The greatness of Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada’s sophomore season has been marked by the presenters of two most prominent awards in college baseball.
Parada, who went into the Yellow Jackets’ Thursday night game at Pittsburgh tied for second in Division I in home runs (24), third in RBIs (77) and tied for 10th in runs (65), was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy (national player of the year) and the Buster Posey Award (national catcher of the year). The announcement was made Thursday.
There are 39 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, which on top of on-field performance takes into consideration leadership, moral character and courage. There are 16 semifinalists for the Buster Posey Award.
Notably, Parada is one of only three catchers among the semifinalists for the Howser award, along with Dominic Keegan of Vanderbilt and Daniel Susac of Arizona.
Finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy will be announced June 9, with the winner revealed June 17. The finalists for the Buster Posey Award will be announced June 7, with the winner announced June 29.
Varitek is the sixth Yellow Jackets player to be named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the fourth for the Buster Posey Award. Two Tech legends, Jason Varitek (1994) and Mark Teixeira (2000), won the Howser award. Joey Bart won the Posey honor in 2018.
With 24 home runs, Parada is one home run away from tying the school record for home runs in a season, set by Anthony Maisano in 1990.
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