The SweatSox nominees for the Tier II Awards were released earlier today, and between the 5 awards, we have at total of 2 nominees.
Below are the writeups for our award nominees as submitted to the NCBL, with honourable mentions to the other vote getters.
Tier 2 Most Valuable Player – Nominee: Eric White
The SweatSox roster had very little turnover since 2012, so when we went from a non-playoff team to a Championship finalist in one year, it’s not too hard to figure out why. In Eric’s 1st season with the SweatSox he was voted by our team as top pitcher AND top batter (see write-ups below), even leading the tier in multiple categories on both sides of the ball (SB, IP, K, W).
Honourable mention to the MVP finalists: Cory Bond
Tier 2 Batter of the Year – Nominee: Eric White
From preseason to playoffs Eric has been our most consistent hitter, leading the team with 23 hits and a .343 AVG. Batting at the top of our order, opposing pitchers always had to pay extra attention when Eric got on base – he led the team/tier in SB’s with 22, twice as much as the next highest.
Honourable mention to the Batter of the Year finalists: Denver Hunt, Marc Lett, Chris Lidstone
Tier 2 Pitcher of the Year – Nominee: Eric White
We’ve never had a pitcher with a rubber arm before, but when Eric pitched in 58 innings over 17 games, we knew we had one. While his tier best 68 strikeouts and 7 wins were impressive, Eric was even more effective out of the bullpen. In 20 relief innings, Eric had a 0.20ERA and 0.90WHIP, while picking up a franchise best 3 saves.
Honourable mention to the Pitcher of the Year finalists: John Groves
Tier 2 Rookie of the Year – No eligible nominee
Honourable mention to the SweatSox (but not NCBL) rookies: Chris Lidstone, Eric White
Tier 2 Sportsmanship and Ability – Nominee: Cory Bond
If anyone thinks playing 120 straight games would drain a man’s love of the game, they don’t know Cory. Whether the SweatSox are up 10 or down 10, or whether he’s batting .115 over the 1st half or .385 over the 2nd half, his attitude towards the game, umpires, teammates, and opposing players never changes. And if you’re wondering why he only pitched 8 innings this year; he says it’s because the team was winning so there was no reason to.
Honourable mention to the Sportsmanship & Ability finalists: John Groves, Marc Lett, Armando Navarro
We will know in about a week if any of our nominees will be Tier finalists for the awards handed out at the 2013 NCBL Banquet on Friday, November 8th, 2013.