Baseball Hall of Famer announces major award for South Carolina baseball star

South Carolina baseball catcher Cole Messina is no stranger to awards and honors.

The Gamecock backstop was really good in 2023 and cracked his way into the national award discussion with an All-American honor. In 2024, though, he was even better and made virtually every All-American team possible.

The best combination of offense and defense at the position in the country, Messina played his best ball at the end of the season and nearly powered the Gamecocks to their second-ever SEC Tournament title. Thanks to his scorching finish to the year, Carolina moved from the postseason bubble to a solid 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual College World Series participant NC State.

Of all the honors and accolades Messina has received, arguably the best one came in on Tuesday night.

With a post on Twitter/X, Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench announced that Cole Messina was the 2024 recipient of the Johnny Bench Award, given out each year to the top backstop in all of college baseball. Messina is the first South Carolina baseball catcher to have won the award, but former Gamecock Colin Burgess won the high school version of the award in the state of Kentucky back in 2019.

Messina's selection was well-deserved. Considered one of the top defensive catchers in the game, he is also an elite bat. One the 2024 season, #19 posted a ridiculous .326/.465/.701/1.166 slash line, smacked 41 extra-base hits (21 home runs, 19 doubles, and 1 triple), scored 64 runs, and drove in 71 RBI.

Messina is also up for another national catcher of the year honor. The Buster Posey Award will pick from among its finalists later on Wednesday.

Next month's MLB Draft will be a big one for Cole Messina as he should be taken early in the proceedings. He still has one more year of eligibility remaining, but if taken high enough, Messina will begin his professional baseball career this summer.