Georgia Tech Alumni: Former Jacket Charlie Blackmon wins NL Batting Title
Former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Charlie Blackmon has won the National League Batting title.
Former Georgia Tech baseball star Charlie Blackmon has won the National League batting title. The batting title is annually given out to the qualified player in the American and National leagues who has the highest batting average.
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For the 2017 regular season, Blackmon hit at a .331/.399/.601 with 37 home runs and 104 RBI. For the Suwanee, Georgia native it was a career season, topping his former career bests of 29 home runs and 82 RBI. For Blackmon, it was just another step in what has been a meteoric rise over the past few seasons.
Blackmon’s career season catapulted the former Jacket into stardom as one of the best players in all of baseball. It will also earn him vote for the National League MVP though he is likely to lose that race to Miami Marlins’ star slugger Giancarlo Stanton.
Since becoming a full-time starter in Colorado (2014), Blackmon has been a .308 hitter with an average of 26 home run and 72 RBI. He also has averaged 26 stolen bases per season.
Blackmon came to Georgia Tech in 2006 from Young Harris Junior College originally as a pitcher. Blackmon remained a pitcher for his first season on campus. He was moved to the outfield by head coach Danny Hall prior to the 2008 season according to his Georgia Tech profile.
In 2008, his first full season as an outfielder for Georgia Tech, Blackmon hit .396/.469/.564 with 8 home runs and 45 RBI. Following the 2008 season, Blackmon was drafted in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Rockies. Once Blackmon broke into the Rockies system, he rose through the Rockies farm system quickly. He made his Major League debut on June 7th, 2011 against the San Diego Padres.