Mizzou Baseball: A Look at the Tigers Top Returning Hitters
2/2/2018 10:23:00 AM | Baseball
Mizzou will return five of six position players who started in 50-plus games during the 2017 campaign. Seniors Brett Bond and Trey Harris, junior Connor Brumfield, and sophomores Kameron Misner and Chris Cornelius were collectively responsible for more than 60 percent of Mizzou's offense last season.
Senior Brett Bond elected to return for his senior season after being drafted in the 23rd round of the MLB draft this past summer by the Houston Astros. Bond will look to build off his stellar junior season during which he finished with a .307 average, 10 home runs and 45 RBI. He led the team in doubles (15) and runs scored (41). Bond enters the season ranked the No. 4 college senior by PerfectGame.org and expects to find himself on the Johnny Bench award watch list, which is awarded to the nation's top catcher.
Senior Trey Harris saw career highs in almost every offensive statistic the past season. He set highs in batting (.268), runs (35), RBI (48), extra-base hits (20), slugging (.508), on-base percentage (.388), walks (32) and homers (12). Harris ranked 10th in the SEC in RBI and eighth in home runs and led the team in both categories. Harris played in 52 games and started 50 of them. Entering the 2018 season, Harris is ranked the 32nd college senior by PerfectGame.org.
Junior Connor Brumfield also saw statistical boosts in many offensive categories. He set career-highs in batting (.272), hits (59), runs (37), walks (33), RBI (28), doubles (nine), triples (three) and home runs (one). While having Brumfield in the leadoff spot, Mizzou was 32-20. He finished the season third on the team in multi-hit games with 16 and second in stolen bases with 11. Brumfield played, and started, in 55 games only missing four. He hurt his hand late in the season, slowing his offensive production, but Mizzou's coaches will look for him to be a spark plug at the top of the order once again in 2018.
Sophomore Kameron Misner was, to no one's surprise, one of Mizzou's best hitters last season. Misner finished the season with seven home runs, the most by a Mizzou freshman since 2007. He ranked fourth in the SEC in stolen bases with 17, which was also a team-high. He also led the team in multi-hit games with 18 and saw seven games where he had multiple RBI. His .282 average was the best for a Mizzou freshman since Brett Bond hit .294 in 2015. He was one of two Mizzou freshmen, Chris Cornelius being the other, to record more than 30 RBI as a freshman since 2010. Misner played, and started, in 58 games only missing one making him one of Mizzou's most reliable and durable returning players going into the 2018 season. With the most power potential on the team, the lefty with a sweet stroke is expected to make a huge jump this season and should be an impact bat all year in the middle of Mizzou's order.
Sophomore Chris Cornelius, as stated above, was one of two freshmen to record 30 or more RBIs during his freshman campaign since 2010. He was the first Mizzou freshman to start the majority of Mizzou's games at shortstop since Andrew Thigpen in 2008. Cornelius finished the season fourth on the team in RBIs with 31. He also tied Connor Brumfield for the team lead in triples with three. Cornelius played, and started, in 55 games last season only missing four.
Mizzou also brings back every-day standouts Alex Samples and Brian Sharp. Sharp hit .246 with four homers and 11 doubles and drove in 19 runs while walking 31 times, good for a .358 OBP. Samples hit 11 doubles in his first year with the program.
