OMAHA, Neb. — National home run leader Ivan Melendez from the University of Texas at Austin won the Dick Howser Trophy on Friday as the outstanding player in college baseball.
Melendez's 32 home runs are the most in Division I since 2003. He leads the nation with 94 RBIs and a .886 slugging percentage. He became Texas baseball's home run king, surpassing Kyle Russel's 28 in 2007 for the program record.
The junior from El Paso, Texas, is the fourth Longhorn to win the Howser Trophy. Other Texas players to win it were Brooks Kieschnick (1992-93), Scott Bryant (1989) and Taylor Jungmann (2011).
Melendez ranked first in the Big 12 Conference in batting average (.432), homers (14) and RBIs (32).
The announcement was made at a news conference at Charles Schwab Park – the site of the NCAA World Series on Friday.
"The Dick Howser Trophy not only honors a player with some of the best ability nationally but it also is based upon the tenets of - leadership, moral character and courage. The top draft choices for the upcoming Major League Baseball free agent draft usually are among the Howser Trophy finalists, but this is not a criterion for the eventual winner," UT baseball said in a release.
Melendez also has been named national player of the year by Collegiate Baseball newspaper and Perfect Game and is a consensus All-American.
Other Howser Trophy finalists were Oregon State pitcher Connor Hjerpe, Tennessee third baseman Trey Lipscomb, Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada and Clemson third baseman Max Wagner.
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