Endicott’s head baseball coach Bryan Haley has long believed that John Mulready was the best catcher in the country in Division 3. The American Baseball Coaches Association certainly agrees.
Mulready wrapped up his stellar Gulls career by earning an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award for the second time in his career. The award honors the best defensive players in America and is selected by coaches in Divisions 1, 2 and 3 as well as in the junior college and high school.
Having already been chosen as Conference of New England Defensive Player of the Year, Mulready was also a fourth team ABCA All-American as well as first-team All-Region and All-Conference.
With the way the Peabody native and St. Mary’s Lynn graduate handled Endicott’s pitching staff, it’s easy to see why. He helped the Gulls achieve the fourth best staff earned run average in D3 (3.13) while catching 50 games. Endicott also ranked in the top five nationally in WHIP (1.21) and hits allowed per nine innings (7.63).
Mulready also threw out base stealers at a 39 percent rate while fielding at .994 on 345 chances. Offensively, he his .363 with six homers and 56 RBI.
After helping Endicott reach three consecutive D3 College World Series, Mulready’s career resume is among the best in school history. He graduates with the second most games played (182), second most at-bats (634), second most RBI (151), third most hits (215), fifth most home runs (23) and third most total bases (335) of anyone to ever wear the Blue-and-Green.
In other recent honors for the Gulls, Mulready, junior shortstop T.J. Liponis and senior outfielder Zach Stephenson were each named to the ABCA’s Region 2 All-Defensive team. Stephenson didn’t commit a single error in 65 games in an Endicott uniform while Liponis led the Gulls in assists (157) and double plays (30) while fielding at a .960 rate.
Haley, meanwhile, was chosen as ABCA Region 2 Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. This spring, he led Endicott to a 45-6 season and its first-ever appearance in the national semifinals.