Kevin Newman (baseball)

Career

Newman graduated from Poway High School in Poway, California. He made the school's varsity baseball team in his sophomore year. Newman had a .404 batting average in his junior year, and was pursued by the University of Arizona, University of Oregon, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He committed to attend Arizona on a college baseball scholarship to play for the Arizona Wildcats baseball team.

Newman succeeded Alex Mejia as the Wildcats' starting shortstop as a freshman. In his freshman year, Newman had a .336 batting average, the 11th best in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). He was named to the Freshman All-America team by Louisville Slugger, and was the only freshman named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team. He had a .304 batting average as a sophomore, and was again named to the Pac-12's All-Conference team. He was added to the Golden Spikes Award watch list before his junior year. Newman also played summer collegiate baseball for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summers of 2013 and 2014, winning the league's batting average title in both years. In 2015, Newman was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Newman in the first round, with the 19th overall selection, of the 2015 MLB draft. He signed with the Pirates and reported to the West Virginia Black Bears of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League to make his professional debut. The Pirates promoted Newman to the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League in August. He began the 2016 season with the Bradenton Marauders of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, and was later promoted to the Altoona Curve. He finished the 2016 season batting .320 with 5 home runs and 52 RBI's.