WICHITA, Kan. – Georgia Tech sophomore Kevin Parada (Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) was named the winner of the 2022 Buster Posey Award on Wednesday evening at the Wichita Sports Commission Banquet in Kansas, taking home his second national catcher of the year award in as many days.
The Buster Posey Award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding collegiate catcher. Parada beat out finalists Michael Carico from Davidson and Zach Morgan from Fresno State for the award.
Parada becomes the second catcher on The Flats to win a national catcher of the year award, joining Joey Bart, who won the Johnny Bench Award in 2018. He is only the fifth catcher hailing from the Atlantic Coast Conference to be called the national catcher of the year.
A 2022 unanimous all-American, Parada had an excellent sophomore season in 2022 in which he was named first-team all-ACC, all-Region and NCBWA District 4 Player of the Year, in addition to a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy. He also earned three National Player of the Week honors.
The Pasadena, Calif. native ranked among the nation’s best all year, finishing the regular season ranking sixth with a school-record 26 home runs, second in total bases (174), third in RBI (85), fifth in runs (74) and 35th in hits (85). In the Atlantic Coast Conference, Parada led in runs and RBI, ranked third in home runs, fourth in hits and was the fourth-toughest hitter to strikeout in the league.
Parada started all 60 of Georgia Tech’s games this season, playing an impressive 55 of them behind the dish, where he posted a .992 fielding percentage and threw out 12 would-be base thieves.
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