Hanley’s Dominant Campaign Earns Conference Praise
5/20/2025 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
ROSEMONT, Ill. – From the moment he stepped in the box this season, it was his award to lose. The best freshman in the entire league resided in Bloomington in 2025. And his name is Jake Hanley.
The 6-foot-6 first baseman became the fourth player in program history to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The conference office announced its postseason awards ahead of the start of the Big Ten Tournament on Tuesday (May 20) afternoon. In total, seven Hoosiers earned at least one yearly honor from the league.
Hanley was the cornerstone of head coach Jeff Mercer's 2024 recruiting class – and yet – he still exceeded expectations. The Mason, Ohio native started all 54 games of the regular season at first base and worked his way into the cleanup spot by the end of the season. He was one of two players (Korbyn Dickerson) to start every game.
He began his career on a 10-game hitting streak and never stopped hitting from there. Hanley finished the regular season by leading all league freshmen in batting average (.338), hits (71), home runs (14), and RBIs (52). He scored 48 runs and compiled nine doubles and a triple.
On top of his offensive prowess, Hanley became an elite defender over at first base. After taking over for three-year starter Brock Tibbitts, he assumed the starting role without any problems. The freshman went errorless in over 400 chances and finished the 54-game regular season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Hanley's batting average dipped below .300 just twice all season – both on opening weekend. Following the first series out in Arizona, he never dropped under .308 the rest of the year. Hanley peaked at .411 in the middle of March and even had his batting average over .400 through the first Big Ten series in April.
The power began to come for Hanley late in the season. He hit his first home run on March 14th (vs. Ohio State) and finished the year with three multi-home run games. In conference action alone, he hit .331 with nine home runs, five doubles and 29 RBIs. He had hits in 39 of 54 games – 21 of those being multi-hit efforts.
He is the fourth IU player to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award and second under Mercer. He joins Alex Dickerson (2009), Sam Travis (2012) and teammate Devin Taylor (2023) as the winners of the honor. The first two players went on to play in the big leagues and Taylor is a likely top-40 draft pick this summer.
Hanley was also named a Second Team All-Big Ten selection and a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection.
The 6-foot-6 first baseman became the fourth player in program history to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The conference office announced its postseason awards ahead of the start of the Big Ten Tournament on Tuesday (May 20) afternoon. In total, seven Hoosiers earned at least one yearly honor from the league.
Hanley was the cornerstone of head coach Jeff Mercer's 2024 recruiting class – and yet – he still exceeded expectations. The Mason, Ohio native started all 54 games of the regular season at first base and worked his way into the cleanup spot by the end of the season. He was one of two players (Korbyn Dickerson) to start every game.
He began his career on a 10-game hitting streak and never stopped hitting from there. Hanley finished the regular season by leading all league freshmen in batting average (.338), hits (71), home runs (14), and RBIs (52). He scored 48 runs and compiled nine doubles and a triple.
On top of his offensive prowess, Hanley became an elite defender over at first base. After taking over for three-year starter Brock Tibbitts, he assumed the starting role without any problems. The freshman went errorless in over 400 chances and finished the 54-game regular season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Hanley's batting average dipped below .300 just twice all season – both on opening weekend. Following the first series out in Arizona, he never dropped under .308 the rest of the year. Hanley peaked at .411 in the middle of March and even had his batting average over .400 through the first Big Ten series in April.
The power began to come for Hanley late in the season. He hit his first home run on March 14th (vs. Ohio State) and finished the year with three multi-home run games. In conference action alone, he hit .331 with nine home runs, five doubles and 29 RBIs. He had hits in 39 of 54 games – 21 of those being multi-hit efforts.
He is the fourth IU player to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award and second under Mercer. He joins Alex Dickerson (2009), Sam Travis (2012) and teammate Devin Taylor (2023) as the winners of the honor. The first two players went on to play in the big leagues and Taylor is a likely top-40 draft pick this summer.
Hanley was also named a Second Team All-Big Ten selection and a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection.
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