Cruz Named To Bragan Slugger Watch List
2/18/2020 4:46:00 PM | Baseball
More Accolades For Rice Owl Shortstop
Initial 2020 Watch List
FORT WORTH – Rice junior shortstop Trei Cruz has been named to the initial watch list for the 2020 Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats.
From its headquarters in the DFW Metroplex, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation has combined a passion for baseball and providing youngsters with the incentive and opportunity to pursue a college education for more than 25 years. At the conclusion of the college baseball season one position player from a Division I baseball school will be presented with the foundation's Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award. Since its inception in 2017 the award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.
After batting .307 in the prestigious Cape Cod League over the summer Cruz is one of 36 Division I players on the initial watch list, the latest in an avalanche of preseason attention. He has already been selected as the Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year in the league's annual head coaches' poll and tabbed as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year by D1Baseball.com. By training under the direction of head coach Matt Bragga, the Rice shortstop batted .305 with nine home runs, 11 doubles and 44 RBI. He tied for 15th in the nation with six triples, the eighth-highest single season total in school history and the most by any Owl in the last decade. He also topped the team with 121 total bases and 50 runs scored, while placing among the C-USA leaders in at-bats (sixth) and total plate appearances (seventh). Last summer Cruz was drafted by the Washington Nationals but opted to return to South Main for his third season. Cruz is off to a 3-for-10 start with a double a run scored. Over the weekend the Texas Longhorns were very careful with the Owl slugger, walking him four times in the three-game series.
Fans can follow news about the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats and its Player of the Week honorees during the season at the above link. Rice baseball is scheduled to compete at west coast power UC Irvine this weekend (Feb. 21-23).
