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Kevin Newman (baseball)

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Kevin Newman
Newman with the Altoona Curve in 2017
Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 27
Shortstop / Second baseman
Born: (1993-08-04) August 4, 1993 (age 31)
Poway, California
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 16, 2018, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics
(through 2020 season)
Batting average.278
Home runs13
Runs batted in80
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Kevin Bradley Newman (born August 4, 1993) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the Arizona Wildcats of the University of Arizona, before the Pirates selected him in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft.

Career

Amateur career

Newman graduated from Poway High School in Poway, California. He made the school's varsity baseball team in his sophomore year. Newman had a .404 batting average in his junior year, and was pursued by the University of Arizona, University of Oregon, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He committed to attend Arizona on a college baseball scholarship to play for the Arizona Wildcats baseball team.[1]

Newman succeeded Alex Mejia as the Wildcats' starting shortstop as a freshman.[2] In his freshman year, Newman had a .336 batting average, the 11th best in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). He was named to the Freshman All-America team by Louisville Slugger,[3][4] and was the only freshman named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team.[5] He had a .304 batting average as a sophomore, and was again named to the Pac-12's All-Conference team.[6] He was added to the Golden Spikes Award watch list before his junior year.[7] Newman also played summer collegiate baseball for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) in the summers of 2013 and 2014, winning the league's batting average title in both years.[8] He was named to the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2020.[9] In 2015, Newman was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team.[10]

Professional career

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Newman in the first round, with the 19th overall selection, of the 2015 MLB draft.[11][12] He signed with the Pirates and reported to the West Virginia Black Bears of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League to make his professional debut.[13] The Pirates promoted Newman to the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League in August.[14] In 61 combined games between the two teams, he posted a .257 batting average with two home runs, 17 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He began the 2016 season with the Bradenton Marauders of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League,[15] and was later promoted to the Altoona Curve of the Class AA Eastern League; in 102 total games, he batted .320 with five home runs and 52 RBIs. In 2017, he played for both Altoona and the Indianapolis Indians of the Class AAA International League, batting a combined .267 with four home runs, 41 RBIs and a .675 OPS in 122 total games.[16]

MLB.com ranked Newman as Pittsburgh's seventh best prospect going into the 2018 season.[17] He played 102 games for Indianapolis, batting .302, before the Pirates promoted him to the major leagues on August 16.[18]

On April 6, 2019 Newman hit his first walk off, a single to help the Pirates defeat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 in 10 innings. In 2019 he batted .308/.353/.446, tied for the National League lead in infield hits (22), and led the NL in at bats per strikeout (8.0).[19]

References

  1. ^ Michael Bower. "Prep baseball: Poway High's Newman commits to University of Arizona". Pomerado News. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  2. ^ Daniel Berk. "Arizona baseball: Newman's bat 'pleasant surprise' for UA". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  3. ^ Daniel Berk. "UA baseball: Newman has tools to be a 'dude' for Cats this spring". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  4. ^ Damien Alameda (June 5, 2013). "Kevin Newman Named Freshman All-American". nbc12.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  5. ^ Michael Bower. "Alumni Report: Poway High grad Newman turns in solid year for Arizona". Pomerado News. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  6. ^ Daniel Berk. "Arizona Wildcats baseball: Newman and Kingery named to all-conference team". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  7. ^ "Arizona baseball's Kevin Newman named to Golden Spikes Award wat". kvoa.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  8. ^ azcentral sports news sources (August 6, 2014). "Kevin Newman wins Cape Cod League batting title". azcentral. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  9. ^ "2020 Hall of Fame Class Announced". capecodbaseball.org. June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  10. ^ Richie Melby (June 6, 2015). "Kevin Newman patiently awaiting MLB Draft". kvoa.com. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  11. ^ "Pirates draft shortstop Kevin Newman 19th overall". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 8, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  12. ^ "Kevin Newman info". Rotoworld. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  13. ^ "Pirates sign top pick Kevin Newman". NewsOK.com. June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  14. ^ Charlie Wilmoth. "Pirates promote Kevin Newman to West Virginia Power". Bucs Dugout.
  15. ^ "FSL notes: Newman's bat making noise early". MiLB.com. April 27, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  16. ^ "Kevin Newman Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  17. ^ "New No. 1 Keller leads Pirates Top 30 Prospects list". MLB.com. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  18. ^ "With Jordy Mercer out, Pirates bring 1st-round pick Kevin Newman to majors - TribLIVE.com". archive.triblive.com.
  19. ^ "Major League Leaderboards » 2019 » Batters » Batted Ball Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. January 1, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
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