Former High Point University outfielder
Nate Roberts (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond Burton) made his professional debut over the weekend with the Elizabethton Twins of the Appalachian League. Roberts was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft and was assigned to the Elizabethton Twins, a rookie league affiliate in Elizabethton, Tenn.
Roberts went 1-4 in his professional debut on Thursday, June 8 against the Princeton Rays with a stolen base as the designated hitter. On Sunday, he made his second start, going 2-4 with a double and a home run in a 5-1 win over the Bristol White Sox. He scored two runs and drive in two.
Elizabethton is back in action tonight against Bristol at 7 p.m.
In his junior season with HPU the Spring Grove, Ill. native earned second team All-America honors from ABCA and third team All-America honors from Baseball America, NCBWA and Ping!Baseball. He was also a first team All-Atlantic Region selection by the ABCA and was named to the 2010 North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) All-State baseball team. He was also the 2010 Big South Conference Player of the Year.
Roberts led the nation with a .573 on-base percentage and 88 runs scored and became just the second Panther to be named the Big South Player of the Year. The Spring Grove, Ill. native set Big South and HPU single-season records in OBP (.573) and runs scored (88), while leading the Conference with a .416 batting average, 19 home runs and 53 walks. He also stole 36 bases and was hit by 25 pitches while driving in 69 runs.
Roberts became the sixth Panther drafted in the Division I era. He is the highest selection for HPU since joining Division I in 1999, topping Eammon Portice’s 12th round selection by the Boston Red Sox in 2007. Roberts is the highest overall pick for High Point since 1987 when Anthony Morrison was taken in the fifth round by the New York Yankees. The Panthers were still an NAIA member in 1987.