The CBB continues our countdown to the 2009 College Baseball season with our Top 50 players to watch. We will be providing one player each day (Monday-Saturday) until we reach number 1.
We continue our list with junior first baseman Ben Paulsen of Clemson. The Acworth Georgia native got onto the national stage at Kell High School. He was rated as the 135th best prospect in the nation while being rated the fifth best in the state of Georgia. He was also named 2006 All-State team in high school.
His freshman season in 2007, Paulsen served as a backup to Andy D’Alessio while primarily playing everyday as the DH. He finished the season with a .258 average with five homers and 20 RBI in 58 games with 39 starts at DH.
Last season, Paulsen came into his own as he became the everyday starter at first base with the loss of D’Alessio to graduation. He didn’t disappoint as he finished third on the team in batting average (.310), finishing second on the team in homers (13), and third on the team in RBI (49).
He had an outstanding summer with the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He finished the season with a .290 average with eight homers and 33 RBI in 44 games. Paulsen was named to the 2008 Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star game where he went 2-4 with 2 RBI. We attended the game were we filed a full report which is available here.
We believe that Paulsen will be one of the top players in the ACC and potentially in the country in 2009. He showed us that he can handle the pressure last year.
