College World Series Most Valuable Player Award History, Winners

Each year at the close of the Men’s College World Series, a player receives the Most Outstanding Player honors. The award is given to the college baseball player with the best performance at the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska.

Dylan DeLucia is the latest recipient of the award after a brilliant pitch in Omaha. The Ole Miss pitcher went 2-0 in the 2022 MCWS, including a complete shutout against Arkansas to send the Rebels to the Championship Series. Here’s the history of the award, including when it started and a list of all the players who have won it.

The CWS Most Outstanding Player Award: what is it?

The College World Series began in 1947 when California beat Yale 8-7 for DI baseball’s first national championship. Not only was the venue out of place — the championship was decided in Kalamazoo, Michigan — but so was the Most Outstanding Player trophy. Or should we say, its absence?

CWS HISTORY: Coaches with the most wins | Most titles | Most appearances | Conference trips

Tom Hamilton was the first recipient of this prestigious honor, but it wasn’t until the third College World Series that the award was presented. He won the award – now officially named the Jack Diesing, Sr. Most Outstanding Player Award – in 1949 in the first of six Texas Longhorns national championship wins.

Hamilton was part of the winning team, but that wasn’t always the case. The Most Outstanding Player award is given to the best overall performance in Omaha, from the CWS’ first pitch to the last. Sometimes record performances — like Dave Winfield’s for Minnesota in 1973 — are enough for the award, but fall short of a national title.

From 1999, the trophy itself took on a new look. The winner of the Most Outstanding Player award took home a smaller version of the iconic “Road to Omaha” trophy located outside Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The solid bronze statue stands sixteen inches tall and weighs nearly 50 pounds.

The CWS Most Outstanding Player Award: Who Gets It?

As we mentioned, this is an award for the best overall performance in the entire College World Series portion of the championship tournament. The winner is determined by a vote of members of the media during the final series.

All media in attendance at Omaha can vote for their pick beginning in Round 5 of Game 2 of the Championship Series. Voting ends in the eighth round when the ballots are counted and a winner is determined.

The player par excellence, @_KumarRocker! #CWS | @VandyBoys pic.twitter.com/8Mnn3jx8mZ

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 27, 2019

At least they hope.

If the CWS Championship Series were to make it to the deciding Game 3, well, those votes get thrown out and the process happens the same way again.

The CWS Most Outstanding Player Award: History of the winners

Texas first baseman Tom Hamilton was the first college baseball player to win College World Series honors in 1949. Hamilton was a first baseman, the first of seven to win the award over the years . Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker is the most recent winner. He is the 35th pitcher to earn this honor.

Pitchers dominated the prize. Thirty-five pitchers earned MOP honors, with six of those pitchers also being utility players contributing with the bat. Infielders are the second most abundant recipient of the award, with 22 full-time players. Twelve outfielders have won the award, along with five receivers, the most recent being Adley Rutschman’s record-breaking performance for Oregon State in 2018 adding to the list. Miami (FL)’s Greg Ellena is the only full-time designated hitter to win MVP.

Only one MOP has found its way to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Minnesota’s Dave Winfield has that honor, however, there are plenty of household names who have won MLB World Series, accolades and All-Star nods. Sal Bando – the 1965 winner – was a four-time All-Star and three-time World Series winner with the Oakland A’s. Bob Horner won the award in 1977 for Arizona State and became the first overall pick in the 1978 MLB Draft, earning Rookie of the Year honors the same year. Terry Francona has become one of the most successful managers in recent MLB lore, while Phil Nevin, Pat Burrell and Dansby Swanson are some of the most recent names to be selected No. 1 overall in the draft of the MLB.

Perhaps it’s not so surprising that Southern California — its 12 College World Series titles more than any other program in history — has the most award recipients with seven. Texas is second. with six, while Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton and LSU all have five.

More juniors have won the award than any other class with 28. Seniors are second with 21, while sophomores follow with 15. Freshmen have now won six Most Outstanding Player awards with the victory of Rocker.

We mentioned Dave Winfield and his formidable 1973 University World Series when his 29 strikeouts in two starts (still third all-time) earned him MOP honors despite Minnesota failing to win the title. He is actually joined by 15 others whose teams have not won a national championship. Stanford’s John Hudgins is the most recent to accomplish the feat in 2003. The others:

Ray Van Cleef (1950, Rutgers), Sidney Hatfield (1951, Tennessee), JL Smith (1953, Texas), Tom Yewcic (1954, Michigan State), Tom Borland (1955, Oklahoma A&M), Cal Emery (1957, State from Penn), Littleton Fowler (1961, Oklahoma State), Bob Garibaldi (1963 Santa Clara), Joe Ferris (1964, Maine), Gene Ammann (1970, Florida State), Jerry Tabb (1971, Tulsa), Phil Nevin (1992 , Cal State Fullerton), Pat Burrell (1996, Miami) and Marshall McDougall (1999, Florida State).

