Handies: Rookie of the Year

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
KYLE SCHULTZ (ISLANDERS)

	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	RBI	PA/RBI	HR	AB/HR
BATTING	134	.244	.493	.533	27	5.0	8	11.3
	GP	IP	ERA	WHIP	OBA	K	K/6	K/BB
PITCHING	8	42	4.57	1.74	.202	86	12.3	2.1

Kyle Schultz had two competitive advantages over the rest of the rookie class when he made his WSEM debut week two: 1) years of experience in MLW, and 2) being the only pitcher in the group. What do those two things have in common? Neither would play a role in his ability to win RotY. Kyle put on a show with the bat, ranking no lower than second among rookies in any major offensive category. He took the top spot in SLG, TB, OBP, BB, and AB/HR; second position in AVG, H, HR, RBI, and PA/RBI. Meanwhile, all other rookies found themselves in third position or further back in at least five of those categories. Consistent production like that alone can make the case for Schultz as RotY. Any value added by falling into the nember-two pitcher role for the Islanders on their way to the playoffs is just icing on the cake. But it's very likely that the black-and-white pirates wouldn't have made it out of the regular season if not for Kyle's bat and arm coming up big in key moments.

Honorable Mention:

• Anthony Kreza (Holy Balls) started off his career strong with a 105' 1B to RCF at the spacious Coffee Grounds off Scott Kujawa. He then poked a game-winning RBI 1B off Chandler Phillips. For his piece de resistance, he threw down a 2-HR game against Stephen Farkas. Kreza hit good pitching, and posted the most hits (27) and best batting average (.257) out of all rookies. His name kept coming up in the discussions about winning this thing, but in the end his power and run production numbers couldn't match those put up by Schultz.