TCU'S Clayton Jerome Named Metroplex Player of the Year
8/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 13, 2003
Arlington, Texas - Clayton Jerome, 2003 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and standout for coach Lance Brown's TCU Horned Frogs, has been selected as the 2003 Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Hall-Ruggles Chapter Metroplex College Baseball Player of the Year.
Jerome posted outstanding numbers as the ace of the Frogs' staff and drew the opening game starting assignment for almost every conference series for TCU in '03. He also continues an 11-year association of annual choices of the most outstanding college player(s) of the year in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The Texas Rangers honored the Mesquite, Texas, senior-to-be prior to Tuesday's Texas-Detroit contest at The Ballpark in Arlington. SABR Hall-Ruggles Metroplex Chapter president Paul Rogers was on hand to present a keepsake plaque.
The All-Conference USA standout capped a solid junior campaign with a 9-4 record, 16 starts, five complete games, a 2.34 earned run average to lead the league, 106 strikeouts in 111 2/3 innings pitched, only 25 walks yielded, a .209 opponents' batting average in 100-plus innings, and a scant 29 earned runs (38 total). Interestingly, TCU foes did not manage a sacrifice fly in 16 starts off Jerome.
The 6-3, 190-pound righthander pitched the Horned Frogs to second place in C-USA standings and a final team record of 35-22. He was also a nominee for COLLEGIATE BASEBALL and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America teams and the Dick Howser Trophy for college baseball player of the year.
Jerome in 2003 became the first TCU baseball standout to be chosen as his conference's player or pitcher of the year since his coach, Lance Brown, was chosen as Southwest Conference Player of the Year in 1963. TCU's ace posted even more stunning pitching marks in conference-only stats with a 7-2 C-USA record in 10 starts, a 1.58 ERA, 82 strikeouts, an almost 5.5:1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio each nine innings, and circuit-best four honors as C-USA Pitcher of the Week.
Jerome, who starred at Mesquite Poteet High School, has put together two of TCU's best back-to-back pitching seasons in history. Over the last two years he is 18-9 with 180 strikeouts in a team-most 222 innings pitched with a composite 2.84 ERA. Opponents have managed just a .227 batting average during his three-year career.
Previous winners of the SABR Metroplex College Baseball Player of the Year have been Scott Malone, TCU, 1993; Jason Parsons, Dallas Baptist, 1994; Johnny Issom, Texas Wesleyan, 1995; Karl Chatman, Dallas Baptist, 1996; Brandon Harper, Dallas Baptist, 1997; Royce Huffman, TCU, 1998; Cody Sundbeck, Dallas Baptist, 1999; (co) Jon Browder, Dallas Baptist; Pat Hannon, Texas Wesleyan, 2000; Mike Hall, Texas Wesleyan, 2001; Terry Trofholz, TCU, 2002.