Below is the full list of Most Outstanding Player winners:

Year	Last name	Position	School
1949	Tom Hamilton	first baseman	Texas
1950	Ray Van Cleef	outfielder	Rutgers
1951	Sidney Hatfield	Pitcher / First baseman	Tennessee
1952	James O’Neill	Launcher	the holy cross
1953	JL Smith	Launcher	Texas
1954	Tom Yewcic	Seeker	state of michigan
1955	Tom Borland	Launcher	Oklahoma A&M
1956	jerry thomas	Launcher	Minnesota
1957	Cal Emery	Pitcher / First baseman	Penn State
1958	Bill Thomas	Launcher	Southern California
1959	Jim Dobson	third baseman	Oklahoma State
1960	John Ericson	second baseman	Minnesota
1961	Littleton Fowler	Launcher	Oklahoma State
1962	Bob Garibaldi	Launcher	Saint Clare
1963	Bud Hollowel	Seeker	Southern California
1964	Joe Ferris	Launcher	Maine
1965	bunch of salt	third baseman	Arizona State
1966	Steve Arlin	Launcher	ohio state
1967	Davini Rum	Seeker	Arizona State
1968	Bill Boinoth	first baseman	Southern California
1969	John Dolinsek	outfielder	Arizona State
1970	Ammann gene	Launcher	state of florida
1971	jerry tabb	first baseman	Tulsa
1972	Russ McQueen	Launcher	Southern California
1973	David Winfield	Pitcher / Outfielder	Minnesota
1974	Georges Milke	Launcher	Southern California
1975	Mickey Reichenbach	first baseman	Texas
1976	Steve Powers	Pitcher / Designated Hitter	Arizona
1977	Bob Horner	third baseman	Arizona State
1978	Rod Boxberg	Launcher	Southern California
1979	Tony Hudson	Launcher	State of California Fullerton
1980	Terry Francona	outfielder	Arizona
nineteen eighty one	Stan Holmes	outfielder	Arizona State
1982	Dan Smith	Launcher	Miami
1983	Calvin Schiraldi	Launcher	Texas
1984	John Fishel	First Baseman / Outfielder	State of California Fullerton
1985	Greg Helene	Designated hitter	Miami
1986	Mike Senne	outfielder	Arizona
1987	Paul Carey	outfielder	Stanford
1988	Lee Plemel	Launcher	Stanford
1989	Greg Brummet	Launcher	Wichita State
1990	mike rebhan	Launcher	Georgia
1991	Gary Hymel	Seeker	USL
1992	Phil Nevin	third baseman	State of California Fullerton
1993	Todd Walker	second baseman	USL
1994	chip glass	outfielder	Oklahoma
1995	Marc Kotsay	Outfielder / Pitcher	State of California Fullerton
1996	Pat Burrell	outfielder	Miami
1997	Brandon Larson	Shortstop	USL
1998	Wes Rachel	second baseman	Southern California
1999	Marshall McDougall	second baseman	state of florida
2000	Trey Hodges	Launcher	USL
2001	Charlton Jimerson	outfielder	Miami
2002	Houston Street	Pitcher / Infielder	Texas
2003	John Hudgins	Launcher	Stanford
2004	Jason Windsor	Launcher	State of California Fullerton
2005	David Maroul	third baseman	Texas
2006	Jonas Nickerson	Launcher	Oregon State
2007	George Reyes	Launcher	Oregon State
2008	Tommy Mendonca	third baseman	Fresno State
2009	Jared Mitchell	outfielder	USL
2010	Jackie Bradley Jr.	outfielder	Caroline from the south
2011	Scott Wingo	second baseman	Caroline from the south
2012	Rob Refsnyder	outfielder	Arizona
2013	Adam Plutko	Launcher	UCLA
2014	Dansby Swanson	Shortstop	Vanderbilt
2015	Josh Sborz	Launcher	Virginia
2016	Andrew Beckwith	Launcher	Coastal Carolina
2017	Alex Fedo	Launcher	Florida
2018	Adley Rutschman	Seeker	Oregon State
2019	Rocking Kumar	Launcher	Vanderbilt
2021	Will Bednar	Launcher	Mississippi State
2022	Dylan DeLucia	Launcher	be miss