Kentucky’s Andy Burns named Top Prospect

USA - Kentucky freshman infielder Andy Burns, an Aflac-All-American at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colo., has been named the ninth-best prospect in the Northwoods League, Baseball America, announced Wednesday evening.

Burns, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound middle infielder, comes to UK as part of a star-studded recruiting class - featuring five high school All-Americans (Alfac or Louisville Slugger) in 2008 - a class that could rank tops in the nation and as the best in program history.

As a 17-year old in one of the more challenging summer collegiate leagues in the nation, Burns held his own, batting .225 (46-for-204) with 22 runs, six doubles, two homers, 19 RBI and a 38-21 SO-BB ratio. Burns swiped 13-of-19 bases during the summer, while playing for the Duluth Huskies.

As one of the top prospects in high school baseball, Burns earned the distinction as the 38th-best prospect in the nation, as rated by Baseball America in October of 2007. Burns, the two-time Colorado Player of the Year, also earned first-team All-America honors by Louisville Slugger and the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2008.

Burns set school season records for runs (45), hits (39), RBI (43), walks (34) and home runs (13) while at Rocky Mountain High School. As a junior, Burns hit .546 with a 1.181 slugging percentage and a .649 on-base percentage. A former first-team All-State and team MVP selection as a football player, Burns led his baseball team to the Colorado 5A State Championship as a junior and senior.

A 25th round MLB Draft pick in 2008, he joins the historic UK recruiting class that features high school All-Americans Cory Farris (Florence, Ky., Boone Co. HS), Braden Kapteyn (Lansing, Ill., Illiana Christian HS), Alex Meyer (Greensburg, Ind., Greensburg HS) and Michael Williams (Knoxville, Tenn., Farragut HS).

Also highlighting the class are first-team All-State selections Sean Bouthilette (Elizabethtown, Ky., Elizabethtown HS), Chase Green (Nicholasville, Ky., West Jessamine HS) and Chad Wright (Paducah, Ky., Heath HS). UK also got three of the better transfers in the nation, including 6-foot-5, 265-pound slugger Will Campbell (Bellevue, Wash., Bellevue CC), Gunner Glad (Pahlequah, Okla., Eastern Okla.), a utility player with 18-homers in 2008, and submarine right-hander Nick Kennedy (Los Angeles, Calif., East Los Angeles).

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