Arizona Diamondbacks’ top prospect, and number 39 in all of Major League Baseball (MLB), Kristian Robinson has been voted as the Nassau Guardian’s Junior Male Athlete of the Year for 2020, narrowing beating out Texas Longhorns’ forward/center Kai Jones.
With Minor League Baseball seasons being cancelled in 2020, one might wonder what criteria was used in selecting Robinson. At the end of the day his sheer progression into one of the most feared hitters in the minor leagues, a non-roster invitation to spring training, and his ensuing addition to the Diamondbacks 60-man player pool, proved to be more than enough to earn him consideration for the top junior male honor.
Robinson, who has been in the system for three years, is The Bahamas’ top prospect in the minors and it is anticipated that he will be called up to the majors within the next two seasons. When training camps open in March, it is expected that he will be invited for the second year in a row, joining Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm and Lucius Fox who both accomplished those feats in 2019 and again in 2020 for their respective teams. Chisholm took it a step further, being the seventh Bahamian to be called up to the majors on September 2, 2020.
As for five-tool prospect Robinson, he is a physical specimen with power to all fields and who can hit for average. Last year he hit 14 home runs in 69 games, producing triple-digit exit velocities, and had a slugging percentage of .514 between Class A Short Season Hillsboro and Class A Kane County. The move up to a top 40 position on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects List proves that he is highly regarded among MLB scouts and that he has shown marked improvement during his time in the minors.
He is number nine among outfielders.
An MLB profile describes Robinson as one who has not only put up numbers on the field, but has also developed his body in a way that will increase the power he has already displayed. The talented Bahamian could be a scary sight for pitchers at the next level.
Robinson batted .282 for two teams a year ago, was among the league leaders in home runs in Class A Short Season despite not having enough plate appearances to qualify, and then made the jump to the Diamondbacks training camp and spring training this year. Robinson would have finished second in average, on-base percentage and slugging if he had qualified and was named to the Northwest League All-Star team. In fact, he was named to four all-star teams a year ago. Robinson added 25 pounds of muscle between spring training and August 20, according to MLB, and was poised for a breakout year in 2020 before COVID-19 swopped in.
“He had a few games where he’d do something to make you think – ‘we don’t have anyone else who can do that’. He hit three homers – three opposite-field home runs – in back-to-back-to-back at-bats. He does some things that not many people can do,” said Diamondbacks’ Farm Director Josh Barfield to MLB.com.
Robinson also has above-average speed, having stolen 17 bases last season, and over his two minor league seasons he is hitting .281.
Collegiate basketball standout at Texas, Jones finished second in voting for the Nassau Guardian’s Junior Male Athlete of the Year for 2020, losing out by one point to Robinson.
Jones played sparingly in his freshman season a year ago, but showed the talent and promise that has him projected as a potential first rounder in next year’s National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft. In fact, Jones is listed as number 25 on the latest projections on the 2021 NBA Draft Big Board.
Last season he averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in limited action for the Texas Longhorns. This season, those numbers are up to 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest while shooting 69.2 percent from the field. The 6’ 11” 218-pound Bahamian made 18 of his first 19 shots this season and has shot 50 percent or more in seven of the eight games for the Longhorns this season. The Longhorns has won seven of those eight games.
Jones is regarded as athletic big man who can run the floor, spread the court offensively given his ability to hit the outside shot consistently, and is aggressive on defense. Jones is shooting 45.5 percent from distance this season, going 5-for-11. He is one of the main reasons why the Longhorns are highly ranked this year – number eight in the Associated Press’ Top 25 and number nine in the Coaches Poll.
Jones has come off the bench in seven of eight games for the Longhorns and is playing 21 minutes per game – about three and a half minutes per game more than a year ago.
Finishing third in voting for the Nassau Guardian’s Junior Male Athlete of the Year for 2020 is swimmer Izaak Bastian.
Bastian, a junior at Florida State University (FSU), continues to get faster and faster in the pool and is regarded as an Olympic hopeful for The Bahamas in 2021. Coming off a season in which he qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in the 100 breast, Bastian looks poised to continue to progress this year, looking to achieve Olympic qualifying times at some point this season.
He won a bronze medal at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships in the 100 breast, recording a personal best time of 52.36 seconds, and finished 14th in the 200 breast at those championships in 1:57.42. Collegiately, Bastian has personal best times of 19.93 seconds in the 50 free, 46.07 seconds in the 100 free and 1:56.23 in the 200 breast to go along with the 100 breast time he posted at the ACC Championships.
So far, for 2020-2021, he has shown that he is on pace to lower all of his personal best times by season’s end. Bastian finished third in the 200 breast (1:56.72) and fourth in the 100 breast (54.36) at the Georgia Invite, finished third in the 100 breast (55.32) and 200 breast (2:00.26) in a dual meet against Texas Christian University (TCU), and won the 100 breast (55.40) and was second in the 200 breast (2:04.23) in a dual meet against Georgia Tech.
The 19-year-old Bahamian swimmer has a vision of representing The Bahamas in either the 100 or 200 meters (m) breaststroke at the Olympics which is now set for July 23 to August 8, 2021, in Tokyo Japan.
The ‘A’ and ‘B’ standards in the 100m breast are 59.93 seconds and 1:01.73 respectively; and the qualifying times in the 200m breast are 2:10.35 and 2:14.26 respectively. Bastian, who turns 20 in January, has personal best times of 1:01.99 in the 100m breast and 2:17.78 in the 200m free.
The former St. Andrew’s student is confident that he will be making the trek to Japan this summer.
Last year’s winner of the Nassau Guardian’s Junior Male Athlete of the Year Terrence Jones finished fourth in the voting process and basketball standout Deyton Albury and high school track sensation Wendell Miller finished tied for fifth.
The post The Nassau Guardian’s Junior Male Athlete of the Year appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/the-nassau-guardians-junior-male-athlete-of-the-year/
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