TUSCON, Ariz. — Kentucky junior outfielder Collin Cowgill has been named to the Louisville Slugger second-team preseason All-American team by Collegiate Baseball, the organization announced.
Cowgill, a Lexington, Ky., native and former Kentucky High School Mr. Baseball, is regarded as one of the top positional players in college baseball. Cowgill had a monstrous sophomore season while leading UK to its first Southeastern Conference Championship in 2006, batting .298, with 16 homers, and 61 RBI. Entering 2007, Cowgill was tabbed as preseason All-America selection and a member of the 2007 Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Watch List, before a hand injury suffered in preseason practice forced a redshirt season. Fully healthy in the summer of 2007, Cowgill exploded in the rigorous Cape Cod League, earning All-Star honors while leading team to the Cape Cod League Championship, batting .290, with four doubles, four triples, two homers, and 20 RBI, swiping 10 bases. An athletic outfielder who was named the best outfield arm during the 2007 preseason, Cowgill runs a 6.6 60-yard dash and squats over 525 pounds.
Kentucky, which earned its second consecutive preseason top-25 ranking as the No. 20 team in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, returns a deep, talented roster featuring three Brooks Wallace Award National Player of the Year Watch List members — Cowgill, slugger Sawyer Carroll, and dynamic right-hander Scott Green. Carroll, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound left-handed hitter, had a stellar season during 2007, batting .350, with three homers and 56 RBI, in addition to leading the SEC in doubles (23) at the end of the regular season. An 18th-round MLB Draft pick of the Washington Nationals, Carroll opted to return to Kentucky for his senior campaign.
Green, ranked by Baseball America as the 12th-best prospect in college baseball, will provide the Wildcats a talented weekend starter in the deep SEC. Green, a 6-foot-8, 245-pound right-hander, missed the 2006 SEC Championship season due to Tommy Johns surgery and pitched in just nine games during the 2007 season due to minor ailments. Green, a Louisville, Ky., native, emerged at full health during the 2007 summer, teaming with Cowgill to lead the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox to the Cape Cod League Championship. During the summer, Green earned a 1.56 ERA, a 3-1 record and a save, hurling 40.1 innings and striking out 35. At the conclusion of the summer, Green was tabbed as the fourth-best prospect in the talent-rich Cape Cod League.
The Wildcats, who have run up the most successful two-year run in the 103-year history of the Wildcats baseball program, open its 2008 season with a trip to the Coca-Cola Classic in Mobile, Ala., on February 22.
