Georgia Tech freshman outfielder Drew Burress has been racking up awards and honors. He was named a first-team All-American for the second time this offseason.
๐ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐Follow He became the 10th rookie batter to be selected and the 24th rookie batter overall. @BaseballAmerica‘s first team!
๐https://t.co/SYjjiz2W9F#WreckHavoc X #StingM pic.twitter.com/E7wOsQhgQ5
โ Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) June 21, 2024
Burress is the 10th rookie position player and 24th rookie overall to be named to the first team in the organization’s 42 seasons, which selects the top college baseball players. He is the first rookie hitter to be named to the first team since Seth Beer of Clemson in 2016. Eight of the nine rookies selected to the first team have previously been selected in the first round of the MLB Draft.
Burress was named Perfect Game National Freshman of the Year, an NCBWA First Team All-American and was also named ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-Southeast Region. Ellis also earned First Team All-Southeast Region honors, making the Yellow Jackets one of just three Atlantic Coast Conference programs to have multiple First Team All-Region selections, joining Wake Forest and Florida State.
Burress led Georgia Tech in numerous categories, including batting average (.381), home runs (25) and RBIs (67), becoming the 12th Yellow Jacket to win the Tech Triple Crown. Burress is the first player to accomplish the feat since Matt Gonzales in 2016. His 25 home runs set a Tech freshman record and fell one shy of the single-season record (Kevin Parada, 2022).
In addition to leading the team in batting average, the NCBWA Rookie of the Year award winner hit 15 doubles, three triples and had more walks (58) than strikeouts (37) for a .512 on-base percentage and a 1.333 OPS. He also made 8 of 10 attempts to steal bases and set a new record for most assists by a Georgia Tech outfielder this season by getting out 10 runners in center field.
Burress completed the regular season leading Division I freshmen in six statistical categories (home runs, home runs per game, slugging percentage, total bases, walks and walks per game) and ranked in the top three nationally in 11 categories. He also ended the year leading ACC freshmen in eight categories (runs run and on-base percentage) and ranked second in RBIs, runs per game and batting average, earning him First Team All-Conference honors.
In just his first year with the Flats, Burress garnered numerous honors: in addition to All-Conference and ACC Freshman of the Year honors, Burress was named a Perfect Game Third Team All-American, a Perfect Game Freshman First Team All-American, and was also named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
(All statistics and information courtesy of Georgia Tech Athletics)
