Thursday, September 30, 2010

GBL announces 2010 player awards

The GBL recently announced its player awards for the 2010 season. The winners are:
  • MVP - Cliff Brumbaugh (1B), Edmonton
  • Pitcher of the Year - Donald Brandt, Maui
  • Rookie of the Year - Tyler Keeble (SS), Orange County
  • Rookie Pitcher of the Year - Cody Walden, Tucson
Cliff Brumbaugh playing in Korea in 2007
Cliff Brumbaugh was outstanding for the Capitals in 2010, hitting .383 with a league-leading 23 homers. His 90 RBIs were second-best in the league, trailing only Drew Miller of the Calgary Vipers who knocked in 94 runs. Brumbaugh's OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was an astonishing 1.138. Teammate Larry Bigbie was the only player in the GBL with a higher OPS (1.246). By comparison, Barry Bonds had a career OPS of 1.051.

Lefty Donald Brandt snagged the Pitcher of the Year honour by going a perfect 15-0 on the season with a 2.58 ERA. While he obviously had an outstanding season, a more deserving candidate appears to have been overlooked. Brandt's teammate on the Strong Warriors of Maui, Wes Ethridge, would have been a better choice for the award. Ethridge went 10-0 with a 1.76 ERA and bested Brandt in just about every pitching statistic other than wins (which is highly over-rated). Ethridge limited opponents to a .203 batting average and posted a marvelous WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) of 0.98. On the other hand, Brandt "only" held opponents to a .226 batting average and he notched a mildly impressive 1.22 WHIP. Ethridge also had a strikeout to walk ratio of 4.8, almost twice as high as Brandt's 2.5 strikeouts per walk.

Orange County's shortstop, Tyler Keeble, won Rookie of the Year by hitting .302 with 9 homers and 60 RBIs. Keeble was in his first year of professional baseball after being drafted out of the Arizona Winter League.

Tucson's Cody Walden took home the Rookie Pitcher of the Year award by going 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA in 17 games this season. The 24-year-old right-hander was traded to the Lincoln Saltdogs of the independent American Association on August 19th and finished the season with the Saltdogs.