Granite Named Twins Minor League Player of the Year
10/12/2016 3:35:00 PM | Baseball
Former Seton Hall baseball standout Zack Granite was named Minnesota Twins Minor League Player of the Year on Wednesday.
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Granite played the entire 2016 season for the Twins' double-A affiliate Chattanooga Lookouts. Named the Lookouts team Most Valuable Player and a post-season all-star, he led all of minor league baseball with 56 stolen bases. His .295 batting average in 526 at bats led Chattanooga and ranked fourth in the Southern League. Granite even showed more power in 2016 than he ever has as a pro or collegian, smacking four home runs and driving in 52 runs.
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The speedster has caught the eye of Minnesota's big league manager Paul Molitor. "He's aggressive, got a little moxie," Molitor told Mike Berardino of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. "Likes to get dirty, run the bases. Almost every day, the (reports) are fairly complimentary on how he gets after it. He's finding a way to use what he can do in a game to make an impact. I know we don't like facing those kind of guys."
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Prior to realizing his dream as a professional baseball player, Granite established himself as one of the top leadoff men in Seton Hall history. A starter in all 156 games he's played in a Pirates' uniform from 2011 to 2013, he owned a career .299 batting average with 68 stolen bases and a .990 fielding percentage as Seton Hall's everyday centerfielder. As a freshman in 2011, he helped guide the Pirates to a BIG EAST Championship and NCAA Regional appearance.
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Granite was drafted in the 14th round of the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Twins, just weeks after guiding the Pirates to a 37-19 record during his junior season.
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Granite played the entire 2016 season for the Twins' double-A affiliate Chattanooga Lookouts. Named the Lookouts team Most Valuable Player and a post-season all-star, he led all of minor league baseball with 56 stolen bases. His .295 batting average in 526 at bats led Chattanooga and ranked fourth in the Southern League. Granite even showed more power in 2016 than he ever has as a pro or collegian, smacking four home runs and driving in 52 runs.
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The speedster has caught the eye of Minnesota's big league manager Paul Molitor. "He's aggressive, got a little moxie," Molitor told Mike Berardino of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. "Likes to get dirty, run the bases. Almost every day, the (reports) are fairly complimentary on how he gets after it. He's finding a way to use what he can do in a game to make an impact. I know we don't like facing those kind of guys."
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Prior to realizing his dream as a professional baseball player, Granite established himself as one of the top leadoff men in Seton Hall history. A starter in all 156 games he's played in a Pirates' uniform from 2011 to 2013, he owned a career .299 batting average with 68 stolen bases and a .990 fielding percentage as Seton Hall's everyday centerfielder. As a freshman in 2011, he helped guide the Pirates to a BIG EAST Championship and NCAA Regional appearance.
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Granite was drafted in the 14th round of the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Twins, just weeks after guiding the Pirates to a 37-19 record during his junior season.
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