in nearly every major statistical category, including batting average (.417), on-base percentage (.493), slugging percentage (.775), at-bats (120), hits (50), runs (31), doubles (10), home runs (11), RBIs (35) and total bases (93).
DeJong is tied for the NCAA lead in home runs and holds the outright lead in home runs per game (0.38). On the national scale, he ranks third in slugging percentage, sixth in total bases, 11th in batting average, 17th in hits, 19th in RBIs per game (1.21), and 24th in both on-base percentage and RBIs. DeJong leads the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs, slugging percentage, RBIs and total bases.
DeJong was previously named a Preseason All-American by both Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. A 2014 All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team selection, DeJong was also a 2015 Preseason All-MVC pick.
He was added to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list on Thursday.
DeJong and the Illinois State baseball team begin a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Wichita State Friday.
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