I need to back up and punt for a moment by honoring last year's team award recipients. Sure a 6-0 start and a sweep of Vancouver (have I mentioned that yet) will overshadow this so feel free to just gloss over this or click the "mark all read" button so this one no longer stays highlighted. But it's summer break now at school so I can at least crank out some team news to meet by quota. Yeah, that's a lot of rambling when I don't have to. Rather than do this in 4 separate team news I'm just doing it all in one. Yeah, rambling. Did I mention we swept Vancouver?
Top Rookie:
Graeme Odhieng - Odhieng wasn't eligible for the Frick League's top rookie award due to some technicality, but we're giving him our top rookie award honors on the team. Odheing hit .323/.396/.462 last season with 14 homeruns and 92 runs batted in. His 3.8 WAR was the 4th best on the offense and by far the best of any other rookie on our team.
Aswad Azeem, who logged just 24 innings on the mound, was the only other possible candidate.
Top Reliever:
Erasmo Gonzalez - This was a close vote between Gonzalez and the surprising
Ernie Mark. Both had nearly identical numbers. Gonzalez went 4-4, throwing 70.2 innings with a 1.0 WAR. Mark went 2-2, throwing 71.0 innings with a 1.0 WAR. Gonzalez struck out 68 while Mark struck out 65 while both walking 17 on the season. In the end, Gonzalez gets the nod because he allowed fewer earned runs. His 2.80 ERA and 1.03 WHIP were just better than Mark's 3.68 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
Top Starter:
John O'Leary - This was another tough call. We had 4 solid seasons from guys last year, and that throws out Wullenweber's season. Four of our five guys had a WAR between 3.2 and 3.9 and all could lay claim in some fashion to the honor. No one won over 11 games last season, and the guy with the highest WAR among the starters failed to win 10 games last year. It was just an odd season. But in the end, I'm going with O'Leary. He was solid from start to finish, despite finishing with a losing record at 10-11. He led the team in innings pitched with 205, the only starter to throw more than 200 last season. His 3.8 WAR was 2nd as was his 153 strikeouts. His ERA was actually 4th on the staff, but overall I feel he just had the better season across the board. It really is a tough decison. Look at these 4 guys and decide:
Esperanda: 9-8; 27 starts; 149.0 IP, 97 Ks, 3.74 ERA, 3.9 WAR
O'Leary: 10-11; 32 starts; 205.0 IP, 153 Ks, 4.04 ERA, 3.8 WAR
Stuart: 11-11; 32 starts; 198.2 IP, 130 Ks, 3.94 ERA, 3.3 WAR
Patachli: 11-8; 33 starts; 173.1 IP, 170 Ks, 3.17 ERA, 3.2 WAR
So really, you could go either way. Esepranda had the higher WAR on a shorter season. Patachli led the team in wins, K's and ERA. I dunno. Thoughts? Either way, we like the fact we have 4 solid rotation arms that can all be competitive on the mound.
Top Hitter:
Mynorli Gaajlimitz - I always have to preface this is the top hitter award. I don't give out the team MVP award. Not sure why, but I've just always dedicated this to the top hitter. If it were MVP, it would likely go to
Allan Uecker who posted 2.5 more WAR than Mynorli. In fact, Gaajlimitz's 4.6 WAR was only the 3rd best on the offense last season. But he's still the best hitter. His .901 OPS was tops on the team, he led the team in hits with 240, average at .366, and on-base percentage at .420. I'd argue he's the best pure hitter in the league at the moment. He turns 23 in a few weeks and bettors are gambling as to whether he'll reach 1,000 career hits first. He turns 23 in 17 days. He needs 21 more hits. Which comes first?
