Hayden Tsutsui ’16 was named to D3baseball.com’s All-Decade Team for 2010-19. He is one of only four catchers to receive the prestigious honor.
His honorable mention selection – one of 82 spots on D3baseball.com’s list – comes on the strength of his four years in Northfield, a time during which he rewrote the Knights’ record book and took home more awards than any other Carleton baseball player this century. Ben Buerkle of Saint Mary’s University was the only other MIAC player to earn a spot on one of D3baseball.com’s four All-Decade squads.
Tsutsui graduated as the school’s all-time leader in batting average (.438), on-base percentage (.498), runs scored (156), hits (252), doubles (56), home runs (26), RBI (138), and total bases (404). His .703 slugging percentage is the second best in school history. He earned four All-Region selections while playing for the Knights, as well as two All-American nods as a senior in 2016, one as the only catcher on the ABCA/Rawlings first team and another via D3baseball.com (second team).
During that senior season, Tsutsui’s .475 batting average and .561 on-base percentage ranked third-best across all NCAA divisions (D-I, D-II, and D-III). His .803 slugging percentage was nearly 100 points better than the next closest MIAC player and put Tsutsui ninth in Division III and seventh among all NCAA players. He also led the MIAC in home runs (7) and total bases (98). He hit safely in 26 of 33 games—including 19 multi-hit games—and finished with 23 extra-base hits, the second-highest figure among MIAC players.
The catcher began his time at Carleton by racking up the national, regional, and conference rookie-of-the-year awards in 2013, a season in which he lead the MIAC in batting average (.462, the sixth-highest figure among NCAA players across all three divisions that year), hits (66), and total bases (91).
Tsutsui paced the Knights to a 22-14 record in 2014, representing the second-highest win total in Carleton history. That season, the then-sophomore scored 41 runs and led the team in batting average (.428), hits (65), doubles (19), and total bases (102).