The SEC has officially announced the awards for the 2022 college baseball regular season. Amidst a number of awards and selections won by Tennessee on Monday, Tennessee freshman pitcher Drew Beam has been named the 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year.
In addition, Beam was also an All-SEC Second Team selection, along with teammate Chase Burns.
In Beam’s seventh collegiate start, the freshman from Murfreesboro, Tennessee delivered a jaw-dropping two-hit, complete-game shutout against then-No. 9 ranked Vanderbilt.
“I think when we recruited him we saw the guy we saw today,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said following Beam’s dominant game against Vanderbilt. “Three pitch mix was definitely something at a young age he kind of already had going on. … He kind of had all the makings of a weekend starter at some point, but sometimes guys make up their own timeline or own grid there with work ethic and also presence.”
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After his first season playing collegiate baseball, Beam ended the year with an 8-1 record after 13 starts and one relief appearance. In addition, after 69.1 innings of work on the mound, opponents have a low batting average sitting at just .184.
Tennessee freshman Drew Beam also has the sixth-lowest WHIP on the Tennessee team (.84), which is a statistic measuring walks and hits per inning pitched. Beam is Tennessee’s second-lowest starting pitcher in WHIP trailing only nation-leading Chase Dollander (.70).
Beam was also named the SEC Pitcher of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week on Apr. 4, just one day after his terrific performance against Vanderbilt.
Drew Beam began the year on fire for Tennessee and was dominant on the mound for the Vols’ first seven games. Since then, Beam has struggled a bit with consistency, especially in the last few weeks. Despite those struggles though, Beam has been excellent for Tennessee this year and is a big reason why the Vols’ Sunday game has been so nerve-wracking for opponents.
𝐒𝐄𝐂 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐦
Stellar in Year One. Allowed just one run and six hits over his first 26.0 IP of SEC play.#GBO // #OTH pic.twitter.com/dKcFtp57sa
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) May 23, 2022
