The Brewster

McKinney JL's top slugger
November 1, 1997

WASHINGTON D.C.— Neil McKinney may have been disappointed with the struggles of the Bobwhites, but today he was all smiles as he was named winner of the Sawyer Silk Silver Slugger Trophy.

"I'm really honored," McKinney said. "Dick [Lotz, hitting coach] and I put in a lot of work this year to build off the '96 season, and obviously I couldn't be happier with the results."

McKinney, 24, hit .310 with 60 home runs and 139 RBI for the Bobwhites in just his second full season in the big leagues. He hit .287 with with 26 home runs and 89 RBI in 133 games as a rookie in 1996. He led the Johnson League in slugging (.651), OPS (1.032), runs created (158.3), isolated power (.341), total bases (405), and home runs (60).

McKinney received nine of 16 first-place votes, edging out Madison Wolves shortstop Bopper Kengos, 119-105. Kengos hit .365 with 33 home runs and 123 RBI for Madison, solid numbers all the way around. He won the JL batting title, topping Mark Bruner by just one point, .365 to .364. Kengos also led in hits (229).

Now that's a nice season and deserving of the award.
Be interesting to see what he does for an encore.

That is an absolutely insane season.