Choice co-winner of 18th annual Howard Green SABR Metroplex College Player of Year

Former UTA standout earns award

Michael Choice was the 10th overall selection in the June MLB Draft.

 
Michael Choice was the 10th overall selection in the June MLB Draft.
  

Aug. 2, 2010

Arlington, Texas - Former UT Arlington baseball player Michael Choice has been named co-winner of the 2010 Howard Green Metroplex Collegiate Player of the Year Award presented by the DFW Hall-Ruggles Chapter for Society of American Baseball Research. Choice shares the award with TCU pitcher Matt Purke.

This is just the second time in the 18-year history of the award that it has been awarded to more than one player in any given year. In 2000 pitcher Jon Browder of Dallas Baptist and OF Pat Hannon of Texas Wesleyan shared the honor.

The prestigious award is named in memory of SABR Hall-Ruggles Chapter founder and original president Howard Green, who was a legend in Texas professional and college circles for over six decades and also served in several elected capacities in Tarrant County.

Choice, a centerfielder from Arlington, Texas, via Mansfield Timberview High School, followed up his 2009 Team USA performance with a season to remember for the Mavericks in 2010.

He was the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft with the Oakland Athletics, received a $2 million signing bonus and became the highest college outfielder drafted since current Cincinnati Reds star Drew Stubbs was the eighth selection from the University of Texas in 2006.

The 6-0, 215-pound junior set UTA and Southland Conference marks that will stand for several seasons during his stellar '10 campaign. A consensus All-America "choice" in June 2010, he became the highest drafted player in Mavericks' history and the SLC's co-highest selection along with Ben Sheets, a first-rounder from Louisiana-Monroe in 1999. Choice played for Mavericks' head coach Darin Thomas.

Choice hit a sizzling .392 (242-for-618) for his three-year collegiate career in Arlington with 170 runs, 33 doubles, eight triples, a school-career-most 34 home runs, 162 RBI, a .636 slugging percentage, and a .505 on-base percentage in 166 contests from 2008-10.

 

 

Also the consensus 2010 Southland Conference Player and Hitter of the Year, he paced the SLC with a .383 batting average to complement 16 homers and 59 RBI in 60 games. He is the first student-athlete in UTA annals to lead the squad in homers and better 50 RBI in three consecutive seasons. He also topped the squad in round-trippers and walks in consecutive years - a record for a Mavs' hitter.

Choice shattered UTA and SLC records with a NCAA Division I-most 76 walks bases on balls, was second in the nation and tops in the SLC with a .568 on-base percentage (another school standard) and won several leadership kudos.

Previous winners of the Howard Green SABR Metroplex College Baseball Player of the Year have been - Scott Malone, TCU, 1993; Jason Parsons, Dallas Baptist, 1994; Johnny Issom, Texas Wesleyan, 1995; Karl Chatman, Dallas Baptist, 1996; Brandon Harper, Dallas Baptist, 1997; Royce Huffman, TCU, 1998; Cody Sundbeck, Dallas Baptist, 1999; (co) Jon Browder, Dallas Baptist; Pat Hannon, Texas Wesleyan, 2000; Mike Hall, Texas Wesleyan, 2001; Terry Trofholz, TCU, 2002; Clayton Jerome, TCU, 2003; Hunter Pence, Texas-Arlington, 2004; Lance Broadway, TCU, 2005; Drew Holder, Dallas Baptist, 2006; Sam Demel, TCU, 2007; Evan Bigley, Dallas Baptist, 2008; Matt Otteman, Texas-Arlington, 2009.