| PING!BASEBALL SPOTLIGHT PLAYER
Xavier Scruggs
UNLV REBELS |
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There’s something cool about the letter
X. On treasure maps it marks the spot of buried treasure,
mysterious paranormal phenomena incidents are assigned to
the X-Files and Marvel comics’ superhuman evil fighting
mutants are the X-Men. The alphabet’s most elusive letter
also starts name of one of the most exciting and exceptional
players in UNLV’s Xavier Scruggs. The junior first baseman
put the finishing seasons on one of the most prolific seasons
at the plate in Rebel history recently, which is truly saying
something considering former Rebels include former Major League
Baseball All Stars Matt Williams and Cecil Fielder, as well
as rising Toronto AAA prospect Eric Nielsen.
 Scruggs
was justifiably named the Mountain West Conference's Player
of the Year this season as he finished the regular season
with the MWC Triple Crown, batting .389 with 20 home runs
and 65 RBI. His video-game-like numbers also included a Mountain
West leading .778 slugging percentage and a .489 on-base percentage.
The 6’1” slugger who can also play third base
and even pitch in a pinch also accumulated 60 runs and 20
doubles during his award winning campaign. "I don't think
there's anybody in the conference that was feared more."
UNLV Head Coach Buddy Gouldsmith declared of his star player.
What makes Scruggs 2008 performance even
more significant is that he put up his numbers playing for
a subpar UNLV team which finished the season at 22-37. None
of his Rebel teammates had more than 16 extra base hits, and
the total of the number two and three RBI leaders on the team
just barely supersede Scruggs’ run batted in effort.
Also remarkable is that in 2007 Scruggs compiled nice, but
hardly noteworthy numbers; he hit .289 with nine home runs
and 36 RBI. However as unimpressive as those numbers were,
they were still an enormous improvement from his freshman
season when he hit just .214 in 24 games and 42 at-bats.
Coming out of high school where he led his
Poway High School Titans to the Palomar League Championship
and a national ranking as a senior, Scruggs was projected
to be a middle round MLB draft pick. Yet he fell to being
a Seattle Mariner fiftieth round choice after committing to
UNLV, but the dividends of the oversight will be paying off
soon. With his break out season this year, Scruggs’
value has jumped accordingly with some projections declaring
him to be chosen in the first five rounds of next month’s
draft. Considering the price of gas and groceries these days,
Scruggs has likely played his last game for UNLV, as his talent
potential is far too valuable to delay professional status
for another year.
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