2025 (Sophomore): The sophomore encore for Burress began in the first series of the year, when he connected for a walk-off grand slam in the second game of the season (Feb. 15), his first-career walk-off home run capped a seven-run ninth inning…that started a campaign in which he was the only player from a Power 4 conference with at least 60 RBI (62), 20 doubles (23), 50 walks (53), 15 HR (19) and 70 runs (77)…He led the ACC in extra base hits (43), doubles (23) and finished 2nd in the conference in home runs (19) and runs scored (77)…Became the fastest Yellow Jacket in program history to reach 30 and 40 career homeruns…His 23 doubles were the most by a GT player in the BBCOR era (since 2011) and tied for the 7th most in program history…Led the Yellow Jackets to an ACC Regular Season Championship, including a 4-for-4 performance with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored in the championship clinching game at Duke (May 17), his second 4-for-4 game of the series…Started all 60 games in center field and finished slashing .333/.469/.693 (1.162 OPS) with 53 walks to 42 strikeouts…led the team in runs (77), doubles (23), home runs (19), total bases (158), slugging (.693) and OBP (.469) and game-winning …drove in a season-high four RBI on four different occasions starting with his walk-off grand slam against Old Dominion (Feb. 15), then in the series opener vs. Pitt thanks to a two-run HR and a two-run double (March 14), again just four days later vs. Garnder-Webb (March 18) for his only four RBI/four run game of the season and finally in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament vs. Cal (May 22) when he launched a pair of home runs, including hitting one over the famous Bull down the left field line at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park…those home runs against Cal helped Tech set an ACC Tournament record for the most home runs in a single game, with seven…reached base multiple times in all three games of the Oxford Regional, coming around to score five times.
Burress finished his sophomore season 11th in the nation in runs scored (77), 13th in doubles (23), 21st in walks (53) and 22nd in runs per game (1.28) and 11th among Power 4 players in OPS (1.162). He enters his junior year as the only Division I player with a career slugging percentage over .750 (.756). His .756 career slugging percentage is the best in program history with a minimum of 300 ABs (446), nearly half a point above second place, College Baseball Hall of Famer, Mark Teixeira (.712 slug over 528 ABs).
2024 (Freshman): Having earned freshman of the year recognition from D1 Baseball, Perfect Game and NCBWA (top hitter), Burress is now the third Yellow Jacket to be lauded by a major publication as national freshman of the year, joining Mark Teixeira in 1999 (Collegiate Baseball) and Derek Dietrich in 2008 (Rivals.com)…Burress, a native of Houston County, led Georgia Tech in a myriad of categories, including average (.381), home runs (25) and RBI (67), becoming the 12th Yellow Jacket to win Tech’s triple crown…Burress is the first to accomplish the feat since Matt Gonzalez in 2016…His 25 home runs set the Tech freshman record and fell one shy of tying the single-season record (Kevin Parada, 2022)… finished with 15 doubles and three triples and drew more walks (58) than strikeouts (37) for a .512 on-base percentage and an OPS of 1.333…he also finished 8-for-10 in stolen bases and set the Georgia Tech record for most assists by an outfielder, gunning down 10 base-runners from center field this season … also set a program record for most home runs in a single game when he blasted four against Georgia State (Feb. 27) … His .821 slugging percentage was the 4th highest slugging percentage in a single season by a Yellow Jacket, the best since 1926 and the first .800+ slugging season in 45 years (Tommy Thompson (.811) – 1979).
Burress led all Division I freshmen in six statistical categories to finish the regular season (home runs, home runs per game, slugging, total bases, walks and walks per game), while ranking Top 3 nationally in 11 categories…He also led ACC freshmen in eight categories to wrap up the year (runs and on-base percentage), while also ranking second in RBI, RBI/game and batting average to earn first-team all-conference honors…In just his first year on The Flats, Burress has racked up a plethora of accolades…In addition to all-conference and ACC Freshman of the Year honors, Burress was also named Perfect Game Third-Team All-American, Perfect Game Freshman First-Team All-American, a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
High School: Rated as the No. 4 outfielder and No. 18 overall prospect nationally by Perfect Game … Rated No. 1 outfielder and No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Georgia by Perfect Game … Four-year letterwinner at Houston County … Helped lead Houston County to two state championships and four region championships … Named 2021-22 PBR Georgia Player of the Year … Also named 2023 Perfect Game All-America and Under Armour All-America … Hit 31 home runs his junior year … tied the state record for RBI (73) … Hit .327 in 40 Perfect Game games with 33 PG home runs in 2022 … Four-year member of the honor roll.
