GANRD FORKS, N.D (NCBWA) – Aaron Fitt
of D1Baseball.com has been one of the driving forces behind collegiate
baseball's transition to the digital age and for those efforts,
he was named the 43rd recipient of the prestigious 2017
Wilbur Snypp Award presented annually by the National
Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for outstanding
contributions to college baseball.
|
Fitt |
Fitt immediately parlayed his 2004 journalism degree from the
University of North Carolina into a career covering the sport of
baseball. His first job out of Chapel Hill was at Baseball America
and he became the organization's lead national writer for college
baseball by 2006. During his 10 years at BA, Fitt became an expert
on recruiting and the Major League Baseball Draft and took that
knowledge with him as he transitioned into his current role as a
national writer and editor for D1Baseball.com.
"This is quite a surprise and honor, especially because
this award has been won by so many people I admire and respect in
this business," said Fitt. "I want to thank the people
who showed me the ropes over the course of my career. Three of my
predecessors at Baseball America, Allan Simpson, Jim Callis and
John Manuel, won this honor, and without those guys I would have
never gotten the opportunity to write about college baseball for
a living.
"I couldn't ask for better partners than my colleagues at
D1Baseball.com — Kyle Peterson, Kendall Rogers, and Jeremy and Cynthia
Mills. They have all worked tirelessly for the good of college baseball,
and I am very proud of what we have built together. College baseball
is booming, and I'm looking forward to covering the continued growth
of our sport for years to come."
Fitt's dedication to the sport of college baseball has been seen
throughout his career that has included stints in North Carolina
and California. His latest venture at D1Baseball.com relaunched
the website into the premier national publication devoted entirely
to the sport.
He helped pave the way for the sport to take on the challenges
of the digital age through the advent of daily online coverage,
blogs, podcasts and numerous distributions through various social
media channels.
Since his career began at BA, Fitt has covered the sport comprehensively
from coast-to-coast, bringing enhanced publicity to the smaller
programs, while also boosting the profiles of the power conference
teams.
Fitt has focused his efforts on a number of hot-topic issues
in the sport, such as the complexities and ramifications of the
NCAA's "no agent" rule, the impact of changes to equipment
and scholarship rules, while also humanizing the sport by telling
stories of perseverance and courage on and off the field.
"Aaron Fitt is a dynamic journalist, who has been instrumental
in expanding the coverage of college baseball on several new platforms
over the last decade-plus," said NCBWA President Ryan Powell. "For
a young man to have already made the impact he has on the sport
of college baseball is impressive and we are thrilled that his peers
and fellow Wilbur Snypp Award winners found him to be a deserving
recipient of this accolade."
Fitt joins a distinguished group of past Wilbur Snypp Award winners,
national journalists and college administrators as the 2017 winner.
The plaque memorializes longtime Ohio State sports information director
and NCBWA founder, the late Wilbur (Bill) Snypp. Snypp was a noted
contributor to the writers' organization, which was initiated in
1962, as well as an officer in the group. The NCBWA/Wilbur Snypp
Award yearly honors a professional for contributions to the sport
of college baseball. Voting is conducted by a panel of previous
winners, who include past NCAA College World Series directors, College
Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame members, decorated
media members, and others.
ALL-TIME WILBUR SNYPP AWARD
WINNERS |
1975 Wilbur
Snypp, Ohio State 1976 Bill Esposito, St. John's 1977 Phil Langan,
Cornell 1978 John Geis, Southern Conference 1979 Hank Schomber, Georgia
Southern 1980 Bob Culp, Western Michigan 1981 Lou Pavlovich Sr., Collegiate
Baseball 1982 Tom Price, South Carolina 1983 Bob Bradley, Clemson
1984 Robert Williams, Omaha World-Herald 1985 Jerry Miles, NCAA 1986
Larry Keefe, Seton Hall 1987 Tom Rowen, San Jose Mercury-News 1988
Fred Gerardi, KESY Radio, Omaha 1989 Jim Wright, NCAA 1990 Steve Weller,
SIU-Edwardsville 1991 Bill Little, Texas 1992 Kirk Bohls,
Austin American-Statesman 1993 Bo Carter, Southwest Conference 1994 Lou Pavlovich
Jr., Collegiate Baseball 1995 Steve Pivovar, Omaha World-Herald 1996
Gary Johnson, NCAA |
1997 Dave Wohlhueter, Cornell 1998 Allen Simpson,
Baseball America 1999 Alan Cannon, Texas A&M 2000 Jim
Callis, Baseball America 2001
Dick Case, USA Baseball 2002
Russ Anderson, Conference USA
2003 John Manuel, Baseball America
2004 Dana Heiss Grodin, USA Today
Sports Weekly 2005 Dennis
Poppe, NCAA 2006 Mike Montoro,
Southern Miss 2007 Barry
Allen, Alabama 2008 Mike
Patrick, ESPN 2009 Al Chase,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin 2010
Lou Spry, NCAA 2011 Jeremy
Mills, ESPN/D1Baseball.com
2012 Eric Olson, Omaha World Herald
2013 J.D. Hamilton, NCAA
2014 John Sullivan, Rice
2015 David Feaster, Dick Howser Trophy
2016 Ralph Zobell, BYU
2017 Aaron Fitt, D1Baseball.com |
|