BYU Baseball: Johnson, McNaughton earn All-Big 12 honors
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- BYU’s Ashton Johnson was named Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and All-Big 12 second team for the 2026 season.
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- BYU first baseman Ezra McNaughton was named to the All-Big 12 second team for the 2026 season.
IRVING, Texas — BYU relief pitcher Ashton Johnson and first baseman Ezra McNaughton were named All-Big 12 Second Team on Tuesday as voted by the conference head coaches.
In addition, Johnson was honored as the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year. The award recognizes the league’s top student-athlete for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom.
A senior from Holladay, Johnson has appeared in 46 games with a 6-5 record and seven saves in two seasons at BYU. Over 94 innings, he has a career ERA of 3.73 with 74 strikeouts. He appeared in 22 games in 2026 and finished the regular season tied for third in the Big 12 in games finished with 14 and was eighth in saves with five.
Johnson also excels in the classroom where he is neuroscience major with a 3.80 cumulative GPA. In 2025, he was named CSC Academic All-District and earned the Big 12 Gerald Lage Award for athletic and academic excellence.
In early May, Johnson was named to the Starting Nine of the 2026 Tony Gwynn Community Service Trophy and is currently a finalist for the national award. The Gwynn Trophy honors collegiate baseball student-athletes who are active in their community and represent their programs with integrity, while excelling in the classroom and on the field. Johnson is very involved in a wide range of community service efforts, including the KIND Fund, Mac’s Gift Children’s Cancer Foundation, Sole Hope and Jae Foundation.
McNaughton, a sophomore from Mesa, Arizona, started 52 games for BYU and hit .342 during the regular season. He led the Cougar offense in almost every statistical category, including hits (76), doubles (16), home runs (15), RBI (51), total bases (137), and slugging (.617).
In addition, McNaughton ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in hits, doubles, total bases and home runs. Defensively, the Cougar first baseman had 203 putouts, seven assists and was involved in 22 double plays during the regular season.
