• Sport Home
• |
• Roster
• |
• Schedule
• |
• Stats
• |
• Archives

Dec. 12, 2007

LUBBOCK, Texas - Navy's two-time All-American pitcher/utility player Mitch Harris (Sr./Mt. Holly, N.C.) is one of 224 candidates named to the 2008 Brooks Wallace Player-of-the-Year Award Watch List, it was recently announced by the College Baseball Foundation.

The Wallace Award is presented to the nation's top collegiate baseball player in conjunction with the College Baseball Hall of Fame's annual induction festivities. The 2008 award banquet will be held July 3, at United Spirit Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University.

Last year's Brooks Wallace award went to Vanderbilt pitcher, David Price. Price was the first overall pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft and is pitching in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. The 2006 winner was standout pitcher/designated hitter Brad Lincoln of Houston. Nebraska's Alex Gordon, currently with the Kansas City Royals, took home the 2005 trophy. The inaugural award was given in 2004 to Kurt Suzuki of Cal State Fullerton, who is now catching for the Oakland A's.

This marks the second-straight year in which Harris has been tabbed as one of the preseason candidates for the nation's highest honor in collegiate baseball. He is the first player in the Navy's storied history to earn All-America honors twice in his career, as he was named a third-team utility player by Baseball America last spring and an ABCA/Rawlings third-team pitcher in 2006.

The product of Mt. Holly, N.C., concluded his junior season with an 8-5 record on the mound with a 2.14 ERA over 14 starts, spanning 88.2 innings. During that time, he struck out a Patriot League-record 119 batters and limited the opposition to a meager .181 batting average. The hard-throwing right-hander went at least five innings in all 14 outings, nine of which quality starts (6+ IP and 3- ER). He also struck out more batters than innings pitched in 13 of his 14 visits to the mound in 2007.

As a hitter, Harris batted .293 (51-for-174) on the year and led the team in doubles (10), triples (four), home runs (eight), RBI (47) and slugging (.534). His eight round-trippers were tops among all Patriot League hitters in 2007 and placed him third on the program's single-season home run list. Against Holy Cross on March 31-April 1, he became the second Navy hitter in program history to belt a home run in three-consecutive games and the first to do so against Patriot League pitching.

Harris was selected Second-Team All-Patriot League as both a starting pitcher and a designated hitter last May, becoming the first player in school history to earn all-league accolades at two different positions within the same year. One month later, he became the first player in school history to earn ABCA all-region accolades multiple times during his career, as he was first-team selection in 2006 and a second-team member in 2007.

Last June in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, Harris was selected in the 24th round by the Atlanta Braves organization. He spent the summer playing for the Bourne Braves of the prestigious Cape Cod League, where he started in seven contests and boasted a 3.94 ERA in 29.2 innings with 25 strikeouts.

Harris and the Midshipmen will open the 2008 season on Feb. 22, when they head to the Service Academy Spring Classic in Millington, Tenn., to take on service academy foe Air Force at USA Stadium. Last year, Navy set a school record with 35 wins in a season and advanced to the Patriot League Tournament.