WICHITA, Kansas – Marshall Thundering Herd junior catcher Reynaldo Pastrana has been named a Johnny Bench Award finalist, the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced Monday.
Pastrana is just one of three finalists for the 2018 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com, which is presented to the nation’s most outstanding collegiate catcher.
Pastrana had an incredible year for Marshall both at the plate and behind it.
The junior led The Herd in batting average (.355), runs (37), hits (71), home runs (13), RBI (50), and slugging percentage (.620). He also picked off 20 of 37 runners attempting to steal against him (54 percent), while carrying a .989 fielding percentage.
Pastrana started in all 49 games this for Marshall, allowing just two passed balls and six errors all season.
Thanks to those numbers, the junior was named to Conference USA’s first team.
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 the 21st Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 28.
The other two finalists were Georgia Tech’s Joey Bart and Eastern Kentucky’s Alex Holderbach.