Yellow Springs Nine Belatedly Release 2054 End of Year Awards
Feb 1, 2056
Yellow Springs, OH – The Yellow Springs Nine extremely belatedly announced their 2054 year-end award winners. Debuted for the year 2052, the team followed up in 2053, but due to a "paperwork error" never released this list for 2054.
"We regret the error," said GM Rob McMonigal. "But we want to ensure we recognize the team achievements, even when we struggle. Once I discovered the list, I immediately wanted to ensure we released it. I am so sorry to the players and manager involved."
The 2054 Award Winners are as follows:
2054 Coach of the Year Award:
Angel Cuevas, Manager of the Alomogordo Road Runners
After winning the award in 2053 for getting the Road Runners back to the playoffs after two miserable years and no playoff appearances since 2041, Cuevas took the team all the way, winning the 2054 Rookie League Championship. "I'm absolutely delighted by the work Cuevas is doing in Alomogordo, helping to establish the culture of winning we need here in the Yellow Springs organization. He's our first two-time winner, and it's well-deserved."
2054 Offensive Player of the Year Award:
1B Burhan Tahir
Tahir, the up-and-coming first basemen, one of the most popular men to ever wear the uniform, had a 2.1 WAR (third on the team), and led the team in games (160), hits (184), homers (21), doubles (42), RBIs (95), and batting average (.295), with most other offensive statistics being top five as well depending on your cutoff for metrics. While the team had many struggles at other positions, Tahir locked down first base and gave the Nine an anchor to work from. "I'm looking forward to Tahir continuing to improve and keeping him here long-term," said McMonigal. He kept shining for us, even in a really bad year and didn't let the losing effect him. That's the sign of a true winner."
2054 Defensive Player of the Year Award:
2B Dong-Po Thum
Yeah, this is just going to be called the Thum Award. Thum had a Zimmer-award winning year at second, with a 13.2 zone rating while also racking up his 3,000th hit and starting the march to 4,000. Despite his age, he continues to be amazing on the fiel and with the bat.
2054 Pitcher of the Year Award
SP Dave Lee
After struggling in 2054, Lee returned to form with a 11-8, 33 start performance. He pitched 188.2 innings, struck out 155, and had an ERA of 3.30, good for a WAR of 3.9. Those were his best numbers since 2050, when he was 16-4 with 202 Ks and and ERA of 3.36. This is Lee's second time winning the award.
2054 Rookie of the Year Award
OF Ismael Zumaya
Zumaya had only a brief cup of coffee in 2050 and it was looking unlikely that he'd ever make the majors again. But a need for a backup centerfielder led to the Nine taking a chance and having great success. Zumaya batted .235 with 7 home runs and positive zone ratings in both center and right fields. He's not your typical rookie star, but he got the job done.
2054 Prospect of the Year Award
SS Felix Abernathy
Abernathy, the 2054 first round pick of the Nine shined bright for the Rookie League Road Runners. He batted .364 with 20 home runs, 55 RBIs, an OPS of 1.141, and a WAR of 4.6. Playing primarily at shortstop, he had a ZR of 1.6 and efficiency of 1.011.
