In the final BluGrass Baseball preseason awards post we will look at the preseason player of the year.

Player of the year: Ryan Wright — University of Louisville

Ryan Wright; UofL photo

The preseason player of the year award is essentially a two-way race between UofL junior infielder Ryan Wright, and WKU senior catcher Matt Rice, but the award goes to Wright in a tight race. BluGrass Baseball recently ranked Wright the No. 1 collegiate player in the state, and the second baseman has already been named a preseason All-American by Louisville Slugger, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Baseball America. The Indiana native batted .366 with 16 home runs, 80 RBI and 61 runs scored in 2010. He recently earned the nickname, “RBI Mongrel” from his head coach Dan McDonnell for compiling 146 RBI in two seasons at UofL.

During the summer 2010 Wright played for the collegiate national team and finished the summer season as the Team USA leader in batting average (.361) and runs scored (18).  Baseball America recently ranked Wright the No. 30 junior prospect in the 2011 draft. Wright leads returning Kentucky collegians in 2010 RBI, runs scored and home runs and ranks second in 2010 batting average and slugging percentage. The middle infielder will start the season as UofL’s second baseman but could move to shortstop if the need arises. In 2009 Wright received freshman All-American honors from Louisville Slugger, NCBWA and Ping! Baseball.