Infielder David Mendham named top Canadian college player of 2020

Dec 10, 2020 | 8:45 AM

TORONTO — Infielder David Mendham is the 2020 Canadian college player of the year.

The Canadian Baseball Network announced Mendham as the winner of its annual award Thursday.

Mendham received first-place votes on 54 of 62 ballots cast by a large panel of scouts, coaches, executives, former players, writers and broadcasters.

The six-foot-three native of Dorchester, Ont., batted .493 and had 36 hits and 26 runs batted in over 21 games for the Connors State Cowboys.

In a spring season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mendham topped all Canadian college players in hits (36) and finished second in doubles (10).

He was third among Canadians in RBIs and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.401), and scored 31 runs and stole six bases.

The left-handed hitting Mendham spent the summer of 2020 with the Savannah Bananas, a college team in Georgia, where he batted .338 with 25 hits in 22 games.

He is set to play this spring for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.

Mendham is the first player from Ontario to win the award since Toronto’s Connor Panas in 2015.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2020.

The Canadian Press