Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Announces Finalists for 2021 Honor

The Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award (BBCSA) presented by SR Bats announced today the finalists for the 2021 award. The four finalists for the BBCSA are Texas Tech's Jace Jung, Arizona’s Jacob Berry, Oklahoma’s Tyler Hardman and East Carolina’s Connor Norby.
The BBCSA, created by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, was open to nominations from all Division I baseball programs in the country. The BBCSA originally had 49 players nominated for the award at the beginning of the season and added nine players to its midseason watch list. The award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.
"We are very excited to name our finalists for the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award,” said Tracy Taylor, Executive Director of the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award. “This is our first full year as a National Award and the response from the D1 programs was tremendous. The Selection Committee reviewed every at-bat of the 58 players on the nation-wide watch list and did an outstanding job of identifying the student-athletes that best represent the criteria of the slugger award.”
Arizona’s Berry was All-Pac 12 and in the top 10 in the country in RBI while hitting .364 with 15 homers during the regular season. OU’s Hardman was All-Big 12 and was among the top four in hits in the nation while notching a .397 regular season average. Texas Tech’s Jung was the Big 12 Player of the Year and is among the nation's leaders in home runs and RBI. East Carolina’s Norby was the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and led the country in hits during the regular season while posting a .426 average as well as being among the nation’s leaders in runs scored.
"These student-athletes are not only great hitters but they have also earned academic awards at their schools as well as receiving academic recognition at the conference level,” said Taylor concluding that, “I think the buy-in from D1 baseball programs across the country and the hard work of the Selection Committee continues to produce outstanding finalists for the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award."

The winner of the BBCSA will be announced later this month and honored at a gala in the fall.
Texas Tech's Hunter Hargrove won the initial BBCSA in 2017 while Dallas Baptist's Devlin Granberg took home the honor in 2018. Texas Tech’s Josh Jung won the award in 2019 and is the brother of this year’s finalist Jace Jung. Last year the BBCSA had no winner due to the COVID-19 virus which cut short the college baseball season.