College Baseball Countdown: 67 Days to Go- Errol Robinson

Last year, the SEC supplied pro baseball with a bumper crop of high-end shortstop prospects. Dansby Swanson of Vanderbilt, Alex Bregman of LSU, and Richie Martin of Florida all went from starring in the SEC last season to first-round draft picks.

This year’s class of SEC shortstops doesn’t have quite the same level of star power, but Mississippi’s Errol Robinson gives the league another potential top-round draft pick for the 2016 draft and gives the Rebels a veteran bat to help build an offense around.

Last season, the Maryland native hit .297 (tops among all regulars), tied for second on the team with 11 doubles, and was third on the team with 30 RBI. On defense, he ably handled shortstop to the tune of a .953 fielding percentage. He also proved to be an iron man. He and J.B. Woodman were the only players on the roster to play in and start all 58 games for the Rebels.

After the season was up, he spent the summer playing for Hyannis in the Cape Cod League, where he showed well at shortstop and hit .312 on top of it. His performance there and his raw skills were enough for D1Baseball.com’s Frankie Piliere to rank him 23rd on his list of prospects on the Cape.

Coming off of a tough 2015 season that saw the team finish just 30-28 overall and 15-14 in the SEC, Mississippi will look to Robinson to help lead an offense that will need several returning contributors to step into bigger roles.

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In addition to Robinson, head coach Mike Bianco will lean on the likes of Woodman, who has considerable talent, but hasn’t quite put it all together yet, and Colby Bortles, who flashes light-tower power but is still working on becoming a more complete hitter. Connor Cloyd, who hit .369 in 103 at-bats last year, will also look to hold down a larger role, and  Tate Blackman, a highly-regarded recruit from a year ago, will look to bounce back from hitting just .197 as a freshman.

Missouri’s Ryan Howard might have something to say about it, but if Robinson takes another big step forward in 2016, he very well could be the first SEC shortstop off the board come draft time.