‘Cool award to win.’ East Carolina baseball star honored at Bobby Bragan gala.
Connor Norby doesn’t think there’s a more meaningful award in college baseball than the Fort Worth-based Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats.
The award is not just based on what players do at the plate. The selection committee factors in how players handle themselves in the classroom and off the field. Norby checked all the boxes during his junior season at East Carolina.
“This is a cool award to win,” he said. “I didn’t really know exactly to what extent the award meant. I thought it was just based off baseball, but that’s not really what the award stands for. And that means more to me to be honest. That’s something I preached for three years in college, what you do off the field and in the classroom. It means more than any award out there.”
Norby was honored during a gala Thursday night at the Fort Worth Club. He became the first player outside the state of Texas to win the award.
Norby led the country in hits with 102, while also posting a .415 batting average with 15 home runs and 51 RBIs. He was also named to the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and became a respected voice in the clubhouse.
Norby is now with the Baltimore Orioles organization, joining the club as a second-round pick in July. It’s a dream come true for Norby to become a professional baseball player, but he reflected back on his stellar college career Thursday.
East Carolina reached two NCAA Super Regionals (2019, 2021) in Norby’s career.
“This season was easily the most fun,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade any of those guys for anything. At the end of the day, it was a season for the memories and will go down in the history books at ECU. I’m so happy to be part of it.”
Norby is also happy to join the fraternity of Bragan Award winners.
The award started in 2017 as an honor going to the top college hitter in Texas, with Texas Tech’s Hunter Hargrove and Dallas Baptist’s Devlin Granberg being the first two recipients. Texas Tech’s Josh Jung won it in 2019, shortly before the Texas Rangers made him a first-round pick in that year’s draft.
The award then made headlines with plans to become a national award in 2020. However, nobody won it in 2020 as the college baseball season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norby now holds the distinction of becoming the first player from a non-Texas school to win it. His college coach, Cliff Godwin, made the trip to Fort Worth to be a part of the festivities.
“It’s an honor for Connor. He put in a lot of hard work,” Godwin said. “And an honor for our university to be the first non-Texas school recognized is special.”
Other finalists for the award included Texas Tech’s Jace Jung, Arizona’s Jacob Berry and Oklahoma’s Tyler Hardman.
