TCU’s Tommy Sacco named 2022 Collegiate Baseball Player of Year by SABR Dallas-Fort Worth chapter
DALLAS – TCU’s Tommy Sacco has been chosen as the recipient of the 29th Howard Green SABR Metroplex Collegiate Player of the Year Award, while Texas Wesleyan’s Joseph Barfield was selected as the 11th annual SABR Metroplex Carroll Beringer Award College Division Player of the Year Award by SABR’s Ernie Banks-Bobby Bragan DFW Chapter.
The prestigious college baseball awards honor the memory of Green, the local SABR chapter’s longtime president, and Beringer, a former major-league pitching coach who was a great supporter of college baseball in the area.
Sacco had a season to remember for the 2022 Big 12 Conference champion TCU Horned Frogs and Big 12 Coach of the Year Kirk Saarloos.
The 5-10, 185-pound senior shortstop from Gilbert, Arizona, was first team All-Big 12 in 2022 and first team Academic All-Big 12 for the second consecutive season. Sacco led the Horned Frogs in virtually every hitting category with a .355 batting average, 58 runs, 82 hits, 14 home runs, 23 doubles, 34 RBI, 18-for-20 success in stolen bases, 149 total bases, and a .645 slugging percentage while starting all 60 games.
He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 14th round of the 2022 MLB draft and was assigned to the Class A Fayetteville (N.C.) Woodpeckers of the Carolina League.
Barfield, a 6-foot, 205-pound senior third baseman from Pearland, Texas, was a first team All-Sooner Athletic Conference infielder and paced the Rams in six different hitting stats: hits (74), batting average (.389), runs (70), doubles (19), homers (11), and RBI (66). He helped coach Bobby Garza’s squad finish 35-19 with several NAIA weekly national rankings and a berth in the SAC postseason tournament.
The Rams senior standout also started all 54 games, was 6-for-8 in the stolen base department and was a four-year letterman for Texas Wesleyan.
Previous Howard Green Award winners include MLB veterans Hunter Pence, Scott Malone, and Darick Hall.
“The selection of this year’s Green and Beringer Award winners was particularly difficult as a number of area collegiate players had outstanding years, all of which is a true testament to the quality of college baseball played in the Metroplex at all levels,” said Banks-Bragan SABR Chapter President Paul Rogers.
Previous winners of the Howard Green SABR Metroplex College Baseball Player of the Year are: Scott Malone, TCU, 1993; Jason Parsons, DBU, 1994; Johnny Issom, Texas Wesleyan, 1995; Karl Chatman, DBU, 1996; Brandon Harper, DBU, 1997; Royce Huffman, TCU, 1998; Cody Sundbeck, DBU, 1999; (co) Jon Browder, DBU; Pat Hannon, Texas Wesleyan, 2000; Mike Hall, Texas Wesleyan, 2001; Terry Trofholz, TCU, 2002; Clayton Jerome, TCU, 2003; Hunter Pence, UT Arlington, 2004; Lance Broadway, TCU, 2005; Drew Holder, DBU, 2006; Sam Demel, TCU, 2007; Evan Bigley, DBU, 2008; Matt Otteman, UT Arlington, 2009; (co) Michael Choice, Texas-Arlington; Matt Purke, TCU, 2010; Jason Krizan, Dallas Baptist, 2011; Boomer Collins, Dallas Baptist, 2012; Duncan McAlpine, Dallas Baptist, 2013; (co) Brandon Finnegan, Preston Morrison, TCU, 2014; Brandon Koch, Dallas Baptist, 2015; (co) Darick Hall, Dallas Baptist; Luken Baker, TCU, 2016; Austin Listi, Dallas Baptist, 2017; Devlin Granberg, Dallas Baptist, 2018; Jake Guenther, TCU, 2019; no award in 2020 due to COVID-19 shortened season; Jackson Glenn, DBU, 2021.
Carroll Beringer Award: Chase Brown, UT Dallas, 2012; Elvin Rodriguez, Northwood, 2013; Jake Howeth, Texas Wesleyan, 2014; Brandon George, UT Dallas, 2015; Conner Combs, East Texas Baptist, 2016; Luis Roman, Texas Wesleyan, 2017; Kiki Menendez, Texas Wesleyan, 2018; Casey Combs, East Texas Baptist, 2019; A.J. Liu, UT Dallas, 2020 and ‘21.
For more information, please contact Bo Carter at bcarter@footballfoundation.com or (214) 418-6132.
Originally published: August 15, 2022. Last Updated: August 15, 2022.