Baseball's Mike Zunino Named To Johnny Bench Award Watch List
Thursday, March 10, 2011 | Baseball
Sophomore Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) was named to the Watch List for the 2011 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award delivered by Papa John's Pizza by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission on Thursday.
Forty-two catchers were nominated for the award by their coaches. Because the award is given annually to the top Division I catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 6, 2011.
Zunino has started 12 of 13 games behind the plate for the top-ranked Gators and is batting .256 (10-for-39) with a team-high 13 runs. His three homers match junior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) for the most on the club and he has tallied seven RBI. Opponents have only attempted six stolen bases in 13 games versus UF and he has thrown out a pair of runners.
As a rookie, Zunino was chosen to Baseball America's Freshman All-America Team and was a member of the SEC's All-Freshman Team. He started 51 games behind the plate and one as the designated hitter and hit .267 with 41 RBI, 31 runs, nine homers, eight stolen bases and seven doubles in 55 games played. He nabbed 14-of-38 runners attempting to steal and had three pickoffs. Zunino boasted a 12-game hitting streak between April 21-May 15 in which he was 19-for-44 (.432) with 16 RBI and 11 runs.
Bench presented the 2010 award to TCU catcher Bryan Holaday. Yasmani Grandal of the University of Miami (Fla.) and Jose Iglesias of Coastal Carolina University were also finalists. Twelve former Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award finalists are currently playing in Major League Baseball.
2011 Johnny Bench Award Watch List
Milan Adams, Jr. - University of Rhode Island
Jett Bandy, Jr. - University of Arizona
Brock Bennett, Sr. - University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
Alexander Black, Sr. - Coppin State University
Dan Burant, Jr. - The University of Akron
Tony Caldwell, Sr. - Auburn University
Curt Casali, Sr. - Vanderbilt University
Matt Colantonio, Sr. - Brown University
Chad Comer, Sr. - University of Texas at Arlington
Joshua Cryer, Sr. - Southeastern Louisiana University
Taylor Davis, Jr. - Morehead State University
Jeremy Dowdy, Jr. - Appalachian State University
Frank Esposito, Sr. - Seton Hall University
J.J. Ethel, Sr. - University of Louisville
Chris Forsten, Jr. - William & Mary
Brett Frantini, Jr. - Northern Illinois University
Kevin Gonzalez, Sr. - Texas A&M University
Chase Graskewicz, So. - Kansas State University
Chuck Howard, Sr. - New Mexico State University
Steven Keller, Jr. - California State University, Northridge
Ralph Keppler, Jr. - The University of Albany
Matt Koch, Jr. - Loyola Marymount University
Rafael Lopez, Sr. - Florida State University
David Lyon, Jr. - Kent State University
Kyle Mahoney, Sr. - High Point University
James McCann, Jr. - University of Arkansas
A.J. Miller, Sr. - Lafayette College
Chris O'Brien, Jr. - Wichita State University
Peter O'Brien, Jr. - Bethune-Cookman University
Tyler Ogle, Jr. - University of Oklahoma
Kevin Plawecki, So. - Purdue University
Matt Reistetter, Fr. - Hofstra University
Matt Rice, Sr. - Western Kentucky University
Ryan Schlater, Sr. - Bowling Green State University
Andrew Stumph, So. - Texas State University
Andrew Susac, So. - Oregon State University
Beau Taylor, Jr. - University of Central Florida
Derek Trent, Sr. - East Tennessee State University
Chris Walker, Sr. - Fordham University
J.T. Watkins, Jr. - United States Military Academy (Army)
Zach Wright, Jr. - East Carolina University
Mike Zunino, So. - University of Florida
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