With numbers any prototype leadoff hitter would envy, Blanchester senior Reagan Burch earn Division II All-Ohio second team honors from the Ohio Baseball Coaches Association.
“No way do we replace a player like Reagan moving forward,” Blanchester baseball manager Aaron Lawson said. “He’s that player as a coach you’re lucky to get once a decade. We can only hope that a handful of guys get better this off season and can pull the weight Reagan has given us for the last four seasons.”
Burch was one of four outfielders named to the second team. Blanchester’s all-time hits leader, Burch batted .477 this season (41-for-86) while leading the SBAAC in runs scored with 36.
He had 34 singles, four doubles, two triples and his first career homerun as a senior at BHS. Burch drove in 22 runs and reached base eight times as result of being hit by a pitch. He walked six times and struck out nine times.
“This (All-Ohio) only seems fitting after the historic season Reagan had,” said Lawson. “He led our team in nine offensive categories. However, everyone only wants to talk offense when Reagan’s name gets brought up. I see much more than that brought to the table. He is the first true five-tool player I’ve ever had. He can hit, hit for power, field, throw, and run. He also has that sixth tool of understanding the mental side of the game, which really helps him running the bases.”
Burch was off to a good start to the season but then went hitless in three straight games, a collective 0-for-11 string that went on to be a 2-for-20 hitting slump.
However he finished his career with a flourish, going 16-for-24 in his last six games.
Lawson said Burch is an outstanding center fielder as well.
”We have a joke on the team,” Lawson said. “When a fly ball is hit anywhere between left center and right center we say in the dugout, ‘Where fly balls go to die,’ because we know Reagan is going to run it down and catch it.”
For his career, which was only three seasons of varsity ball with the 2020 season shutdown by the Covid-19 pandemic, Burch was 107-for-248 (.431) batting with 53 runs batted in, 88 runs scored and only 22 strikeouts in 290 plate appearances. He had a career .510 on-base percentage and 66 career stolen bases.
