With the completion of the 2050 regular season, the Spuds carried out their tradition of announcing the team award winners at the Spuds team banquet, an event sponsored by Ore-Ida and featuring the best potato-inspired buffet you’ve ever seen. All the organization’s minor league players and staff are invited, along with their families, which usually means a crowd of over 1,000 pack themselves into the Boise Centre.Most major-league players decline to attend, since they prefer to take the time to be with their families. However, this year, one familiar face showed up: ex-Spuds pitcher Luis Rojas, who received an invitation even though he was traded to Phoenix mid-season.
“This is the event everyone talks about, and I’d feel cheated if I spent a season in Boise but didn’t get to go to the banquet,” he said.
Rojas was a candidate to win the coveted Pitcher of the Year award, despite only playing half the season for the Spuds. His 4.4 WAR with Boise was tops among all Spuds pitchers this season.
But, deservingly, Manuel Barrera was announced as the Pitcher of the Year recipient, his second straight year winning the award. His 40 saves and 1.65 ERA were both Spuds single-season records. Barrera has established himself as one of the premier closers in the game, and should be a contender for the JL Egan award.
Most Valuable Potato went to Steven Collins III, more so by default than because he was exceptional in any way. Collins led the Spuds in hits, runs, walks, and on-base percentage.
The Star Sprout award, the highlight of the night for minor leaguers, was a close race. A couple Triple-A players were in the running, including relief pitcher Frank Wilson, who was having such a good season he was called up to the majors in August, and stud outfield prospect Murad Abdul-Alim.
But in a move that surprised a few people, the award was given to Double-A starting pitcher Willard Labonte. Labonte was the ace of the Weymouth Irish, going 11-5 with a 2.73 ERA in 29 games. He was famously part of the trade that sent Dennis French to Charlotte in 2047.
Labonte was interviewed after being presented with the Star Sprout trophy, which is a potato plant-shaped figurine on a pedestal. “This thing is heavy,” he said. “What’s it made of? A real potato?”
When asked what his plans were after the event, he replied, “I don’t know, I guess I’ll go home and put this on the mantle.”
“Not if I’m still rooming with you, you’re not,” chirped his teammate Eric Bowness from nearby. “That thing’s going right in the trash.”
The evening concluded with dancing and live music from The Whistle Pigs, a well-known local rock band.
