PRONUNCIATION: BIGBIE -- BIG-bee
2021 (Junior*): Drafted in the 19th round (555th overall pick) by the Detroit Tigers in the 2021 MLB Draft ... Started all 49 seasonal games in left field … Led the team with 77 base hits and finished tied for the team lead with a .395 seasonal batting average (77-for-195) … Paced the team with 15 doubles, adding a triple and nine home runs … Was third on the squad with 50 RBI … Paced WCU with 23 multiple hit games and 17 multiple RBI outings including two RBI 12 times … Finished the season on a season-best 10-game hitting streak … Drew a team-best 36 walks (3rd in the SoCon) and was hit by a pitch seven times to bolster his team-best, .500 on-base percentage … Finished 11-of-12 on stolen bases … Named first-team All-Southern Conference in the outfield by both the head coaches and the members of the voting media ... Named first-team ABCA / All-Atlantic Region … Earned Southern Conference All-Tournament team honors after finishing with a team-best 11 hits as he batted .647 in the four games of the tournament, tallying a double and a home run with four RBI and a .882 slugging percentage ... Reached base 70-percent of the time in the tournament, adding three walks … Named Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Month in February after batting .393 (11-of-28) with four extra base hits ... Collected the first Southern Conference Player of the Week honor of his career on Feb. 22 after leading WCU to a four-game sweep of Towson to open the season ... Selected first-team preseason All-SoCon from the league's head coaches ... Elected a team captain by his teammates for a second-straight season... Named to the 2020-21 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
2020 (Junior): Started all 16 games including 12 at third base and four at third base … Batted .290 through 16 games, going 20-for-69 with five doubles, a triple and a home run, recording five multi-hit games … Closed the shortened season with hits in nine-straight games, the team’s longest in-season hitting streak … Collected two, three-hit games to match his single-game career-high … Finished with eight RBI, four coming with two outs ... Elected a team captain by his teammates ... Selected as the 2020 Leggett No. 7 Legacy recipient, chosen to wear the No. 7 jersey worn by Jack Leggett … Tabbed preseason first-team All-Southern Conference and the SoCon Preseason Player of the Year by the league head coaches ... Dubbed a preseason All-America selection by the voting members of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) … Named to the 2019-20 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll ... Season shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of spring sports in mid-March.
2019 (Sophomore): Started all 53 games on the year including 49 starts at third base, three in left field and one in right field … Finished second on the team with a .355 batting average (third in the SoCon), recording a team-best 75 hits with 11 doubles and 12 home runs – two coming as inside-the-park homers … Recorded hits in 44 of WCU’s 53 games (83%) … Finished the season with 21 multiple-hit games including 10, three-hit games and 12 multiple RBI games … Paced the squad with 51 RBI including a team-best 20, 2-out RBI coming on 30, 2-out hits while batting .423 with two outs … Added 29 walks and seven HBPs for a .446 on-base percentage, second in the SoCon … Enjoyed a season-long 12-game hitting streak in the month of March … Finished 3-for-5 with three runs and five RBI in the road win at UNC Asheville (March 3) … Tallied a career-best six RBI in a 3-for-5 outing with two doubles and a home run at UNCG (March 30) … Named the 2019 Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Year by both the league’s head coaches and the voting members of the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) … Was also named to the first-team All-Southern Conference team at third base; Summer League: Named the MVP of the Northwoods League and was a postseason All-Star in the wooden bat league ... Was also named a midseason All-Star, collecting Most Outstanding Performer accolades at the all-star game ... Earned a bid to play in the NWL's Major League Dreams Showcase.
2018 (Freshman): Played in all 58 of the team’s games with 57 starts seeing the bulk of his action in the outfield, making 33 starts in right field … Also had 13 starts at second base, eight at third base and three times as the DH … Finished the regular season ranked second on the team among the regulars with a .324 batting average, collecting a team-best 73 hits in 225 at bats with 20 hits going for extra bases – 14 doubles, a triple, and five home runs … Led the team in hitting most of the season until a hand/wrist injury slowed his production over the final month … Led the Catamounts with 46 RBI on the season, finishing with 13, two-out RBI … Tallied a team-leading 14 multi-RBI games while also leading the squad with 22 multiple hit games including 14, two-hit outings and collecting eight, three-hit games … Finished the year ranked third in SoCon-only games with 34 runs driven in during league play … Grounded into 12 double plays – the most on the team and most in the Southern Conference … Garnered SoCon All-Freshman team plaudits … Named Freshman All-America by Collegiate Baseball, WCU’s first since 2014 … Collected his first collegiate base hit on a ninth-inning infield single in game two of the season-opening three-game set at East Carolina (Feb. 17) … His first career extra-base hit came five games into the season with a fourth-inning double against Canisius (Feb. 23) … Hit his first collegiate home run in game two of a doubleheader against Ball State (March 9) as a part of a three-RBI outing … Doubled twice two times on the season – at The Citadel (March 24) and against ETSU (April 29) … Was a part of turning seven double plays in the field. Summer League: Played in 36 games for the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League … Batted .276 on the summer with 34 hits in 123 at-bats with eight doubles and 23 RBI … Had eight multi-hit games and seven games with multiple RBI … Had a pair of five-game hitting streaks over the summer including one stretch where he went 11-for-21 (.524) with eight RBI.
Prior to Western Carolina: Was a three-time all-conference selection including twice garnering first-team plaudits and twice garnering all-region ... As a senior, was a first-team selection on the Virginia 6-A South Region baseball team and a second-team Virginia All-State 6-A selection at shortstop ... Made the North Team All-Star roster in the Tidewater Collegiate Summer League ... Was an all-conference catcher as a sophomore and junior ... Also played football as a prep where he earned all-conference honors, passing for over 3,000 yards with 26 TD passes.
Personal: Full name is Justice Gabriel Bigbie ... Is the son of Sarah Fallon and Scott Bigbie ... Has two younger siblings, Holt and Landry ... His father, Scott, played baseball and football at Elizabeth City State University.
Career Game Highs:
- At Bats: 6, six times (MR: vs. Wofford, 5/29/21)
- Hits: 4, six times (MR: vs. Wofford, 5/27/21)
- Runs: 5, at The Citadel (5/21/21)
- Doubles: 2, four times (MR: at UNCG, 4/30/21)
- Triples: 1, twice (at The Citadel, 5/20/21)
- Home Runs: 2 (TOWSON, 2/20/21)
- RBI: 6, at UNCG (3/30/19)
- Walks: 3, five times (MR: at The CItadel, 5/21/21)
- Hitting Streak: 15 games (3/27/18 - 4/22/18)
