May 13, 2024
Former Villages Baseball Catcher Devin Burkes Candidate for National Collegiate Catcher Award
By Kyle Coppola
Former Villages Baseball Catcher Devin Burkes Candidate for National Collegiate Catcher Award
Former Villages baseball standout Devin Burkes currently plays for The University of Kentucky Wildcats baseball team. Burkes has been named as a candidate for the 2024 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.
Devin Burkes is known as the happiest man in baseball and is having an outstanding year at Kentucky this season. Burkes was a terrific athlete during his time at The Villages and was one of the best catchers to come out of Lake & Sumter County, Florida, in the class of 2020.
His coaches have described him as, “Devin provides the most value in being the prototypical vocal team leader that everyone else on the roster gravitates toward. He is charismatic without being obnoxious, he’s confident without it coming off as overly cocky, and when you ask those around the program who the straw that stirs the drink is, they point to Burkes.”
In a recent interview, Burkes was asked where he gets his positive outlook from. “It comes from my mom. My brother and I didn’t always have the easiest upbringing. My mom and dad raised us to go around positive every day. Every day you’ve got something to live for, play for, love on somebody for because we don’t know who is going to be there when we wake up the next day. Got that from my Momma Burkes,” says Devin.
Burkes was part of The Villages Charter School team that had their season cut short by Covid in the year 2020. As so many seniors around him did not get a full year of senior baseball, Burkes never got to experience a true senior night game and the quirks that come with a senior year. However, Burkes has taken the SEC by storm and has become one of the best catchers in collegiate baseball.
This year, Burkes is averaging .245 through 38 games played. The Redshirt Junior has 35 hits, 29 runs scored along with 10 doubles and 29 RBIs. His On-Base Percentage is .391.
We love to see Devin Burkes representing Sumter County! Burkes’ old team The Villages just finished their season up with a loss against Merritt Island in the FHSAA Regional Semifinals.
We hope Kentucky can finish off the season strong and make a push towards the SEC Tournament in a few weeks.
Photos – Twitter/X and Max Preps
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
