March 4, 2008

Marshall University senior catcher Tommy Johnson was named to the 2008 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award watch list delivered by AT&T and Papa John's Pizza as announced by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.

Thirty-six catchers from twenty-two conferences were nominated for the award by their coaches. Because the award is given annually to the top division one collegiate catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 5, 2008.

Seven games into the 2008 season, Johnson has registered a .308 batting average, a pair of home runs, seven RBIs, a .416 slugging percentage, and has recorded his first collegiate triple.

Johnson has amassed a career batting average (including the seven games of 2008) of .331, has tallied seven home runs, driven in 62 runs, accumulated a .500 slugging percentage, and has been walked 24 times.

The watch list will be narrowed down to ten semi-finalists, whom will be announced May 14, 2008. Statistics will be compiled on each of the semi-finalists and sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 3, 2008 prior to the NCAA Super Regionals and Major League Baseball Draft. Afinal vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at the 11th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 27, 2008.

Johnny Bench presented Mississippi State catcher, Edward Easley, with the award last June in Wichita, Kansas. Buster Posey of Florida State University and Matt Wieters of Georgia Tech were the other finalists for the award.

While Bench is remembered for his offense, he may have had the greatest impact behind the plate. He was the first receiver to use a protective helmet in the field, popularized catching one-handed and kept his throwing hand behind his back to protect it from foul tips.

Bench's career honors include: National League Rookie of the Year (1968); National League Most Valuable Player (1970,1972); World Series Most Valuable Player (1976); 14-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. In 1980, he set an endurance record by catching 100+ games for 13 consecutive seasons. Bench was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1989 with the fourth highest percentage of total votes cast.

Brendan Akashian SR College of the Holy Cross
Derrick Alfonso SR University of Louisville
Billy Alvino JR High Point University
Ryan Babineau JR UCLA
Matt Behren JR Northern Illinois University
Joe Blackburn SR Penn State University
Mark Carver SR UNC Wilmington
Trevor Coleman SO University of Missouri
Jake Cox JR Charleston Southern University
Kurt Davidson SR University of Akron
Adam Deleo SR UNC Greensboro
Kevin Dubler JR Illinois State University
Tim Federowicz JR University of North Carolina
Luis Flores JR Oklahoma State University
Logan Gelbrich SR University of San Diego
Josh Geric SR Cleveland State University
Doug Hogan SR Clemson
Tommy Johnson SR Marshall University
Mark Kelly JR Southern Illinois
Alex Maldonado SR Centenary College
Chris McMurray JR UC Santa Barbara
Marc Mimeault JR Georgia State University
Blake Murphy SR Western Carolina
Sean Ochinko SO Louisiana State University
Joe Oliveira JR University of the Pacific
Petey Paramore JR Arizona State University
John Parham JR Cal State Northridge
Tim Park SR College of William & Mary
Buster Posey JR Florida State University
Kevin Reimer JR Canisius College
Michael Roberts JR Virginia Military Institute
Shea Robin SR Vanderbilt University
Adrian Salinas SR Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Nate Toth SR Radford University
Tyler Weber SR Wichita State University
Zach Zaneski SR University of Rhode Island