This may come as a surprise, but this is Kyle Tomlinson's first Batting Title, despite having 2 MVPs to his name and being in contention almost every season. The .412 batting average is completely ridiculous, but let's give Kyle credit for this finishing strong down the stretch: 29 of his 54 hits came in the month of July.
These 23 HR posted by Greg Brannan are not only Rod Allen's Country Strong Home Run King for the 2017 season, but they also stand as the single season WSEM home run record. This marks Greg's second time winning the HR King, last wearing the crown in 2015 when he won it with just 14 HR.
We're doubling the law enforcement on the basepaths! David Castle and Michael Villarreal ended the year tied with 53 BB a piece, resulting in two badges given out to the co-Walker Texas Rangers. It's the first time for both to earn this award. Villarreal made it happen with a severe spike in his walk percentage: having been .230 over his career coming in, that climbed to .384 this season. Castle got here on sheer volume of plate appearances: 209 total (second in WSEM). His walk percentage was
only .255 by comparison, but this Ranger brought the numbers to back him up.
It's a good thing we've double the number of Rangers, because we're also doubling the number of criminals! Dylan Braden and Mark Phillips tied with 16 stolen bases a piece to share the honor of co-Great Lakes Stealers. What can I say? We love ties in WSEM. Mark was never caught; a perfect 16 for 16 in his attempts. Dylan was caught twice (16 for 18); while those may have been embarrassing moments, the failures don't factor in here. The GLS is only about who goes home with the most swiped bags. This is Mark's first time to win the GLS, while it marks three consecutive years for Dylan claiming the honor.
Normally, the reveal of the Clown Shu would be held to the end of this list. This year, however, it's considered a no contest - as obvious as any of the counting awards above. Stephen Farkas drastically outshone his competition this season to earn his third Shu in four years. Seriously, no other pitcher was in the same the ballpark as the numbers Farkas put up. Travis Strojny and Craig Skinner were the closest, and just check out the disparity in how they compare in the table below:
|
IP |
RA |
H |
BB |
ERA |
WHIP |
OBA |
K/6 |
K/BB |
| Farkas |
69.2 |
11 |
22 |
16 |
0.95 |
0.55 |
.096 |
15.3 |
11.1% |
| Strojny |
74.0 |
17 |
44 |
40 |
1.38 |
1.14 |
.167 |
14.5 |
4.5 |
| C. Skinner |
63.0 |
15 |
23 |
47 |
1.43 |
1.11 |
.108 |
15.2 |
3.4 |
Most Improved Player is always a tight race with many moving parts and different angles in play. Josh Nagorski deserves an honorable mention; the incredible leap he made in his pitching had many eyes looking his way. If he'd managed to keep his batting numbers close to level, this award would likely have been his. However, he fell off significantly at the plate across all of the major math stats, which took him out of the running. Michael Giguere was another name in the running and receiving votes. He posted impressive jumps in AVG and SLG, which are not to be overlooked. However, it was a step back in RBI (and PA/RBI) production that played a key role in the nod going to Dakota LaDouceuer over him, as well as a head-to-head comparison of their slugging numbers: both finished at .640 - Giggy went up .185 (140.7%); Laddy went up .328 (205.1%). Slugging and RBI are the most important stats when it comes to production, and Dakota clearly distinguished himself in both categories. He improved across the board, as well, increasing his AVG .120 points, and perhaps most impressively cutting his AB/HR down to 38.3% of last season (2017: 10.7 | 2016: 28.0). This is Dakota's third Handy. He was a co-Country Strong HR King in 2012 and a Diamond Digit in 2014.
