San Diego State’s Wyatt Hendrie was named a semifinalist for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.
Hendrie is batting .344 with nine homers, seven doubles, 47 RBIs and 44 runs scored this season. The redshirt sophomore also leads Aztec regulars with a .590 slugging percentage and is tied for second on the squad with 19 walks.
Among the Mountain West statistical leaders, Hendrie ranks third in RBIs and fourth in runs scored.
The Palmdale native leads the conference with 296 putouts heading into the weekend series at Air Force. He also has thrown out 10 would-be base stealers, which ranks third in the league.
Hendrie garnered MW Player of the Week nods twice, on March 22 and April 26.
During his first year at SDSU in 2020, cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hendrie started 14 of 16 games at catcher, batting .286 with one home run and seven RBIs. In 2019, he was a 10th-round selection by the Chicago Cubs in the MLB draft.
The Posey award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, has gone to the nation’s top collegiate catcher since 2000. Posey plays for the San Francisco Giants.
This season, a total of 88 catchers were nominated by their schools for the honor, with 16 chosen in the semi-final round.
Another MW player, Eric Bigani, a junior from UNLV, made the cut.
Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel to determine the group of three finalists, which will be revealed on June 7. The winner will be announced at the 23rd Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on July 1.
The Aztecs (23-15; 17-13, MW) will try to break a three-game losing streak when they face Air Force in a Saturday doubleheader.