HOUSTON: Rickie Weeks , the offensive machine from Southern
University who went from unheralded high schooler to the second
player in the history of Division I baseball to lead the nation
in hitting in consecutive seasons, was named the 16th winner
of the Rotary Smith Award as the top college baseball player
in America. The announcement was made at the conclusion of
the gala Rotary Smith Award dinner on Thursday night in Houston.
(Smith
Award photo)
Rickie Weeks
Weeks was selected over New Mexico State slugger Billy Becher
and Rice ace Jeff Niemann in a national vote of college baseball
publicists. Candidates went through a four-stage process to
determine the winner, and voting remained open through the
conclusion of the College World Series.
Weeks, who was the second overall selection in the Major League
Draft at the start of June, hit .479 during his junior season,
good enough to top all Division 1 hitters for the second consecutive
year. He topped the charts last season with a .495 average.
Weeks joins Ira Smith of Maryland-Eastern Shore as the only
players to lead D1 in hitting in consecutive seasons. In three
seasons at Southern, he never hit below .420 and finished with
a career slugging average of .900.
He was equally dominant on the base paths, having only been
caught stealing once in the early stages of his freshman season.
He was a two-time SWAC Player of the Year and a played for
Team USA in consecutive summers.
Weeks' win allows Southern to become the 15th school to produce
a winner of the Rotary Smith Award in its 16-year history.
Clemson is the only school to produce dual winners of the award.
He is the second consecutive middle infielder to win the award.
Clemson shortstop Khalil Greene took home the prize last season.
Prior to Greene, Mike Smith (1992) of Indiana had been the
only middle infielder to have won the award.
