Published: June 05, 2009 09:52 am      

College Baseball: Young Confident and Good

Bobcat freshman Tyler Sibley named All-American

Tyler Sibley is a tireless worker.

He was actually in the gym when Texas State head baseball coach Ty Harrington called and left a message on his cell phone.

Sibley replayed the message several times because he wasn’t sure if it was good or bad news.

“I got the voice mail and I listened to it and he kind of sounded real short,” Sibley said. “He kind of had a tone that I might have been in trouble.”

Sibley’s mind raced trying to think of all the possible outcomes.

Did he somehow test positive for a substance banned by the NCAA? Unlikely, since he carefully watches his diet and what he puts into his body.

Was his scholarship revoked? Also doubtful after his record-setting freshman season, where he batted .367 with 10 home runs and scored a school and Southland Conference record 77 runs.

Then what could it be?

“When I finally called Coach Harrington back, he was in a meeting so he was short with me again,” Sibley said. “I really began thinking more, but he called me back and told me I had been named an All American.”

Sibley immediately called his family and friends to let them know the news.

It didn’t come as a total surprise to Sibley, as he knew his statistics were good enough to receive some type of praise. After all, he was named second-team All SLC.

Harrington knew he was getting a special athlete when he recruited the Frisco native. The awards validated his hunch.

“We anticipated that Tyler would be a great player,” Harrington said. “Did we anticipate that he would be a freshman All American? You hope that the players we recruit have those type of abilities.”

Sibley wasn’t just a spark plug at the top of the lineup for the Bobcats.

He provided instant offense whenever he stepped into the batter’s box. He’s as fearless on the base paths (14 steals) as he is at the plate (18 hit-by pitches).

“I think a lot of part of my game is crowding the plate,” Sibley said. “I have grown into in college. In high school and summer ball, I wasn’t looking to get hit by a pitch. When I realized all the great hitters behind me, I wanted to get on base for them.”

Sibley posted a .467 on-base percentage and only struck out 16 times. He pounded out 84 hits and walked 26 times.

With him at the top of the lineup, Texas State set a school record for runs in a single season with 492.

“You don’t always know what you’re designing until the art work starts to play out,” Harrington said. “We anticipated he could be our leadoff guy. He was one of those guys that as soon as we injected into the lineup, he made a difference.”

It was tough for Sibley to get into the lineup at first, as he didn’t play the first three games.

Harrington originally recruited Sibley as a shortstop, yet his footwork was too slow to allow him to correctly field the position. Sibley moved to the outfield, where he only committed one error all season.

“I wasn’t adjusted to the speed of the defense as much as I was the offense,” Sibley said. “I kind of had to catch my breath and worry about hitting this year.”

Sibley will move back to the infield next season, as the Bobcats will look to fill his void in the outfield.

This summer, he’ll play in the same Alaskan Summer League that Goldschmidt did last year. Sibley will be joined in Alaska by teammtes Bret Atwood and Jason Martinson.

Sibley will get extra reps at shortstop, so he’ll be ready to take over the role next season.

He’ll only be a sophomore, so Texas State will have him for at least two more seasons. That’s fine with Harrington.

“He’s the epitome of a guy you love to have on your team,” Harrington said, “but when he’s on the other team, you don’t want to deal with him.”