VMI Baseball junior catcher Cole Raile was named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Midseason Watchlist, according to an announcement on Apr. 1.
The award, hosted by the Wichita Sports Commission, recognizes the most outstanding catcher in college baseball each season. Nominees are selected by their school’s Sports Information Directors and must have played as a catcher in at least 75 percent of their team’s games.
Raile has had a strong season for VMI, posting a .319 batting average with an on-base percentage of .628 and a slugging percentage of .467. He has recorded five doubles, eight home runs, scored 30 runs, and driven in 29 runs batted in. Notably, Raile is perfect on stolen base attempts this year with 17 steals—the highest total for any catcher nationwide.
Defensively, Raile has registered 188 putouts and 18 assists while catching 13 runners attempting to steal bases—more than any other catcher in the Southern Conference. In week six of the season, D1Baseball ranked him as the twenty-third best catcher nationally.
Raile will find out if he advances as a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award in May. Meanwhile, he and his teammates are preparing for their first home conference series against Wofford at Lamore Field at Gray-Minor Stadium beginning Thursday.
