Okey named as a National Award semifinalist

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NOTRE DAME, IND. - Junior Chris Okey (Mount Dora, Fla.) is one of 15 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award, presented annually to the nation's best catcher. Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 6.

It is the second year in a row Okey is a semifinalist for the prestigious award named after one of the best catchers of all time. Okey is batting .343 with 11 homers, 13 doubles, two triples, a team-high 58 RBIs and a .457 on-base percentage in 53 games in 2016. He has started all 53 games at catcher and has been the catcher for 452.1 of Clemson’s 475.0 innings pitched in 2016.

Okey has started all 175 games of his Tiger career the past three seasons and has started 132 consecutive games at catcher. In his career, he is hitting .301 with 126 runs, 38 doubles, four triples, 27 homers, 156 RBIs, 86 walks and eight steals.

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