Eierman Selected for Brooks Wallace Award Watch List
April 19, 2018 | Baseball
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri State's Jeremy Eierman was one of 53 collegiate shortstops named to the initial watch list for the 2018 Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award, the College Baseball Foundation announced Thursday. The award, sponsored by Mizuno, recognizes the nation's top shortstop and is named in honor of former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who died of leukemia at the age of 27.
Eierman, who was one of five finalists for the same award in 2017, is the only player on the list to also appear on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List. The junior is hitting .303 with five home runs and 27 RBIs for the Missouri Valley Conference co-leaders, and is just one stolen base away from becoming the lone Bear on both MSU career top 10 lists for home runs and steals. Eierman currently ranks ninth on MSU's all-time homer list with 37, while his total of 40 steals is tied for 14th. With one more stolen base, he would tie Bob Blakley (1974-77), Gary Mitchell (1976-78), Greg Brewer (1985-86) and Kevin Medrano (2009-12) for the 10th spot on the Bears career steals list.
A Warsaw, Mo., product, Eierman was a unanimous preseason All-America and named the No. 9 college prospect for the 2018 MLB Draft, as well as the No. 17 overall prospect by Baseball America prior to the start of the season. He currently ranks among the MVC's top 10 individuals in seven different offensive categories, on the heels of a breakthrough 2017 season that earned Eierman first-team All-America recognition and a spot on USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team last summer.
The Bears shortstop was joined on the elite list by fellow Missouri Valley Conference standouts Jimmy Glowenke of DBU, Connor Kopach of Southern Illinois and Owen Miller of Illinois State.
