ATLANTA — One Houston County High School alumni balled out in his first year of college baseball.
Georgia Tech freshman Drew Burress collected several awards after one of, if not the best freshman performances in college baseball this past season.
He was most recently named Perfect Game’s National Freshman of the Year on Wednesday.
Burress was also named a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association First-Team All-American and was selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings First-Team All-Southeast Region.
In addition to his all-conference and ACC Freshman of the Year honors, Perfect Game named him a Third-Team All-American, a Freshman First-Team All-American and was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
Burress was selected to the All-Southeast Region team with Yellow Jacket teammate Matthew Ellis. The pair teamed up to be one of only three ACC programs — alongside Wake Forest and Florida State — to have multiple first-team, all-region selections.
The Houston County native led Georgia Tech in batting average at .381, RBIs with 67 and home runs with 25, which set a Georgia Tech freshman record. This stat line helped Burress become the 12th Yellow Jacket in history to win the triple crown.
Burress also had 15 doubles, three triples, had an OPS of 1.333. Additionally, his 58 walks far surprised his strikeouts. He led all Division I freshmen in home runs, home runs per game, slugging, total bases, walks and walks per game. He was third nationally for all freshmen in 11 total categories.
The outfielder was even also stellar in the field. He set a Georgia Tech record for most assists by an outfielder, after he threw out 10 baserunners from his position of center field this past season.
When coming out of high school, Burress was rated the No. 1 outfielder, No. 2 overall prospect in Georgia and the 18th best prospect in the 2023 class according to Perfect Game. He’s also the second-best player to attend school in the 2023 class.
The 5-foot-9, 182-pound outfielder won two state championships and four region championships while at Houston County. After his first season, those rankings appear to have been on the money.
In the final game of his freshman year, Burress had the best hitting performance on the team, going 50% at the plate against in-state rival UGA. He put Georgia Tech in a solid spot to win the game, but the Bulldogs’ offense rallied back to win
While the Yellow Jackets couldn’t capture a title in his first season, with Burress at the helm, Georgia Tech’s future seems fairly bright.