By way of his personality, former Kansas infielder Brady Counsell is a pretty quiet dude.
He comes by it honestly and naturally, with his father, Craig, who now manages Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, having been one of the more all-business, no-nonsense, get-the-job-done-and-get-outta-there players in recent baseball history.
Craig Counsell played in more than 1,600 games during his MLB career that started in 1995 and ended in 2011. He was a two-time World Series champion (1997 and 2001) and the MVP of the 2001 National League Championship Series.
Heck, the Notre Dame graduate is even in the Milwaukee Brewers’ Hall of Honor.
But he never won a Gold Glove in college or pro ball.
Today, however, his son has, with Brady recently becoming the first player in KU history to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award, given annually to nine position players — one at each spot — in all of Division I college baseball.
The younger Counsell is the first Big 12 player to win the award since 2018.
He played three positions for the Jayhawks this season, with most of his time coming in the infield at third base and second base.
He helped turn eight double plays and recorded 69 put-outs and 51 assists. More noteworthy, however, was the fact that he committed just one error in 121 chances while recording a fielding percentage of .992 for the season.
While this award was all about defense, it’s not as if Counsell struggled to make a splash at the plate. Though cool, calm and quiet in many ways, the senior did plenty of talking with his bat this season, finishing third on the team in home runs, with 12, and second with 57 RBIs.
In fact, Counsell was part of an historic achievement early in the season, when the Jayhawks hit five consecutive home runs during a road win against Minnesota, Counsell’s former team.
His dinger was the third shot in the five-homer surge and beating the tar out of his old team certainly brought a smile to his face.
So, too, did his final season of college baseball. With this team, these guys, this coaching staff and, now, this honor making every step as special as it gets.
The ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove teams are selected by ABCA coaches committees and were first recognized in 2007. The award is presented annually to the top defensive players from each division of collegiate and high school baseball.
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