|
HR |
TB |
RS |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
PA/RBI |
AB/HR |
| LaDouceur '17 |
7 |
48 |
20 |
.307 |
.441 |
.640 |
4.7 |
10.7 |
| % change |
175.0% |
137.1% |
200.0% |
164.2% |
141.8% |
205.1% |
70.5% |
38.3% |
| LaDouceur '16 |
4 |
35 |
10 |
.187 |
.311 |
.312 |
6.6 |
28.0 |
Unanimously, Rookie of the Year was considered to be the tightest race to call this year - despite there only being two strong contenders. And it was not a unanimous decision in the end. This was a face-off between Mark Joyce and John Skinner. Skinner was on the Balls roster from Opening Day and played 18 games during the season; he was the early favorite for RotY. Joyce first appeared for the Islanders Week 6, and played every subsequent game for the Isles. The perceived impact the rookies had on their teams and the league was affected by the level of dedication both shown. Skinner played in only 2 of the Balls' final 12 regular season games, while Joyce was in every game and producing for the Isles. Skinner did pitch and showed promise, which factored in his favor; although he pitched in a fairly limited capacity: 3 games (2 vs Stinky Nuts, 1 vs Aces) for a total of 13 innings. Those two factors essentially amount to a wash, which meant this race would come down to the offensive numbers. The two did trade off #1 and #2 rankings: Skinner does have a slight edge in AVG (.005) and H (3), and his biggest win was in OBP (.083). Joyce, however, had the edge in twice as many big categories: HR, TB, RBI, SLG, PA/RBI, and AB/HR. More important here than the number of categories won is the spread by which they were won. Skinner's stat wins were mostly by slight margins (OBP being his big win at +18.0%). Joyce had more significant distance in many of his wins: +44.7% in AB/HR, +32.8% in PA/RBI, +16.0% in SLG. That is where Joyce distinguished himself, and so for back-to-back years an Islander has been named Rookie of the Year.
|
H |
HR |
TB |
RBI |
AVG |
SLG |
PA/RS |
PA/RBI |
AB/HR |
| Joyce |
19 |
8 |
43 |
17 |
.284 |
.642 |
5.5 |
4.5 |
8.4 |
| J. Skinner |
22 |
5 |
41 |
15 |
.289 |
.539 |
5.3 |
6.7 |
15.2 |
Greg Brannan put up a lot of big numbers this year. We've already addressed his record 23 HR above, and Greg also posted a league-leading 124 TB and 51 RBI. In terms of the major stat categories, Greg placed either first or second in every one outside of average, including 3.5 PA/RBI and 6.3 AB/HR. More impactful than any of the accrued numbers, though, is the value he presented to his team. Greg carried the See Yas offense and was solely responsible for a huge chunk of his team's production, accounting for percentages significantly higher than any other slugger. He plated 37.5% of the See Yas RBI, hit 44.2% of their HR, and had 32.7% of their hits. Take away Greg's production and the See Yas would have been closer to the Aces finish. No player provided a bigger offensive value to their team than Greg.
Kyle Tomlinson does deserve recognition for the numbers he put up this season. His .412 AVG and .908 SLG are off the charts. Two things work against Kyle, though. The first is that when it came to the more 'mathed' stats, he slid down the rankings a bit. Kyle is third in AB/HR and fourth in PA/RBI. Those lower rankings hurt in a tight race. The second count against Kyle is the
value to his team. Kyle accounted for only 25.5% of El Diablos RBI, 28.3% of their hits, and 30.5% of their HR is the most significant. All of those are relatively low in comparison, leading to the theory that if you take Kyle off El Diablos, they wouldn't miss him nearly as much as the See Yas would miss Greg.
This was pretty much a race between Greg and Kyle, but one other name needs to be thrown in the mix. Dennis Pearson had a relatively quiet year. Playing in a 6-man lineup almost every game, he wasn't able to amass huge numbers. That kept him out of true contention here, but he does have a couple remarkable numbers worth mentioning: 2.8 PA/RBI and 6.1 AB/HR. Both - Dennis is number one in both. His percentage of team RBI and HR are also very respectable, just slightly behind Greg. He is down the rankings in too many stats, though, to have a real shot at overtaking Greg and Kyle. You can review the head-to-head-to-head stats of all three MVP candidates below.
|
H |
TB |
RBI |
SLG |
PA/RBI |
AB/HR |
% of
Team H |
% of
Team HR |
% of
Team RBI |
| G. Brannan |
50 |
124 |
51 |
.849 |
3.5 |
6.3 |
32.7% |
44.2% |
37.5% |
| Tomlinson |
54 |
119 |
49 |
.908 |
3.7 |
7.3 |
28.3% |
30.5% |
25.5% |
| Pearson |
35 |
83 |
42 |
.847 |
2.8 |
6.1 |
26.9% |
38.1% |
34.7% |
