Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State junior infielder Brock Rodden and sophomore designated hitter/left-handed pitcher Payton Tolle have been named ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans. Rodden was selected Third Team second baseman and Tolle was chosen as Second Team utility player.
This is the second All-American honor for Rodden (Third Team by Collegiate Baseball) and the third honor for Tolle (Second Team by NCBWA, Third Team by Perfect Game).
The full ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams can be found HERE.
Rodden authored a spectacular 2023 season as Wichita State's everyday second baseman, slashing .371/.474/.701 to lead the conference in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The switch-hitter hammered 18 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs, good for 155 total bases that tied for the top mark in the AAC. His .371 batting average, 62 runs scored and 64 RBI all finished second on the circuit. Rodden started all 55 games for the Shockers, leading the team with 26 multi-hit games and tying for the team lead with 18 multi-RBI games. Rodden was recognized as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and was a unanimous First Team All-Conference selection.
The native of Oktaha, Oklahoma produced a pair of two-homer games (UMass on 3/25, Kansas State on 4/18) and compiled Wichita State's longest hitting streak of the season at 18 games. He also added 12 stolen bases in 15 attempts in addition to a keen batting eye that produced 39 walks to only 26 strikeouts.
Rodden took his game to another level down the stretch. Over the final three weeks of the season, Rodden hit .556 (20-for-36) with four doubles and four home runs, notching three three-hit games and a career-best four hits against South Florida on May 13.
Rodden is expected to be a high pick in July's MLB Draft. He returned to Wichita State in 2023 after he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 10th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, one of just three players in the top 10 rounds who did not sign. In two seasons as a Shocker, Rodden compiled a .355 batting average, 31 doubles, four triples, 34 home runs and 112 RBI.
Tolle was named First Team All-Central Region and First Team All-American Athletic Conference utility player after a breakout season as Wichita State's Saturday starter and designated hitter. The 6'6 lefty went 9-3 with a 4.62 ERA over 15 appearances including 14 starts. Tolle led the conference in wins and innings pitched, finishing the season with 97 strikeouts in 85.2 innings. He held opponents to a .245 batting average, racking up eight quality starts and four starts with 10 or more strikeouts. The native of Yukon, Oklahoma delivered his best start of the season against #7-ranked East Carolina, firing a complete game shutout in which he allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out 10. His season high in strikeouts came on March 19 against Creighton, when he fanned 12 Bluejays over 7.0 innings in a Shocker victory.
Offensively, Tolle hit .311 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI, including homers in the midweek against Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. He produced 20 multi-hit games and 18 multi-RBI games this season, highlighted by a five-hit, six-RBI day against Oakland on March 4. In Wichita State's final home series of the season, the left-handed slugger homered in all three games of the set against South Florida, including a mammoth 491-foot blast on May 13.
Tolle was named one of five finalists for the prestigious John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, the only representative from the American Athletic Conference on the list of finalists.