Alabama baseball has a hole to fill at shortstop.
Senior shortstop Kolby Robinson announced on Twitter that he will not be returning to UA, choosing to, “hang up the cleats and start a new chapter in life.” The 2020 season was going to be the final season of his college career before the NCAA granted all spring sport athletes an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 cancellations. Robinson has decided to forego that year of eligibility.
The news comes one day after junior relief pitcher Garret Rukes chose to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer.
Robinson ended his final season of college baseball with a .296 batting average, going 16-for-54 with four doubles and seven RBI. In 2019, Robinson played 55 games in his first season at UA from Wallace State Community College and hit .280.
Robinson held onto his starting shortstop job for 2020 despite a wave of young talent, including Jim Jarvis, who started at second base as a freshman, and Myles Austin. Both will be in the mix for the shortstop position in 2020.
Robinson played a key role in one of the more memorable plays of the shortened 2020 season: hitting into an error on Feb. 29 against Harvard, just for the Crimson to commit two more errors on the play, scoring Robinson and two more runs. UA won that game 10-5.
Robinson may not be alone in this decision. UA has seven other seniors — pitcher Kyle Cameron, utility man Brett Auerbach, pitcher Casey Cobb, catcher Johnny Hawk, outfielder Walker McCleney, pitcher Dylan Oliver and pitcher William Freeman— and some could choose to do the same.
Reach Brett Hudson at 205-722-0196 or bhudson@tuscaloosanews.com or via Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
