Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission released the official watch list for the 2020 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award presented by the Kamerion Wimbley Foundation on Monday, and the list includes senior Conrado Diaz of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team.
Sixty catchers were nominated for the award. Because the award is given annually to the top division one collegiate catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 6.
The watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists on May 19. Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 3. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita, Kan., and the winner will be announced at the 23rd Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 25.
Diaz is currently hitting .327 (17-for-52) with seven doubles, 15 RBI, 10 runs scored, a .514 on-base percentage and a .462 slugging percentage while starting all 17 games. Defensively, he sports a 1.000 fielding percentage and has caught four would-be base stealers.
Diaz earned TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Hitter of the Week honors earlier on Monday after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with five doubles, 11 RBI, six runs scored, a .722 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage in a four-game sweep of NJIT over the weekend. He recorded at least three RBI in three games, including a career-high-tying four RBI in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Diaz’s best game was on Sunday when he tied a WAC record by hitting four doubles in a 10-2 win. Diaz is the fourth player in WAC history to record four doubles and the first since 2018 when Northern Colorado’s Dean Lawson did so against Regis. Diaz is the second WAC player to hit four doubles against a Division I opponent, as Arizona State’s Gary Atwell did so against UTEP in 1971. Diaz ended up one double shy of the NCAA record of five, a feat that has been accomplished eight times. Diaz finished that game a career-high-tying 5-for-5.
2020 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch List
Patrick Arndt, SR, Chicago State University
David Avitia, JR, Grand Canyon University
Patrick Bailey, JR, North Carolina State University
Dallas Beaver, SR, University of, SO,uth Carolina
Brett Bonar, SR, University of Nebraska Omaha
Alex Brait, SR, Florida Gulf Coast University
Peter Burns, SO, Boston College
Seth Caddell, JR, East Carolina University
Jacob Campbell, SO, University of Illinois
Chris Ceballos, SR, Kansas State University
Nick Cimillo, SO, Manhattan College
Troy Claunch, JR, Oregon State University
Justin Collins, JR, Rice University
Alex Crotty, SR, Mercer University
Henry Davis, SO, University of Louisville
Adrian Del Castillo, SO, University of Miami
Ciaran Devenney, SR, University Massachusetts Lowell
Conrado Diaz, SR, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Dillon Dingler, JR, Ohio State University
Hayden Dunhurst, FR, Ole Miss
Ty Duvall, SR, Vanderbilt University
Robert Emery, SR, University of San Francisco
Kale Emshoff, JR, University of Arkansas-Little Rock
Zac Fascia, SR, Purdue University
Braxton Fulford, JR, Texas Tech University
J. Paul Fullerton, SR, University of Alabama Birmingham
Santiago Garcia, JR, Alabama State University
Saul Garza, JR, Louisiana State University
Hunter Goodman, SO, University of Memphis
Mikey Hoehner, SR, Texas A&M University
Nick Jones, SR, Eastern Michigan University
Adrian Kerner, JR, University of San Diego
Coltyn Kessler, JR, University of Kentucky
A.J. Lewis, SR, Eastern Kentucky University
Sam Loda, JR, Central Connecticut State University
Austin Martin, SR, University of Iowa
Justin Mazzone, JR, Seattle University
Rhett McCall, JR, Lamar University
Chad McDaniel, JR, University of Missouri
Liam McGill, SR, Columbia University
Natale Monastra, SR, Xavier University
Shamir Morales, JR, Bethune Cookman University
Mat Nelson, SO, Florida State University
Casey Opitz, JR, University of Arkansas
Cody Pasic, SR, University of Maine
Straton Podaras, SR, Radford University
Sam Praytor R-SO University of Alabama
Sam Punzi, JR, Iona College
Keaton Rice, JR, Bradley University
George Rosales, SO, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Michael Rothenberg, JR, Duke University
Matt Scheffler, SR, Auburn University
Matthew Suggs, SO, UNC Wilmington
Carson Taylor, SO, Virginia Tech
Andy Thomas, SR, Baylor University
Brendan Tinsman, SO, Wake Forest University
Michael Trautwein, SO, Northwestern University
John Tuccillo, JR, Stony Brook University
Sonny Ulliana, SR, University of Rhode Island
Austin Wells, SO, University of Arizona
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