Top Hitter
Bopper Kengos
We pretty much said everything that we could about Kengos in our TN describing his Johnson League Sawyer Silk Silver Slugger Award. Kengos hit .345/.383/.577 on the season with 40 homeruns and 131 RBI. He led the team in batting average and RBI and trailed only Bolt Vanderhugen in homeruns. He led the JL in VORP with an eye popping 83.2 Value Over Replacement Player.
Top Pitcher
Chip Foodie
In all honesty, Foodie was probably #1 with Chet Steadman being 1a in our Top pitcher award. Both had similar ERAs, WHIPs,Innings pitched, and strikeouts. The major difference in the end was Foodie's 20 wins compared to Steadman's 16 wins.
Compare them closely:
Foodie: 20-6 3.30 ERA 1.11 WHIP 248 IP 225 K
Steadman: 16-9 3.19 ERA 1.19 WHIP 242.2 IP 233 K
Top Rookie
John Rasmussen
Many in the front office are optimistic that Rasmussen will eventually emerge as a solid starting pitcher, perhaps as soon as next season. But the experiment didn't work out quite so well this year, but John was a solid reliever out of the bullpen. He appeared in 63 games this season, posting a 4-5 record with 4 saves, a 3.63 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 84.1 innings pitched. He struck out 88 batters over that span.
Unsung Hero
Jarvis Murphy
Murphy gets lost in the shuffle with some of the other big names on the Wolves. While many around the league focus on Bolt, Reyes, Kenogos, Catron, Puckett, etc... Murphy gets lost in the mix. But Murphy had a damn good season this year. Murphy hit .333/.401/.422 this season at 1b for the Wolves. He gets overlooked because he doesn't put up the power numbers of a traditional firstbaseman. He only hit 5 homeruns. But how many firstbaseman int he league hit at the top of the order and scored 62 runs in only 130 games.
Biggest Disappointment
Robert Walton
After going 22-5 last season, many in the Wolves organization expected that to become the norm for Robert. But it wasn't to be. Walton went 12-15 this season with a 5.33 ERA. The ERA was his worst of his career and he put up a negative VORP for the first time in his career.
Top Minor League Hitter
Nathan Gordon
Gordon isn't really a top prospect within the organization but it didn't stop him from having an outstanding season this year in Double-A. Gordon hit .341/.402/.550 with 21 homeruns and 93 RBI. We had some other prospects have good seasons, but none as good as what Murphy put up.
Top Minor League Pitcher
Cedric Ayers
Ayers had a fine season, going 11-9 with a 2.55 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 172.2 innings pitched. But many within the Wolves organization are starting to wonder if the 22 year old pitcher will ever pan out. 1999 markes his 5th straight season of pitching at laramie, our Single-A affiliate.