Aaron Westlake
College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2011 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 countdown today at number 63 with Vanderbilt’s Aaron Westlake. He is a redshirt junior first baseman/catcher from Redding California and attended Shasta High School. He was a four year letter winner grabbing multiple awards including being named First-team all-state and section MVP in 2006 while also picking up first team all-league in 2005-07 and first team all-section from 2004-07. In 2004, he helped bring the team to the section championships. Heading into the 2007 draft, he was named the 55th best prospect in the state of California by Baseball America.
Aaron had a frustrating freshman season in 2008 which saw him have 29 at-bats as his season was cut short after having issues with blood clots. He finished the season with a .241 batting average with three runs scored in 15 games (4 starts). Westlake played the summer of 2008 in the NECBL playing with the Keene Swampbats. He finished the summer with a .209 batting average with three doubles and four RBI in 29 games.
His redshirt freshman season in 2009 saw him have a breakout season. He finished the season with a .377 batting average with 10 home runs, 57 RBI and 53 runs scored in 63 games. His .377 batting average was the best in the conference which led to him picking
up several awards including being named Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Second Team. He spent the summer again in the NECBL but this time with the Newport Gulls. He was excellent in the summer as he hit at a .312 batting average with 13 extra-base hits (eight doubles, three triples and two home runs) as he helped lead the Gulls to the Eastern Division Championship. He ended up leading the team in several categories including RBI (24), hits (34) total bases (54) and triples (3). He was honored with a spot in the 2009 NECBL All-Star game.
Westlake had a slight dropoff during his redshirt sophomore season in 2010 as he hit .308 with 14 home runs, 16 doubles and 61 RBI. His 14 homers was the best on the Commodores squad. He was named to the NCAA Louisville Regional All-Tournament team after hitting .300 with 7 RBI, two home runs and a team-high 8 runs scored. He spent the summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Chatham Anglers. He led the team with a .292 batting average with five homers and 10 RBI. He was honored with a spot in the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game as he went 1-3. (Live Blog|Recap)
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
4 comments
I saw Westlake a month ago in Austin during their 2 game scrimmage with UT and came away very impressed. I expect him to have a great year and improve his draft status immensely.
I was extremely impressed with Westlake in the Cape. Hopefully he is over the blood clot issues.
Westy finished the fall with a 3 homer game in the Black and Gold series and is one of those guys who just looks like he owns the batter’s box. And he’s a better firstbaseman than he gets credit for (because people tend to focus on his bat only).
Hopefully, he can be excellent protection with Esposito being the best position player prospect.
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