Johnson League Awards Preview (Silk Award)

[7teen]

The final month of the season is upon us and the only real thing left to debate is who the award winners will be in the Johnson League this season. Baltimore and Madison have all but clinched their respective divisions while Vancouver and California are virtual locks to make the playoffs. Vancouver is still the front runner for the division with a hefty 8.5 game lead while the Crusaders are also 8.5 games ahead of their nearest opponent for the Wild Card.

So with the playoff races a bore in the JL, there has been some talk throughout a few team news postings about who the potential award winners may be out of the JL, espeically the Sawyer Silk Award winner.

Sawyer Silk Award
Let's start things off with last year's award winner, Bopper Kengos. Kengos is having another stellar year, posting a .329/.375/.583 stat line with 33 homeruns and 113 RBI. He currently ranks 5th in batting average, 5th in OPS, 2nd in VORP, 3rd in runs created, 1st in hits, 5th in homeruns, and 2nd in RBI. To be in the top 5 in that many categories will definitely get Kengos some strong consideration for the award yet again.

The next contender is Vancouver's second baseman Doug Newhouse. Newhouse spent a brief stint on the disabled list this season, but his numbers are still mind boggling. He's currently batting .337/.445/.547 with 19 homeruns, 59 RBI, and a whopping 62 stolen bases. He is currently 1st in batting average, 1st in on-base percentage, 3rd in OPS, 3rd in VORP, and 2nd in stolen bases. He was leading the league in VORP and Stolen bases before missing time due to injury.

The surprise candidate to this year's award has been Baltimore's Sirius Black. After having a few slightly above average yeas, Black has emerged as a tremenouds treat this season. His line is .327/.377/.631 with 46 homeruns and 124 RBI. He leads the JL in slugging, OPS, home runs and RBI, while still finding himself in the top 10 in VORP, Runs Created, hits, and many other categories.

Another potential candidate is Washington's Neil McKinney. McKinney is probably on the outside looking in right now, but has some fine stats. He's currently batting .310/.356/.597 with 39 homeruns and 108 RBI. He doesn't lead any categories at the moment, but is in the top 5 in slugging, runs created, homeruns, and RBI.

The 5th challenger is Baltimore's Brett Caves. Caves has the lowest average among the candidates at .297, but still has a .373 OBP and 589 sluggin to go along with 40 homeruns and 111 RBI. Like Like McKinney, Caves doesn't lead the league in anything, but he is in the top 5 in slugging, OPS, homeruns, and RBI.

The final guy to look at is Madison's Charles Puckett. Puckett is currently batting .334/.420/.573 with 26 homeruns, 92 RBI, and 24 stolen bases. Puckett leads the league in VORP and Runs created and finds himself in the top 5 in average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, hits, and stolen bases.

So with 1 month left, here is a quick cheat sheet as to how things look:

Kengos: .329-33-113; .958 OPS; 68.8 VORP
Newhouse: .337-19-59; .992 OPS; 62.0 VORP
Black: .327-46-124; 1.008 OPS; 58.9 VORP
McKinney: .310-39-108; .954 OPS; 45.4 VORP
Caves: .291-40-111; .962 OPS; 47.8 VORP
Puckett: .334-26-92; .993 OPS; 75.2

Good luck to the voters trying to distinguish the best hitter!

[KCCardinalFan]

These types of votes are always interesting to watch. I think some voters tend not to look past the average/homerun/RBI totals, and this year you could really do someone a disservice using that method!

[recte44]

I'm leaning towards Newhouse, even with his missed time factored in.

[7teen]

I'm leaning towards Newhouse, even with his missed time factored in.

If I voted now, I would have to go with either Black or Puckett at 1-2 and then Newhouse 3. If Newhouse is healthy all season long, I think he gets the vote.

[bschr682]

i think its too early even to take a guess. Its going to be a great race this month.