Baseball: Osborn Named to Buster Posey Award Watch List

LAFAYETTE – Drake Osborn has been named to the Buster Posey Award Watch List, given to the top Division I collegiate catcher. 

Osborn, a first-year player at Louisiana, spent four years at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, earning Southland Conference honors in 2018. 

This season, Osborn is hitting .240 in seven starts, but has missed the last few games due to injury. His best game of the season came against Tulane, going 4-for-6 with a double, home run and four RBI during opening weekend. 

Osborn hit a career .264 at Texas A&M-CC in 89 starts and 112 games played behind the dish. The Sandia, Texas, native slashed .266/.329/.352 during the 2019 season and hit one home run with 18 RBI. 

He earned Third Team All-Southland honors at catcher following the 2018 season while posting a .293 batting average, which included 12 doubles and six home runs. Osborn was one of the best power-hitting backstops in the Southland Conference, leading in slugging (.510) during the 2018 season.

The watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists, whom will be announced May 20, 2021. Ballots will be sent to the national voting committee at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 7, 2021. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at a date that is yet to be determined.

Because the Buster Posey Award strives to honor the top collegiate catcher in a season, a 2020 recipient was not named due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the collegiate baseball season.