Austin Embler UNC Greensboro headshotOur 3rd best hitter in the 2018 Valley League season is Harrisonburg’s Austin Embler, the redshirt junior second baseman from UNC Greensboro!

The only second baseman on this list, Austin hit for more power than his size might suggest, and was a catalyst for the Turks’ offense. I do believe that the organization was thrilled that Austin came back for a second summer in the ‘Burg:

VBL G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS Avg OBP SLG
2017 34 126 15 30 4 0 0 15 15 22 4 2 0.238 0.322 0.270
Play 2 8 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0.375 0.375 0.500
2018 35 116 26 45 7 4 4 23 21 26 2 4 0.388 0.479 0.621
Play 2 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0.143 0.333 0.143

In 2018, Austin finished 3rd in bating average, 3rd in OPS, tied for 3rd in on-base percentage, 5th in slugging percentage, 6th in walks, tied for 7th in total bases (72), tied for 9th in home runs, and led the league in triples. He also went 4-8 in the Prospect Showcase, and was named 1st team All-Valley at second base.

As well as his improvement in the Valley, Austin has steadily improved at Greensboro too:

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS Avg OBP SLG
2015 19 32 5 9 0 0 0 4 11 10 1 1 0.281 0.465 0.281
2017 59 229 41 73 9 2 3 35 19 38 6 3 0.319 0.371 0.415
2018 53 227 57 81 15 2 2 32 30 47 9 1 0.357 0.438 0.467

(He redshirted in 2016.)

He was 1st Team All-Southern Conference at second base as well as Academic All-Conference in 2018.

Watch for another big jump for Austin this spring for UNC Greensboro!

Austin Embler (DNR)
(Turks)
Austin Embler