Baseball 7.3.23

Shepherd Promoted to Assistant Coach

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Head Coach Tony David of the Samford Baseball Team announced on Monday the promotion of Cam Shepherd from volunteer assistant to assistant coach.

Shepherd is heading into his second season on Coach David's coaching staff and will be adding recruiting duties to his list of responsibilities in 2023-24.

"Cam did an incredible job for us in his first year with our program and played a key role in our success," Coach David said. "Right out of the gate, he took over a significant portion of the hitting duties and helped with the defensive instruction of both the infield and outfielders. He has proven to be a perfect fit for our program, university, and culture as a team."

During the season Shepherd transitioned from the dugout to coaching third base during games. "We had been talking about it for some time," Coach David said. As the injuries continued to pile up on us the first month or so of the season, I felt like from a management standpoint I needed to be in the dugout and trusted him over there. He did a great job."

Shepherd assisted with the hitters throughout the year and played a key role in the team's program-record 103 home runs this past season, which also ranked 22nd in the country. His background as one of the best defenders in the country as a player at Georgia allowed him to help impact the defense, where he helped Coach David with the infielders and served as the outfield coach. The Bulldogs finished the season 27th in the country in fielding percentage.

"I am super excited to be staying on staff," Shepherd said. "Our team had a great year last year, but these guys can accomplish something really special this year. I am very thankful to Coach David for the opportunity to be a part of his staff. Go Dogs!"

Shepherd arrived at Samford in the fall of 2022 after serving as an assistant coach with the Gainesville Gol'Diggers of the Sunbelt Baseball League in the summer of 2022, a collegiate summer league based out of Georgia and Alabama.

A four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection, Shepherd started and played in all 198 games for the Georgia Bulldogs during his four-year tenure in Athens. He posted a .261 batting average with 45 doubles, five triples, 22 home runs, and 119 runs batted in.

Shepherd compiled a .970 career fielding percentage at Georgia, which serves as the highest career fielding percentage in program history by a shortstop. The Duluth, Ga. native set the single-season Bulldog record in 2019 for fielding percentage by a shortstop at .987, earning him SEC All-Defensive Team honors and an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award as the nation's top Division I shortstop. He became the first shortstop to go the entire 30-game league schedule and not make an error since the SEC recognized an All-Defensive Team starting in 2008. In that 2019 season, Shepherd fielded 1.000 in 109 total chances against SEC opponents.

In his career, Shepherd has been drafted twice. He was a 20th-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019 but opted to return to UGA for his senior season. Following his senior year at Peachtree Ridge High School, he was the 29th-round selection of the Boston Red Sox in the 2016 MLB Draft.

In 2020, Shepherd signed with the Atlanta Braves but was unable to play until the 2021 season due to COVID-19. Shepherd played one season with the Augusta Greenjackets before retiring from professional baseball.

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