Frontier League awards
The Frontier League announced their annual end-of-season awards Thursday and one went to a former Wild Things player.
Right-handed pitcher Casey Barnes was named the Jason Simontacchi Award winner as Rookie of the Year. Barnes (pictured), who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies last month, had a 5-5 record and 2.34 ERA (third in the Frontier League). At the time he was signed by the Phillies, Barnes was second in the Frontier League in ERA. He was the starting pitcher for the East Division in the 2011 All-Star Game.
It was quite a memorable stay in the Frontier League for Barnes. He began the season by being released in spring training by Traverse City and then was picked up by Washington before the regular season even began. He went from being the Wild Things' No. 5 starter to their ace.
Barnes is now pitching for Williamsport in the Class A New York-Penn League.
River City swept the top player and pitcher honors. Stephen Holdren (.333, 20 HR, 78 RBI) was voted the Morgan Burkhart Award winner as Most Valuable Player. Right-hander Josh Lowey (10-2, 2.53) won the Brian Tollberg Award as Pitcher of the Year. Joliet's Bart Zeller is the Manager of the Year.
WJPA Radio's Randy Gore won the Broadcaster of the Year Award. There's probably not another person in the league who goes to work each day more prepared to do his job than Randy Gore.
The Observer-Reporter also picked up some awards.
The All-Frontier League team and award winners:
1B – Logan Parker, River City Rascals
2B – Will Block, Southern Illinois Miners
3B – Chris Curley, Florence Freedom
SS – Andrew Davis, Lake Erie Crushers
OF – Stephen Holdren, River City Rascals
OF – J.T. Hall, Traverse City Beach Bums
OF – Alvaro Ramirez, Normal CornBelters
C – Landon Hernandez, Gateway Grizzlies
DH – Charlie Lisk, Gateway Grizzlies
SP – Josh Lowey, River City Rascals
RP – Ryan Quigley, Joliet Slammers
Morgan Burkhart Award (MVP) – Stephen Holdren, River City Rascals
Brian Tollberg Award (Pitcher of the Year) – Josh Lowey, River City Rascals
Jason Simontacchi Award (Rookie of the Year) – Casey Barnes, Washington Wild Things
Roger Hanners Award (Manager of the Year) – Bart Zeller, Joliet Slammers
Fran Riordan Award (Citizenship) – Danny Sawyer, River City Rascals
Coach of the Year – Mike Breyman, River City Rascals
Trainer of the Year – Matt Yonkof, Lake Erie Crushers
Groundskeeper of the Year – Lance Adler, Evansville Otters
Newspaper of the Year - The Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania)
Writer of the Year – Chris Dugan, Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania)
Broadcaster of the Year – Randy Gore, Washington Wild Things
Clubbie of the Year – Nate Six, Lake Erie Crushers
Executive of the Year – John Dittrich/Bill Waliewski, Joliet Slammers
Organization of the Year – Lake Erie Crushers
Umpire of the Year - Tony Maners
Voting for awards was done by general managers, coaching staffs, and local media in all 12 Frontier League markets.
Labels: Casey Barnes, Frontier League awards
posted by Chris Dugan at
11:44 AM
11 Comments:
Congratulations to Randy Broadcaster of the Year.
Russ
Forgot to add Chris congratulation on Writer of the Year, and Casey for Rookie of the Year.
Russ
If you ever doubt how good Randy is, just listen to some of the other broadcasters doing Frontier League games. He IS the best.
Same for you Chris - good job!
Ima Fraid
It's a shame they don't have an award for part-time official scorer of the year. Just saying.
"It's a shame they don't have an award for part-time official scorer of the year. Just saying."
How about the regular official scorer (/Best Organist in the Frontier League) getting some love?
Regardless, congratulations to Randy and Chris on their (much deserved) awards. Two of the best people I've had the pleasure of working with.
Congrats to Chris and Randy. I listen to WJPA when the Wild Things are on the road and I have been known to even bring my earpones into Consol to listen to him when in attendance at the game (wink). He does a GREAT job!
The Observer-Reporter sports page is the first thing I open to in the morning.
Congrats to you both!!
"It's a shame they don't have an award for part-time official scorer of the year. Just saying."
The scoring at CEP has always been less than objective. It gives the phrase "home town scoring" a whole new meaning. It never has been good and probably will never be any better than it is now. I just hope that they don't actually pay these guys!
You're right...pitcher's shouldn't have to wear runs.
Judging by all the complaints that have been filed by Washington players, coaches and front office people over the last 10 years, I'd say the official scoring at CEP has to have the least "home town scoring" of any place in the league.
Even recall this one: Washington player reached base on an odd play that was correctly scored a fielder's choice. The exact play was listed as a scoring example in the Official Rules of Baseball. Somebody from the Wild Things, perhaps on the urging of the player, approached the official scorer after the game and demanded the play be scored a hit. The official scorer said he won't make the change because the play is specifically mentioned in the rulebook, which states "score as a fielder's choice." The person affiliated with the team then replied, "I don't care what the rulebook says, give him a hit."
You wouldn't want to go by the rulebook, huh?
I seem to recall that the player never did get a hit.
Note to self: blog post about scoring could have some interesting stories.
The scoreboard operator at CEP isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer either.
The guy who drops the numbers into that slot for strikeouts sometimes takes too long. I'd like to file a baseless complaint about that as well
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