Sophomore Malcolm Moore has been named to the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award (BBNCSA) watch list. The award, created by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, was open to nominations from all Division I baseball programs in the country. The BBNCSA is based on performance at the plate, academics, and personal integrity.
Moore, listed on the watch list for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, started all 64 games as a freshman, including 55 at catcher and nine at designated hitter, while batting .311 with 50 runs scored, 20 doubles, 15 homers and 63 RBIs. A consensus Freshman All-American, the 2023 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year slugged .564 while compiling 23 multi-hit games and 17 multi-RBI contests. In Pac-12 play, Moore batted .282 with 19 runs scored, eight doubles, five homers and 25 RBIs.
This year's BBNCSA Watch List consists of 52 student-athletes representing a record 21 conferences across the country. The list includes 16 Sophomores, 20 Juniors, 12 Seniors and 4 players who have already earned their undergraduate degrees.
"2023 was an exciting year for the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award. We had our first MLB All-Star and World Series winner (Josh Jung - 2019) and our first College World Series winner (Dylan Crews - 2023)" said Tracy Taylor, Executive Director of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation and the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award. "Entering the 2024 season, we are welcoming back eight returnees to the Watch List highlighted by 2023 finalists, JJ Wetherholt of West Virginia, who led the nation with a .449 BA last season and Charlie Condon of Georgia, the National Freshman of the Year who hit .386 with 25 homers. These two student-athletes are great examples of the criteria the BBNCSA looks for in its Watch List. They are great hitters and involved in their community but also excellent students that currently carry GPAs over 3.5."
"We truly appreciate the partnership we have with the Division I college baseball programs and the diligence with which they approach the criteria of the nominations. We have multiple Academic All- Americans on the watch list and the number of conference and school academic honors are amazing. These are really student-athletes in every sense of the term."
The BBNCSA originally started out in 2017 as an honor going to the top college hitter in Texas. In 2019, the BBNCSA expanded becoming a regional award covering Division I programs in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The BBNCSA became a national award in 2020; however, no winner was announced due to the Covid-19 virus which cut the 2020 college baseball season short.
The winner of the BBNCSA will be announced in June and honored at a gala in the fall at the Fort Worth Club. Texas Tech's Hunter Hargrove won the initial BBNCSA in 2017. Dallas Baptist's Devlin Granberg took home the honor in 2018 with Texas Tech's Josh Jung winning the award in 2019. Connor Norby from East Carolina University won the BBNCSA in 2021 with Ivan Melendez from the University of Texas taking home the award in 2022. 2023's winner was LSU's outfielder Dylan Crews.
Fans can follow news about the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats and its Player of the Week honorees during the season at www.braganslugger.com.
