Pair of Shelton State Pitchers Named to the All-American Team

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – Shelton State’s baseball program has continued its successful season, marked by several milestones. The Junior College Baseball Blog (JBB) recently recognized two of Shelton's pitchers for their outstanding performance. John Michael Pickens was named to the third team All-American, while Mason Steele received an honorable mention for the All-American team on Monday.

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Both of these pitchers had an fantastic year with Pickens being named as the Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) Pitcher of the Year in his second season with the Bucs’ which saw the Hueytown native recorded a 6-1 record on the mound while making 25 appearances while providing five saves all while allowing 20 hits and 12 runs throughout 35.1 innings which saw him record 44 strikeouts while maintaining an ERA of 2.80 throughout the season.

Steele, on the other hand, is a two-way player who had a terrific sophomore season, which saw the right-handed pitcher earn his second career All-American mention, with Steele winning the 2024 NJCAA Two-Way Player of the Year. This past season saw the two-player duo improve significantly as pitchers, with Steele allowing 44 hits and 25 runs throughout 61 innings pitched. This performance resulted in the Headland native recording 72 strikeouts, while posting a 7-1 record in 15 appearances and maintaining a 2.66 ERA throughout the 2025 season.

This is just another accolade to add to the trophy case for this team's incredible season, which saw the Bucs make it to their third consecutive trip to the NJCAA World Series, where they were unable to make a deep run. Shelton’s head coach, Bobby Sprowl, was inducted into the Shelton State Athletics Hall of Fame, and the Bucs’ center fielder, Pierce Dutton, was the recipient of the 2025 ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award, presented by the NJCAA Division I Baseball Committee. This made Dutton the first player in program history to win the Gold Glove award thanks to his incredible performance in 2025 which saw him not make a single error throughout 60 games this season with Dutton having 120 chances in center field this year and didn’t allow a error on a single one giving him the most chances in the ACCC without a mistake.

Steele and Pickens are the only two players from the ACCC to receive All-American honors. Click here to view the complete 2025 NJCAA Div . 1 All-American Teams.

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