It’s not easy trying to pinpoint the very best college baseball player in the Southeastern Conference. But you should consider Todd Helton from Knoxville, who is still actually playing baseball professionally to this day.
He started out in the majors in 1997 with the Colorado Rockies, but he was playing baseball before that with the Tennessee Volunteers. He was their star first baseman (as well as the pitcher).
His baseball accomplishments began even earlier, at Knox Central High School. He lettered in baseball as well as football. In his senior year, his batting average was.690 and he had hit a total of 12 home runs. Those achievements earned him Regional Player of the Year.
After high school, he went on to the University of Tennessee. As first baseman and pitcher, he earned All-American and All-Southeastern Conference awards in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Helton also won the SEC Play of the Week several times. While playing on the Volunteers, he was part of Team USA as a freshman.
Before he joined the Colorado Rockies, Helton won National Collegiate Player of the Year in 1995. That would not be his only major honor when leaving Tennessee. He was also named the Collegiate Baseball’s Co-National Player of the Year, the SEC Male Athlete of the Year (not usually awarded to baseball players) and the Dick Howser Player of the Year. That’s just a few of his many awards.
While with the Volunteers, he helped bring them to three NCAA Regional appearances in a row, and a 3rd place finish in the College World Series.
His stats during his last year at U of T included a.407 batting average. Helton led the SEC with 20 home runs, 27 doubles, 92 RBIs and 105 hits. He also had a 1.66 ERA.
After graduation from University of Tennessee, he was a 1st round draft pick in 1995 for Major League Baseball (MLB). He took some time to improve his game on a few A, AA and Triple A teams and then hit the major-leagues in July of 1997.
His list of accomplishments kept on growing. In 2001, 2002 and 2004 he was awarded the Gold Glove. To date, he holds several records with the Colorado Rockies, for home runs, doubles, hits, walks, and RBIs.