2014 Mercer Baseball Media Guide
AUSTIN BARRETT
#23
SENIOR CATCHER/FIRST BASEMAN MIMS, Fla. ASTRONAUT
2012 (Sophomore): Missed just under three weeks of action at the start of the season due to a leg injury, but came on strong to finish the campaign proving he is one of the more dangerous bats in a potent Mercer line-up ... Appeared in 46 games, making 43 starts ... Played solid defense at several positions throughout the year, making 25 starts at catcher, 11 in right field and seven at first base ... Hit an even .300 for the year while finishing 10th in the A-Sun Conference with a .421 on-base percentage and tied for 10th with 31 walks ... Scored 30 runs, hit seven doubles, clubbed five home runs and tallied a career-best 26 RBI ... Had 11 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI contests ... Started the season with hits in his first three games before being forced to the sidelines with a leg injury ... Came back with a hit and two runs scored in the Bears 6-1 win over SEC power Mississippi State (March 10) ... Logged back-to-back multi-hit games against FAMU (March 20-21) ... Went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and a run scored at ACC power Georgia Tech (April 10) ... Put together the second longest hitting streak by any Mercer player last season when he rattled off a 12-game run from April 25-May 19 ... Played a big part in Mercer’s three-game road sweep of Jacksonville (April 27-29), going a combined 6-for-13 in the series with four RBI ... Had a career-high four hits in a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate against UNF (May 11) ... Smashed home runs in back-to-back games against USC Upstate (May 17-18). 2011 (Redshirt Freshman): Assumed the starting catching duties as a redshirt freshman and tactfully managed a Mercer pitching staff that ranked first in the A-Sun Conference last season with a 3.58 team ERA … Appeared in 52 games behind the plate, making 50 starts … Hit .286 at season’s end to go along with eight home runs, 25 RBI and a .467 slugging percentage … Scored 35 runs, smacked seven doubles and collected 25 walks … Wore out left-handed pitching with a .375 average (21-for-56) … Defensively, made just three errors behind the plate to finish with a .992 fielding percentage while ranking ninth in the A-Sun with 354 putouts … Clubbed his first collegiate home run against in-state rival Georgia State (Feb. 22) … Went 1-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in a 12-3 win over Campbell (April 2) … Hit a home run and drove in a season-high three runs against A-Sun member North Florida (April 15) … Matched a season-high in hits by going 3-for-5 with two runs scored in a 6-4 win in the first round of the A-Sun Championship against Kennesaw State (May 25) … Was rewarded for his play during his first collegiate season by being named to the A-Sun All-Freshman team and voted onto the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshmen All-American second team. 2010 (Freshman): Redshirted. High School: Was a four-year letterwinner at Astronaut High School under head coach J.J. Edwards … Named Class 4A All-State honorable mention as a senior … Also garnered a Cape Coast All-Conference first team selection as a senior … Finished his career with a .421 batting average for the War Eagles while graduating with honors. Personal: Son of Jim and Wendy Barrett … Has one younger brother, Michael … Majoring in business … Born on October 9, 1990 in Orlando, Fla. … Lists Dustin Pedroia and Ken Griffey Jr. as his favorite athletes and the Boston Red Sox as his favorite sports team.
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2013 (Junior): Once again platooned between several positions for Coach Gibson, but continued to excel offensively no matter where he was on the field … Appeared in 59 games, including 57 starts which were spread out between first base (32 starts), catcher (23 starts) and right field (two starts) … Finished fourth on the team hitting .309 to go along with a .442 slugging percentage, six home runs and 33 runs scored … Set new career-bests with 67 hits, 11 doubles and 45 RBI … Ranked fourth of the team with 12 multi-RBI games and fifth with 21 multi-hit games … Threw out an impressive 34 percent of would-be base stealers from behind the plate and recorded 435 put-outs which is the fifth-highest singleseason total in Mercer program history … Went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI at No. 14 Georgia Tech (March 5) … Finished 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and two runs scored against in-state rival Georgia Southern (March 12) … Put together back-to-back multi-hit games against Stetson (March 22-23) … Had a huge game against Jacksonville (March 28), going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and tying his career-high with four RBI … Saved his biggest game of the season for Northern Kentucky (May 18), tying his career-highs with four hits and four RBI … Played well in the Bears two games in the Starkville Regional going a combined 5-for-9 at the dish against South Alabama (May 31) and Central Arkansas (June 1) … Was one of a league-high four Bears selected to the A-Sun Conference All-Academic team.
BARRETT’S CAREER STATISTICS Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 Totals
Avg. GP/GS DNP-Redshirt .286 52/50 .300 46/43 .309 59/57 .299 157/150
AB
R
H
RBI
2B
3B
HR
BB
SB
182 140 217 539
35 30 33 98
52 42 67 161
25 26 45 96
7 7 11 25
1 0 0 1
8 5 6 19
25 31 21 77
5 2 2 9
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