College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2012 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 45 with TCU junior catcher/outfielder Josh Elander. The Round Rock, Texas native attended Round Rock High School where he was a four year letter winner. As a senior, he picked up several awards including being named District 16-5A Most Valuable Player as a senior, first-team all-state, first-team all-Central Texas and an Under Armour All-American as a junior and senior. In the 2009 MLB Draft, the Washington Nationals selected him in the 39th round but he didn’t sign going to TCU to continue his education.
His freshman season saw him appear in 59 games (51 starts) with 33 starts coming in right field, 17 as the designated hitter and one as the catcher. He finished the season with a .356 batting average with two homers and 33 RBI.
In the summer of 2010, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Bourne Braves. He ended up struggling at the plate hitting .203 in 22 games with five RBI.
Elander’s sophomore season saw him hit .333 with five homers and 38 RBI as he became the everyday starter behind the plate with 37 starts behind the dish and 11 in the outfield. He was named a member of the 2011 Second-team All-Mountain West Conference and MWC All-Tournament Team.
He played the summer of 2011 with the USA Collegiate National Team. He was originally expected to backup Florida’s Mike Zunino behind the plate but with Zunino not going to the squad, he became the everyday starter. Elander played in 14 games hitting .327 with seven extra base hits (five doubles, two triples) and driving in seven runs.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 countdown by clicking here.
