Nakawake Earns ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award
Posted: Jun 20, 2019

Nakawake Earns ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award

For the second straight season and second time in program history, El Camino College had a player selected as an American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, it was announced Wednesday.

Sophomore Taishi Nakawake was named to the 2019 ABCA/Rawlings Pacific Association Division Gold Glove Team. He was one of three players selected from Southern California on a team where eight of the nine positions came from the state of California.

Nakawake is the second player in program history to earn a gold glove since the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Pacific Association Division Glove Team's inception in 2009. He joins Diego Alarcon, who earned a gold glove for the Warriors last season.

The Warriors shortstop capped off his career with an excellent all-around year, particularly on defense. He recorded a .944 fielding percentage on the year, committing just 15 errors in 266 chances, all at short. He played in all 49 games for the Warriors and was involved in turning 32 double plays while posting 172 assists.

Nakawake also got the job done with the bat this season as he batted .299 with 50 hits in 167 at-bats including 11 doubles, one triple and one home run. He was third on the team with 34 runs scored while also contributing 23 RBI.

The Warriors had one of the best years in program history in 2019, going 40-9 overall, the only team to post 40 victories in the state. They won the South Coast Conference, South Division title for the second time in the last three years and finished as the CCCAA State Runners-Up .