Tyler Colvin
B/T:L/L
Ht: 6'3
Wt: 190lbs
Birthdate: 9/5/1985
Hometown: North Augusta, South Carolina

"His game is really as a slash hitter and hitting the ball into the gaps, along with running aggressively on the bases. He’s an excellent defensive player, and he has a good feel for the bunt game. He has the total package." -- Clemson head coach Jack Leggett




When the Cubs selected Tyler Colvin with the 13th overall selection in the 2006 draft it caused alot of heads to turn and scoff. As most scouts and ranking parties had Colvin as a 3rd rounder, Baseball America ranked him as the 170th best prospect available in the draft. Still the Cubs' new Scouting Director, Tim Wilken, stood firm with his selection of the three year college junior from Clemson. And many people ended up eating their words as Colvin put up a good year for the Short Season A Boise Hawks.

Wilken inherited a system from John Stockstill, who took a higher position under his brother in the Baltimore organization. Stockstill and his scouts had first started watching Colvin during his junior year and Wilken reassumed the watch and fell in love with his athletic ability and approach at the plate. The first reaction by many was why? Why take a player of Colvin's standard when there was plenty of higher ceiling prospects available. But what many don't take into consideration is that Colvin was a late climber in the draft due to his high preformance in the NCAA tourney, there was even some thought that the White Sox would take him late in the first round if he was still available. Another aspect, that escaped many is that Tim Wilken has a great history of drafting players that are "underappreciated" in terms of mainstream scouting, especially in the first round.

It didn't take much to convince Colvin to sign for lower than slot money at 1.475 million, as he was looking at a third of the salary bonus. By signing early, he nearly put in a complete season for the Boise Hawks.

In 2006, Colvin spent the year at LF and cleanup once again, showing more power than he had in all of his college career. He was phenomenal against the ACC as well as the rest of college baseball, earning first team All American status by Baseball America. The first game after Colvin was drafted, Tyler won the Super Regional game in the bottom of the ninth with a walkoff grand slam. It was only the second walkoff homer in Tiger NCAA tourney history, the first Tiger walkoff homer since 2003, and the first walkoff grandslam in Clemson history. Helping Clemson get the first seed in the College World Series, and their first trip back since 2002. Going into the CWS, Colvin was riding a 25 game hitting streak, where he was 48 for 110 with 26 runs, 7 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 10 SB, while Clemson went 24-1 during the time. He hit lefties very well again while continuing his timely hitting with runners on.

2006 Clemson

Year Situation G-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
2006 overall 69-69 281 64 100 22 5 15 70 28 42 23-27 0.356 0.419 0.609 1.028
2006 ACC reg 30-30 123 28 44 10 3 5 33 13 18 11-11 0.358 0.420 0.610 1.030



After quickly signing, Colvin joined the Short Season A club, the Boise Hawks. Where he led the Northwest League with six triples, was second in RBI (53) and third in Runs (50) and Total bases (128). Colvin hit lefties well on the year (in 78 AB, 7 hrs, 25 rbi, .287/.321/.667/.988) and kept on hitting well in the clutch. .297/.344/.486/.830 with runners on and .303/.353/.472/.825 with runners in scoring position. Baseball America awarded him as a Short Season AllStar as well as the top prospect in the Northwest League.

2006 Boise Hawks

Year Situation G-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
2006 Boise Reg 60 251 49 70 11 6 11 52 15 51 12-16 0.279 0.320 0.502 0.822
2006 Boise Playoffs 4 17 2 7 1 0 0 0 0 4 1-3 0.412 0.412 0.471 0.883

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