11/01/08: 2008 MVABL Award Winners Unveiled

Final Votes are in!!!
    The coaches have made their nominations for the 2008 MVABL Award winners....and here they are:

Woodpeckers catcher Drew York Snags MVP Honors
    Rookie backstop Drew York of the Dayton Woodpeckers registered six first place votes on his way to earning the 2008 MVABL Most Valuable Player award. Drew batted .524 and led the league in doubles and RBIs, and tied for the league lead in home runs. Defending two-time MVP Clint Wolf of the Dayton Rangers finished a distant second place with 1 first place vote and four second place votes. This is how the rest of the voting went:

    1. Drew York (Woodpeckers) - 23 pts.
    2. Clint Wolf (Rangers) - 12 pts.
    3. Brennen Glass (Sox) - 8 pts.
    4. Joe Pickarski (Indians) - 7 pts.
    5. Jacob Robinson (Rangers) - 3 pts.
    6. Brad Clark (Rangers) - 2 pts.
    7. Jesus Velasquez III (Royals) - 1 pt.
       John Milliron (Woodpeckers) - 1 pt.
       PJ Dobbins (Astros) - 1 pt.
       Taylor Hause (Panthers) - 1 pt.
Robinson is League's Top Pitcher
Dayton Rangers veteran Jacob Robinson followed up a record-setting season on the mound by taking home the 2008 MVABL Cy Young award. Jake finished the season with a 3.69 ERA (combined regular and post season) and a 12-2 record overall (10-2 during the regular season and 2-0 in post season). The 10 regular season wins set an all-time high for the league. Jake earned six first place votes in nominations from the coaches. Coming up a close second, was Sox rookie lefthander Wes Rehmert who picked up three first place tallies and three second place votes. This is how the rest of the voting went:

    1. Jacob Robinson (Rangers) - 20 pts.
    2. Wes Rehmert (Sox) - 16 pts.
    3. Bryan Leach (Astros) - 13 pts.
    4. Matt Spradlin (Indians) - 7 pts.
    5. Scott Falkowski (Royals) - 3 pts.
ROY goes to Woodpeckers MVP
    Drew York became the first MVABL player to pick up both the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season. York once again picked up six first place votes to lead the way among eight rookie nominees. Other rookies to pick up first place votes included Brennen Glass, Taylor Hause, and Wes Rehmert. This is how the rest of the voting went:

    1. Drew York (Woodpeckers) - 24 pts.
    2. Brennen Glass (Sox) - 10 pts.
    3. Jesus Velasquez III (Royals) - 8 pts.
    4. Wes Rehmert (Sox) - 7 pts.
    5. John Milliron (Woodpeckers) - 5 pts.
    6. Taylor Hause (Panthers) - 3 pts.
    7. Aaron Brown (Dragons) - 2 pts.
       Tony Duncan (Astros) - 2 pts.
Astros' Rob Johnson is Top Coach Again
Astros head coach Rob Johnson earned the Coach of the Year for the second straight season after leading his team to a second place regular season finish and a No. 1 seed in the MVABL playoffs. Despite losing the 2007 ROY Taylor Nakamura, Rob re-tooled his lineup with some new faces, and also brought back some familiar faces to the league. Rob put together the league's top pitching staff as the Astros' mound marvels posted a league-best 3.77 ERA which was a full two runs better than his 2007 staff. The Astros were also second in the league in batting average, hitting at a .374 clip, and were also tops in the stolen base category, falling just 4 bags shy of 100.
    Scott Jones of the Centerville Dragons became the first assistant coach in the league to receive votes and finished second in voting. In total, six coaches received votes for this award.

Royals Repeat as Champs
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Kettering Royals
The Royals finished off their back-to-back league championships by defeating the Dayton Astros twice in the championships, 14-9 (game one) and 8-4 (game two).


Spradlin Mows Down 83

STRIKEOUT LEADER: Matt Spradlin (Springfield Indians)
Matt finished a solid sophomore season setting down 83 batters in 79 innings of work in 2008, which was the third highest single-season total in league history. Panthers righty Jeff Cherry finished second in the league with 77 Ks.

Rookie Milliron Batting Champ
BATTING AVG. LEADER: John Milliron (Dayton Woodpeckers) .545
The Woodpeckers' John Milliron made it back-to-back seasons that a rookie led the MVABL in batting average, following up the Sox's Seth Cosby in 2007. Milliron's .545 average was the sixth best single-season mark in league history. Milliron just squeaked by with the minimum requirement of at-bats (2.5 plate appearances times # of league games). John was tied for third in the league in home runs with 6 and helped a reborn Woodpeckers squad finish with a fifth-place finish in the regular season standings. Brennen Glass of the Beavercreek Sox finished second with a .529 average.

York's 24 Extra Bases Best in MVABL
X-TRA BASE HITS LEADER: Drew York (Dayton Woodpeckers) 24 (14-2B, 2-3B, 8-HR)
Drew was another explosive Woodpecker that blasted on the scene leading the league in home runs and doubles as a rookie. His 14 doubles are third-highest in league history for a single season. And his 8 home runs are tied for fifth-best in one season. York batted .524 on the season with a league-high 38 RBIs. Indians outfielder Joe Pickarski and Sox outfielder Brennen Glass tied for second with 20 extra-base knocks.