Coastal Carolina senior Tucker Frawley is one of 12 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award, which annually goes to the top collegiate catcher. The award is given by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.
Frawley (Lexington / Lexington HS) is the third Chanticleer catcher to be a Johnny Bench Award nominee and looks to join former All-Americans Dock Doyle (2008) and Jose Iglesias (2010) as one of the three finalists for the prestigious award. (Frawley was a redshirt freshman in 2008 as Doyle’s teammate and was Iglesias’ backup in 2010.)
Frawley has thrown out 22 of 40 base runners this season and picked seven additional runners off the base paths. He is batting .301 and has reached base safely in 42 of 50 games started this season. An “Iron Man” behind the plate, Frawley has been called upon to catch 89 percent of the team’s innings this season and has only had one game that he did not see action.
A coach on the field, Frawley handles a pitching staff that has led the NCAA in ERA for the last five consecutive weeks and the team has ranked no lower than third in ERA in nine of the 11 ranking periods this season. That feat is even more impressive as the majority of the staff is comprised of four freshman, one sophomore, two junior college transfers and three juniors. (One of those juniors, projected high draft pick Josh Conway, was lost midway through the season to injury.)
In addition to excelling on the field, Frawley is a standout in the classroom. He graduated summa cum laude on May 5 with a 3.94 GPA in physics. He is a two-time Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Region selection and Academic All-Big South.
Ballots will be sent to a national voting panel in May and this year’s three finalists will be announced June 4. A final vote will occur at the NCAA College World Series and the winner, with all three finalists on hand, will be announced at the 15th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 28.
