Rhoades named 2024 NAIA Ball National Freshman of the Year

By Jacob Knabel on Jun. 12, 2024 in Baseball

SEWARD, Neb. – As part of a live awards show aired on YouTube on Tuesday (June 11) night, NAIA Ball named Concordia University Baseball’s Matt Rhoades its 2024 National Freshman of the Year. The native of Monument, Colo., was also recognized this past season by the GPAC as GPAC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-GPAC.

In quoting a Twitter/X post promoting Rhoades’ conference accolades, Head Coach Ryan Dupic referred to Rhoades as a “special player and person.” During the ’24 season, Co-GPAC Player of the Year Jaidan Quinn said of Rhoades, “Me and Joey (Grabanski) brought Matt Rhoades under our wing. He’s going to be good.”

Statistically, Rhoades enjoyed one of most productive seasons ever for a Bulldog freshman. While starting all 57 games (51 at first base and six at pitcher) in 2024, Rhoades batted .293 (56-for-191) with 33 runs scored, seven doubles, 16 home runs, 53 RBIs, a .381 on-base percentage and .581 slugging percentage. Rhoades homered twice and drove in five runs (at Oklahoma City) in the first game of collegiate career and left the yard in all four games as part of a four-game sweep of Culver-Stockton. A skilled two-way player, Rhoades also went 3-1 on the mound with a 2.45 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 22 innings. His ledger included a seven-inning, seven-strikeout performance in a March 30 win at Dordt.

After burning Midland in the GPAC tournament by going 3-for-4 with a homer on May 3, Rhoades stated of his teammates, “They push me to be better. Like Joey and Q, I see them succeed and it makes me want to succeed, try to chase them and do what I can to improve the team and help the team win games.”

The NAIA Ball’s 2024 awards show can be replayed by visiting its YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@naiaballx.