Billy Burns setting bar high for Mercer baseball

Twelve former Mercer baseball players have made Major League Baseball rosters dating all the way back to 1899 when Charlie Harris played for the Baltimore Orioles. But up until last season when Billy Burns took over in center field for the Oakland A's, none of those players had been an everyday starter but rather utility infielders or pitchers.

Burns, who played for the Bears and head coach Craig Gibson from 2009 until 2011, started the 2015 season at Nashville in the Pacific Coast League, where he hit .308 in 22 games. He was called up by the A's on May 2 and played in 125 games during the remainder of the season with 118 starts. He will be in center field when Oakland opens the 2016 season at home against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

If Burns picks up where he left off last season, you can expect to see him in baseball's All-Star Game to be played July 12 in San Diego. Despite missing more than 20 percent of the 2015 regular season, he led the A's in batting average (.294) runs scored (70), base hits (153), triples (nine) and stolen bases (26). The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Burns also had five home runs. He had only two previously in four-plus years in the minors.

Speed is one of his greatest allies. Thirty of his 153 hits in 2015 were of the infield variety, and his stolen base total was third-best in the AL.

He works with Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson on his basestealing skills. Burns finished fifth in balloting for AL rookie of the honors, which was won by Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros. His .294 batting average is the second-best overall ever by an Oakland rookie. Only Mitchell Paige's .307 average in 1977 is better.

Playing in 13 games this spring, Burns leads the A's in base hits with 16 and also in stolen bases with four in five attempts.

He had a stellar career at Mercer, both athletically and academically, during his three years in Macon. He was a three-year starter and helped the Bears to the NCAA regionals in his sophomore season, and as a junior he earned all-conference honors after hitting .357. He had a 3.85 GPA in business and was named to the Capital One Academic All-America team as a junior and was a district All-American both as a sophomore and junior. The academic All-America recognition honors academic achievement and athletics excellence. He still lacks about a year's worth of classes to graduate but says he has all intentions of finishing his degree.

Burns was chosen in the 32nd round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft by the Washington Nationals and spent two seasons with that organization before being traded to the A's prior to the 2014 campaign. He got a brief taste of the majors during the 2014 season when he was called up at the end of year, appearing in 13 games, being used primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement and a pinch-runner.

Burns, who played high school baseball at Walton in Marietta, was first drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 16th round in 2008 but made the decision to sign with Mercer and play college baseball instead.

Burns comes from an athletic family. His father Bob was a flanker and captain of the 1973 Georgia football team and played one season in the NFL with the New York Jets. Burns' sister Abby is a member of the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team and has set 14 records in four different events. And his uncle Jack is a former NFL and college football assistant coach who was on the staff of the Washington Redskins when they won Super Bowl XXVI.

Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Billy Burns setting bar high for Mercer baseball ."