Kentucky junior first baseman Evan White was voted to the Coaches’ Preseason All-Southeastern Conference Team, it was announced Thursday by the league.
White, from Gahanna, Ohio, also has received preseason honors from Collegiate Baseball, D1 Baseball, PerfectGame.org and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association coming off a stellar 2016 season where he earned Second Team All-SEC honors. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder’s defensive prowess earned him a Rawlings Gold Glove in 2016 and All-SEC Defensive Team honors for the second consecutive season. As a freshman in 2015, White earned Freshman All-SEC honors.
The University of Kentucky baseball team beat Buffalo 5-1at Cliff Hagan Stadium on Friday, March 4, 2016.
Photo by Chet White | UK Athletic
In 2016, he led the team in average (.376), at bats (226), hits (85), runs (44), doubles (15), triples (3), runs batted in (40), total bases (121) and stolen bases (10). White’s career .348 batting average ranks No. 7 on UK’s all-time list (min. 300 at bats). White’s .376 batting average in 2016 ranks him tied with Terry Shumpert (1987) for the 11th highest single-season mark in school history and his 85 hits rank him 11th on the single-season hits list.
White spent the summer playing for the United States Collegiate National Team, which traveled to Cuba, Japan and Taiwan. White was the team’s primary first baseman, starting 15 of 19 games and hitting .250 with eight runs scored.
The league’s coaches picked UK to finish in a tie with Georgia for fourth in the SEC East. Florida (East) and LSU (West) were selected to win the divisions and both programs received six votes as overall league champion, while South Carolina picked up the other two votes.
The Wildcats open the 2017 season on Feb. 17 at North Carolina.
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