The CBB continues our countdown for the 2010 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the list today with number 11 in our countdown with junior shortstop Christian Colon from Cal-State Fullerton. He is from Corona, California and graduated from Canyon High School. He lettered at three different high schools including Midway High School in Waco, Texas and Taylorsville High School in West Jordan, Utah in addition to Canyon. At Midway High School, he was the team’s RBI leader and Best Defensive Player, earning all-state recognition as a freshman. He then moved onto Taylorsville High School where he was a batting champion and the team’s MVP while being named second team all-state. He played his final two seasons at Canyon High School under Joe Hoggett where he hit .413 and earning the Century League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and also received all-county recognition as a junior. In 2007, He was again named a All-Century League first-teamer and earning all-county recognition after hitting .435 with three home runs, 16 RBI and 16 stolen bases. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic in 2006, as he had two hits, three stolen bases, and three runs scored in the game. He ended up being selected by the San Diego Padres in the 10th round but decided to head to Cal-State Fullerton.
Colon stepped right into the Titans lineup as a freshman as he played in all 63 games. He finished the season with a .329 average while hitting four homers and 39 RBI
while also stealing 13 bases in 17 attempts. He picked up several awards including being named Freshman All-American by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Rivals.com and a Big West Conference Honorable mention. After the season was over, he spent the summer of 2008 with the USA National Team where he appeared in all 24 games with a .263 average while hitting one homer and 14 RBI as the team went a perfect 24-0.
Colon’s sophomore season saw him appear in 62 games with a .357 average while hitting eight homers and driving in 40 runs. He was also solid on the basepaths with 15 stolen bases in 22 attempts. He struggled somewhat with his defense as he made 11 errors on the season. He picked up several awards including being named a second-team and third-team All-American by Baseball America and the NCBWA, ABCA All-West Region second teamer, and one of five finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award (nation’s top collegiate shortstop) while again being named an All-Big West Honorable Mention member. He spent the summer of 2009 back with the USA Collegiate National team where he appeared in 23 games while hitting .362 with a team high five homers and 37 RBI. He continued to be solid on the basepaths as he had 24 stolen bases in 26 attempts but struggled defensively with seven errors. Colon missed the final game of Team USA’s summer with a broken leg as he was taken out by a hard slide in the World Baseball Challenge. He was named as the second best pro prospect on Team USA by Baseball America.
Colon has been one of the premier shortstops in college baseball in the last two years but I question at how the broken leg over the summer will affect his skills. He would have been much closer to my Top 5 if he didn’t suffer the injury.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
Video courtesy of CamdenDepot.com
