It’s not easy trying to identify the best college baseball player in the Southeastern Conference. But you should consider Knoxville’s Todd Helton, who still plays baseball professionally to this day.
He started in the majors in 1997 with the Colorado Rockies, but before that he played baseball with the Tennessee Volunteers. He was his star first baseman (as well as the pitcher).
His baseball accomplishments began even earlier, at Knox Central High School. He excelled in both baseball and soccer. As a senior, his batting average was .690 and he had hit a total of 12 home runs. Those achievements earned him Regional Player of the Year.
After high school, he entered the University of Tennessee. As a first baseman and pitcher, he won All-American and All-Southeastern Conference awards in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Helton also won SEC Play of the Week multiple times. While playing for the Volunteers, he made Team USA as a freshman.
Before joining the Colorado Rockies, Helton won National Collegiate Player of the Year in 1995. That wouldn’t be his only big honor leaving Tennessee. He was also named Collegiate Baseball Co-National Player of the Year, SEC Male Athlete of the Year (not usually awarded to baseball players), and Dick Howser Player of the Year. Those are just a few of his many awards.
While with the Volunteers, he helped lead them to three straight NCAA regional appearances and a third-place finish in the College World Series.
His statistics during his senior year at U of T included a .407 batting average. Helton led the SEC with 20 home runs, 27 doubles, 92 RBIs, and 105 hits. He also had a 1.66 ERA.
After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he was selected in the first round of the 1995 draft for Major League Baseball (MLB). He took time to improve his game on some A, AA and Triple A teams and then made it to the major leagues in July of 1997.
His list of accomplishments kept growing. In 2001, 2002 and 2004 he was awarded the Gold Glove. To date, he holds several records with the Colorado Rockies, for home runs, doubles, hits, walks and RBIs.