Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award Announces Finalists for 2023 Honor

FORT WORTH, TX - The Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award (BBNCSA) presented by SR Bats announced today the finalists for the 2023 award.  The four finalists for the BBNCSA are Charlie Condon of the University of Georgia, Dylan Crews of LSU, Nolan Schanuel of Florida Atlantic University and JJ Wetherholt of West Virginia University.

The BBNCSA, created by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, was open to nominations from all Division I baseball programs in the country. The BBNCSA originally had 51 players nominated for the award at the beginning of the season and added eight players to its midseason watch list. The award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.

"I think the BBNCSA Selection Committee had an extremely tough job this year given the depth and performance of our best Watch List in the history of the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats," said Tracy Taylor, Executive Director of the BBNCSA and the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation. "You can't go wrong with three upperclassmen that hit over .430 for the season and were the top three hitters in Division I plus a redshirt freshman who hit .386 with 25 homers.  This year's finalists include the Player's of The Year from the SEC (Crews), the Big 12 (Wetherholt) and Conference USA (Schanuel) and Condon was the SEC Freshman Of the Year. 

"But performance at the plate is not the entire story of these excellent student-athletes as they are leaders in the classroom and the community.  For example, Wetherholt carries an extremely high GPA as a finance major and Crews is a member of the SEC Community Service Team.  Schanuel and Condon both have business related majors and sport excellent GPAs.  I think you will see all of these guys at the next level.  Crews will be a top pick in this year's draft and Schanuel is also considered a 1st round talent.  Wetherholt and Condon are ranked in the top 11 as prospects for the 2024 draft.  The BBNCSA Selection Committee did another outstanding job getting the list down to four finalists this year."

The winner of the BBNCSA will be announced later this month and honored at a gala in the fall.

The BBNCSA originally started out in 2017 as an honor going to the top college hitter in Texas.  In 2019, the BBNCSA expanded becoming a regional award covering Division I programs in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The BBNCSA became a national award in 2020; however, no winner was announced due to the COVID-19 virus which cut the 2020 college baseball season short.

Texas Tech’s Hunter Hargrove won the initial BBNCSA in 2017.  Dallas Baptist’s Devlin Granberg took home the honor in 2018 with Texas Tech’s Josh Jung winning the award in 2019. Connor Norby from East Carolina University won the BBNCSA in 2021. Last year’s winner was Ivan Melendez from the University of Texas.

Fans can follow news about the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats at www.braganslugger.com.