Drew Burress named ACC Freshman of the Year; Tech earns three All-ACC spots
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress was named the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year, as a total of three Yellow Jackets earned ACC honors, the conference office announced on Monday.
On top of the individual award honors, Burress also earned a spot on the all-ACC first team and all-freshman team. Joining Burress was Payton Green and Matthew Ellis, who were named to the ACC’s second team all-conference.
The all-conference teams and end of the year awards are voted on by the league head coaches.
Burress, a native of Houston County, leads Georgia Tech into this week’s ACC Baseball Championship as one of the top freshmen nationally, hitting a team-best .379 with 14 doubles, two triples and 22 home runs for 62 RBI. With an OPS of 1.311, he’s slugging .803 with an on-base percentage of .508, having drawn more walks (51) than strikeouts (33). He also has eight stolen bases and has nine assists from center field – tying the program record for most single-season assists by an outfielder.
Burress currently leads all Division I freshmen in six statistical categories (home runs, home runs per game, slugging, total bases, walks, and walks per game), while ranking Top 3 nationally in 11 categories. Then at the conference level, he leads ACC freshmen in eight categories (runs and on-base percentage) while also ranking second in RBI, RBI/game and batting average.
Leading Georgia Tech in average, home runs and RBI, the Houston County native has a chance at becoming the 12th Yellow Jacket to win Georgia Tech’s triple crown. Burress would be the first to accomplish the feat since Matt Gonzalez in 2016. Burress is also just eight RBI away from breaking Matt Wieters’ freshman RBI record of 69, set in 2005.
Burress is the sixth Yellow Jacket to earn the league’s Freshmen/Rookie of the Year honor, joining the illustrious group of Wieters (2005), Micah Owings (2003), Mark Teixeira (1999), Nomar Garciaparra (1992) and Jason Varitek (1991).
Green earns his first all-ACC honor in his first year with Georgia Tech, ranking third on the team with a .326 batting average, recording 59 hits, 14 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs for 42 RBI. He’s reached base at a .417 clip and is a perfect 6-for-6 on the base paths. The Cary, N.C., native has been terrific for the Yellow Jackets down the stretch, hitting .333 over his last 10 games of the regular season with 12 hits, two doubles and four home runs for 10 RBI.
Ellis also earns his first all-ACC honor, working as both catcher and a designated hitter for Tech this season. Ellis has been one of the hottest hitters in the league over the last two months of the season to push his average to .316 overall with 61 hits, 11 doubles and 16 home runs. Ellis caught fire as Tech made their run in the month of April, hitting a blistering .403 with 25 hits, five doubles and eight home runs for a gaudy 30 RBI for the month.
