LUBBOCK, Texas -- The National College Baseball Hall of Fame is proud to announce Dansby Swanson from Vanderbilt as the winner of the 2015 Brooks Wallace Award for most outstanding shortstop of the year.
The junior, taken with the overall No. 1 pick in June's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, led the Commodores to the championship series of the College World Series, hitting a team-leading .335 with 15 home runs and 64 RBIs while committing just eight errors in 296 chances for a .974 fielding percentage.
"It was a challenging process this year to make our choice from all the players who put up incredible numbers," said Larry Wallace, co-chairman of the Brooks Wallace Award. "With so many of the top shortstops making it to the College World Series it was great to be able to watch them play extensively. Not only is Dansby an incredible player, we feel he exemplifies the characteristics and qualities that the Brooks Wallace Award represents."
The award, sponsored by Mizuno, is named for Brooks Wallace, a Texas Tech shortstop from 1977 to 1980 who died at the age of 27 after a battle with leukemia.
The Brooks Wallace Award will be presented Monday at the Hall of Fame's annual Night of Champions event, along with the National Pitcher of the Year Award, the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award and the Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award.