University of Minnesota Athletics
McCallum Selected By Twins in Fourth Round
6/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) was selected by the Minnesota Twins with the 132nd overall pick in the fourth round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.
With the selection in the fourth round, McCallum becomes the highest drafted Golden Gopher since Glen Perkins was selected in the first round of the 2004 draft. McCallum is the highest drafted Golden Gopher position player since Jack Hannahan was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in third round of the 2001 draft. He also becomes the first Minnesota second baseman selected in the draft since Luke Appert was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the sixth round of the 2003 draft.
McCallum is the sixth Golden Gopher to be selected by the Minnesota Twins since 2004. Former Golden Gophers Kyle Carr (2008), Nate Hanson (2008) and Cole DeVries (2006) are still in the organization, while Perkins currently is on the Major League roster.
Last week, McCallum was named one of only nine players to be named an NCBWA District Player of the Year. He is also one of 16 finalists for the Dick Howser Award for National Player of the Year and was a Ping!Baseball.com Second-Team All-American.
On the season, McCallum batted .409 with 57 runs, 95 hits, 17 doubles, 18 home runs, 86 RBI, a .741 slugging percentage and a .484 on-base percentage. He led the Big Ten in home runs, slugging percentage, RBI, hits and total bases, and was second in batting average, sixth in runs, second in on-base percentage and fourth in doubles.
McCallum is currently second in the nation in RBI, fifth in RBI per game (1.46), 29th in slugging percentage and tied for 19th in hits. He is first in the nation among second baseman in RBI.
This year, McCallum broke the Minnesota single-season record in RBI (previously held by Robb Quinlan at 84 in 1999) with 86. He also finished sixth on the Golden Gopher single-season list in batting average, fourth in hits, tied for third in home runs, was third in total bases and sixth in slugging percentage. His batting average was the highest in a single-season by a Minnesota player since 1994 and the home run total was the most since 1998.
McCallum was one of three players to be a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten selection. He was also one of two players to be named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and an NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. In postseason play (five Big Ten Tournament games and four NCAA Regional games), McCallum batted .457 (16-for-35) with 11 runs, five doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI, an .857 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.
