Nelson named Baseball America preseason All-American

EUGENE, Ore. – Baseball America named Oregon pitcher Ryne Nelson a preseason third-team All-American on Monday in a vote by the MLB scouting directors.

The junior right-hander served as Oregon's closer for most of last season while also starting at shortstop. He finished with a 3-1 record, a 3.86 ERA and four saves. Nelson had 37 strikeouts in 23.1 innings pitched.

As a freshman in 2017, Nelson made nine appearances despite missing a portion of the season with an injury. He has a career 3-2 record with four saves and a 4.17 ERA in two seasons at Oregon, while fanning 54 batters in 36.2 career innings pitched.

Nelson Notes

Named third-team preseason All-America by Baseball America in a vote of MLB scouting directors.
Baseball America ranks Nelson as the No. 11 overall Collegiate prospect and Kenyon Yovan as the No. 25 prospect.
Nelson has made one career start, pitching one inning as a freshman in 2017 in a midweek game at Oregon State.
Nelson's other 24 appearances have come out of the bullpen.
Nelson picked up saves in both games of a doubleheader against Washington State on April 6, 2018. In both games of the doubleheader, Nelson touched 99 miles per hour on the radar gun.
Nelson pitched a career-high three innings of relief in an 11-inning win at Washington on April 15, 2018, and against Oregon State on May 12, 2017.
Nelson fanned a career-high six hitters in both of his three-inning outings.

Oregon Baseball Team Notes

Oregon returns 17 lettermen (8 position players, 9 pitchers), including six every-day starters and two starting pitchers.
Oregon Friday night starter Kenyon Yovan was named a preseason second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball.
Oregon pitcher Ryne Nelson was named a preseason third-team All-American by Baseball America.
Kenyon Yovan is one of just five Ducks named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference in back-to-back seasons since baseball returned to Eugene.
Perfect Game named Kenyon Yovan the preseason Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Year.
Weekend projected starters Kenyon Yovan (#25) and Ryne Nelson (#40) are ranked in the PrepBaseballReport Draft Top 100.
D1Baseball ranks Yovan as the No. 7 college pitching prospect, Nelson as the No. 18 prospect and Jonny DeLuca as the No. 36 hitting prospect.
Overall, D1Baseball ranks Yovan as the No. 14 college prospect, Nelson as the No. 41 prospect, DeLuca as the No. 72 prospect and Spencer Steer as the No. 102 prospect.
Baseball America ranks Nelson as the No. 11 overall prospect and Yovan as the No. 25 prospect.
D1Baseball ranks five Ducks in the top 50 among 2019 draft prospects in the Pac-12 Conference. Kenyon Yovan leads the way at No. 4, Ryne Nelson is No. 7, Jonny DeLuca No. 19, Spencer Steer No. 23 and Gabe Matthews No. 46.
Pitchers Cullen Kafka (No. 10) and Hunter Breault (No. 24) are in D1Baseball's top 40 2020 draft prospects.
Four Duck freshmen rank among D1Baseball's impact freshmen. SS Sam Novitske is No. 9, C/OF Aaron Zavala is No. 23, RHP Christian Ciufetelli is No. 30 and 2B Max Foxcroft is No. 36.
The Ducks return three of their top four hitters in Jakob Goldfarb (.308/.397/.487, 6 HR, 29 RBI); Spencer Steer (.275/.381/.407, 4 HR, 37 RBI) and Gabe Matthews (.265/.381/.403, 4 HR, 27 RBI).
Oregon's strong freshman class includes probable starters at second base, shortstop and in the outfield.
The Ducks play 15 games against teams ranked in Baseball America's Top 10, including nine at PK Park.