Savage Voted ABCA West Region Coach of the Year
June 21, 2019 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA head coach John Savage has been voted the 2019 ABCA West Region Coach of the Year, it was announced on Friday afternoon by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). The award is voted on by all West Region head coaches, consisting of programs from the Pac-12, Big West, Mountain West, West Coast, and Western Athletic Conferences.
This marks Savage's second career West Region Coach of the Year honor at UCLA. He was named the regional and national Coach of the Year by the ABCA in 2013 after guiding the Bruins to the first national championship in program history.
In addition the ABCA revealed its final 2019 All-America teams, with four Bruins making the cut. Junior righty Ryan Garcia was named to the First Team, sophomore outfielder Garrett Mitchell and sophomore closer Holden Powell made the Second Team, and redshirt junior righty Jack Ralston was selected to the third team. All four had previously been named to the All-West Region First Team.
With Savage at the helm, UCLA had one of the most productive seasons in program history in 2019. The Bruins posted a 52-11 record, setting a new school standard for regular season wins. UCLA spent 12 consecutive weeks atop the national rankings, by far a program record. The Bruins also saw 13 players selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the most in school history and tied for the most of any program this year.
UCLA's pitching was especially effective this season. With a rotation featuring All-Americans Ryan Garcia and Jack Ralston and a bullpen featuring the lockdown late-innings trio of Nate Hadley, Kyle Mora, and Holden Powell, the Bruins led the country in 2019 in a slew of statistics including ERA (2.60), WHIP (1.05), hits allowed per nine innings (6.18), and shutouts (11).
Under Savage's tutelage, Garcia was named the 2019 Pac-12 Pitcher of Year while Powell was named the NCBWA Stopper of the Year. Both were unanimous All-America picks. In addition, Ralston improved from a 1-4 record and 6.44 ERA as a sophomore in 2018 to an 11-1 record and 2.66 ERA as the Bruins' Saturday starter this year.
Savage had previously been named the 2019 Pac-12 Coach of the Year after steering the Bruins to the league title with a 24-5 mark in conference action. It was UCLA's fourth Pac-12 title under Savage, who was also named the league's top coach in 2015.
