Date Posted: 9/11/2008

MACON, Ga. - Former Mercer baseball standout Matthew Crawford made a strong first impression in his first year of professional baseball, winning the 2008 Arizona Rookie League batting title as a member of the Arizona Angels.

The Waycross, Ga. native torched the Arizona League with a .373 batting average in 37 games. An outfielder, Crawford also drove in 20 runs, slugged two long balls and stole 19 bases for the Angels.

Crawford got better and better as the season progressed, hitting a sizzling .467 during the month of August. His best performance of the season came on Aug. 26 when he posted a 4-for-4 day against the Arizona Athletics.

Following his two-year career with the Bears, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected Crawford in the 23rd round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft. In his senior season at Mercer, Crawford started all 50 games and finished second on the team in batting average, (.341) while pacing the squad with 72 hits and 22 thefts on the base paths.

Crawford ended his two-year career with the Bears hitting at a stellar .328 clip with 35 stolen bases.

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