James Madison Junior Is Nation’s Top Catcher…

The entire time in Wichita left a lasting impact on Lowery.  He commented, “It’s been a rush.  Getting here was crazy with airport connections.  I got to see my parents for the first time in a few weeks.  Coach Mac and even [assistant] coach [Jason] Middleton came to the banquet.  Then of course getting to meet Johnny Bench, a Hall of Famer and the best catcher in baseball history, that was a great experience.  The clinic with the kids was great; there aren’t a lot of catching clinics out there.  Then being in the hospital and visiting kids and signing autographs, the whole experience was neat and it’s been awesome.”

Previous winners of the award include TCU’s Bryan Holaday (2010), Oklahoma’s J.T. Wise (2009), Florida State’s Buster Posey (2008), Mississippi State’s Edward Easley (2007), East Carolina’s Jake Smith (2006), Southern Cal’s Jeff Clement (2005), Cal State Fullerton’s Kurt Suzuki (2004), Stanford’s Ryan Garko (2003), Alabama’s Jeremy Brown (2002), Baylor’s Kelly Shoppach (2001) and LSU’s Brad Cresse (2000).  Lowery is the first Colonial Athletic Association player to win the award and just the second to be named a finalist (Chris Henderson, George Mason 2009).

A fourth-round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, Lowery took a brief leave from the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York-Penn League in order to attend the banquet. The nation’s collegiate RBI and total bases leader is picking up where he left off, leading the New York-Penn league with 27 total bases and ranking third with 10 RBIs and first with six doubles while hitting .313 for the Scrappers, who sit in first place in the Pinckney Division at 9-4.

In his junior campaign at JMU, Lowery batted .359 with 22 doubles, eight triples, 24 home runs, 91 RBIs, 80 runs scored, 200 total bases and a .797 slugging percentage.  He set or matched JMU and CAA records for RBIs, home runs, extra-base hits (54) and total bases in a season.  He also finished fourth in CAA history with 80 runs and seventh for slugging percentage.

Lowery finished as the nation’s leader in runs (80), RBIs (91) and total bases (200).  In fact, his 91 RBIs are the most by a college player since 2008 Bench Award winner Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants catcher) had 93. Lowery also finished second nationally in slugging percentage (.797), fourth in on-base plus slugging (1.239), second in home runs (24) and fourth in triples (8).  Not to be overlooked defensively, Lowery ranked second in the nation prior to regionals for runners caught stealing with 34 and threw out 43% of runners for the season while posting a .994 fielding percentage.

In addition to the Bench Award, Lowery was one of 30 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award and one of 36 on the watch list for the Dick Howser Trophy, both given to the nation’s top player.  Collegiate Baseball newspaper bestowed upon Lowery the fourth First Team All-America honor in JMU history.  He was the CAA Player of the Year, First Team All-CAA, selected to the CAA All-Tournament Team, honored on the NCAA All-Regional Team and named First Team All-East Region by the ABCA.

(JMU Release)