Johnny Bench Award

The Johnny Bench Award was created in 2000 by to honor college baseball's top catcher. The award is the brain child of Wichitan Mike Gehrer who has coached and administrated in the Wichita area at the high school level for many years. He was a college catcher himself and is one of the most forward thinkers when it comes to the catching position. It is his passion for the sport of baseball--specifically for the position of catcher--that has made this award what it has become today. It is dedicated to the former Cincinnati catcher Johnny Bench, who by some is considered to be the best defensive catcher in baseball history.

A panel of selected sportscasters, sportswriters, Division I Head Coaches and professional scouts participate in the final vote, usually at the annual College World Series, to determine the winner.

Past winners

Year	Name	School
2000	Cresse, BradBrad Cresse	LSU
2001	Shoppach, KellyKelly Shoppach	Baylor
2002	Brown, JeremyJeremy Brown	Alabama
2003	Garko, RyanRyan Garko	Stanford
2004	Suzuki, KurtKurt Suzuki	Cal State Fullerton
2005	Clement, JeffJeff Clement	Southern California
2006	Smith, JakeJake Smith	East Carolina
2007	Easley, EdEd Easley	Mississippi State
2008	Posey, BusterBuster Posey	Florida State
2009	Wise, J. T.J. T. Wise	Oklahoma
2010	Holaday, BryanBryan Holaday	TCU
2011	Lowery, JakeJake Lowery	James Madison

See also

• List of college baseball awards

External links

• JohnnyBench.com
• History and selection process