Garcia named a semifinalist for Johnny Bench Award

FIU sophomore catcher Aramis Garcia has been named a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award, as announced by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission. Garcia is one of 15 semifinalists for the award, which recognizes Division I baseball’s top catcher.

Photo courtesy FIU Sports.

The Johnny Bench Award, presented by BaseballSavings.com, is given annually to honor the most deserving Division I catcher that was nominated by their school in a given season. Catchers nominated should be the starting catcher in 70 percent of their team’s games.

Voting will occur at the end of May to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 4, 2013. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita, Kan., and the winner will be announced at the 15th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 27.

Garcia is having a big year behind the plate for the Panthers, hitting at a .337 clip with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. He ranks eighth in the Sun Belt in hits (69), tied for sixth in RBI (49), third in home runs (11) and sixth in total bases (113). On the national radar, he ranks 29th overall in homeruns and 57th in total bases.

The sophomore has also been impressive on the defensive end. A league-high 60 base runners have attempted to steal off Garcia, but he has thrown out 28 of those runners, which leads the conference.

Below is a list of the 15 semifinalists.

• Tyler Baker, Wichita State University
• Corey Bass, University of North Florida
• 
Garrett Custons, Air Force Academy
• Blair DeBord, Kansas State University
• 
Zane Evans, Georgia Tech
• Chase Fowler, University of Southern Mississippi
• Aramis Garcia, Florida International University
• Mitchell Garver, University of New Mexico
• Stephen McGee, Florida State University
• Spencer Navin, Vanderbilt University
• Jake Romanski, San Diego State University
• Victor Romero, Oklahoma State University
• Ronnie Shaeffer, UC Irvine
• Stuart Turner, University of Mississippi
• Matt Winn, Virginia Military Institute

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