The move had some risks to it when former York Revolution manager Andy Etchebarren brought in Andres Perez last off-season.

Perez had proven he could hold his own in the Atlantic League after batting .313 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs in 87 games with the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2011. But Etchebarren wanted to try moving Perez from the outfield to second base.

Despite not having regularly played the infield since high school, Perez blossomed at second base as the 2012 season progressed, mainly thanks to the teachings of former player-coach Liu Rodriguez.

The Stony Brook University product also had his best season at the plate last year. Batting in the No. 5 slot most of the year behind slugger Chris Nowak, Perez set career-highs in batting average (.321), home runs (23), RBIs (85), runs scored (85), hits (159) and extra-base hits (61).

Now he’ll have the task of living up those numbers again in a Revs’ uniform. York announced Friday that Perez will be returning for the 2013 season. The club also announced the signing of catcher Patrick Arlis, bringing the number of players under contract for the upcoming season to seven.

Perez: A former prospect of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, Perez last played affiliated ball in 2010, when he hit .285 in only 41 games at High Class A Inland Empire (Dodgers). He hasn’t played above that level in his six years as a pro.

His efforts last season helped him earn post-season all-Atlantic League first-team honors while also being named to the Baseball America Independent League All-Star Team. Given the performance, Revs’ manager Mark Mason is somewhat surprised Perez had trouble finding interest from big league clubs.

“I think he thought he had a deal from Mexico that was in place when our season was over,” Mason said. “Then a month ago he got a call and told us that fell through and he’s available.”

Perez, 28, ranked fourth in the league in homers and fifth in RBIs in 2012. He also led York in batting average. With Perez and third baseman Andy Marte under contract, the Revs are still in search of a short stop and first baseman with spring training about two months away.

Arlis: Arlis will enter his 13th year as a pro playing for the Atlantic League for the first time in his career. He comes to York after splitting time last saeson between American Association clubs Amarillo and El Paso, where he batted a combined .275 in 81 games.

“I have a lot of good reports on him,” Mason said. “I knew people in that league who had seen him play. He played with Nowak in the Brewers’ organization at some point. He’s a really good defensive catcher. He can hit put the ball in play and he handles pitching staffs really well.”

An 11th round draft pick of the Miami Marlins in 2002, Arlis reached Class AAA Albuquerque in 2007 before being released that season and joining the Kansas City T-Bones in the independent Northern League. He spent the following season playing in the independent Golden League before joining the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization in 2009. The Illinois native played mostly at the Brewers’ Class AAA Nashville club through 2011 before going to the American Association in 2012.

Catching plans: The Revs now have two catchers under contract in Arlis and Salvador Paniagua. Mason said he plans to start one catcher the majority of the year. It would be a change from last season when Travis Scott and Salvador Paniagua splitting catching duties before the Revs dropped Paniagua for Salomon Manriquez. Mason said the starting gig will have to be earned in spring training.

“As of right now we haven’t really made a definite decision yet on how we’re gonna handle everything behind the plate,” Mason said. “We’ll take a look at guys when they come into camp.”

Although the Revs have two catchers signed, Mason said Manriquez still isn’t out of the picture.

“Manny is still in the picture as well. Right now we are looking at three catchers,” Mason said. “Manny is gonna play for Spain in the Wolrd Bsaeball Classic.”

Pitching plans: In regards to last week’s signings of left-handed pitchers Kris Regas and Yunior Novoa, changes could be in place for the pair of relievers.

Mason said he plans to try Regas as a starter in 2013.

“When I talked to Kris this off-season about coming back we agreed I would give him the opportunity  to come back as a starter and if it didn’t work out then he’ll go back in the bullpen,” Mason said. “We’ll give him the opportunity to log more innings and show what he can do.”

Regas actually left the Revs before the start of the 2012 season to go to the Mexican League, where he tried being a starter, something he hadn’t done since 2003. In three starts and two relief appearances for Saltillo, Regas posted an 0-2 record and 6.75 ERA. He gave up 11 earned runs in 14.2 innings of work, striking out 11 and walking 10. He went at least five innings in just one of his starts. He came back to York about a month later.

Novoa, meanwhile, will make the switch from a long-inning reliever to a one-inning guy.

“We know Yunior can pitch mulitiple innings out of the pen and last year we used him in long relief and he didn’t pitch for seven or eight days,” Mason said. “I think he proved his stuff is good enough for a one-inning guy this year and we can use him on back-to-back days more often.”

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Revolution position players Chris Nowak, Andres Perez, Brandon Haveman and Michael Hernandez, starting pitchers Corey Thurman and Ryan Feierabend and reliever Ricardo Gomez earned Atlantic League post-season awards. In addition, Revs’ president and general manager Eric Menzer has been named the league’s co-General Manager of the Year. The league announced the honors last Friday.

Lancaster’s Blake Gailen took home the league’s Player of the Year honors a week after Baseball American named him the independent POY.

Nowak and Perez, whom were also selected to Baseball America’s All-Independent team, were first-team league all-star selections. Nowak had a club-record 34 homers (seven more than anyone else) while collecting 107 RBIs. It marks the league’s highest total in both categories since 2005. The slugger also batted .285 in 129 games played and finished second in the league in walks (71) and extra-base hits (63), and ranked third in on-base percentage (.391)

Perez finished fourth in the league in batting average (.314), homers (23), hits (161) and runs scored (86), tied for fourth in doubles (35), fifth in RBIs (86) and slugging percentage (.529), while leading the league in total bases (271) and tying third in extra-base hits (61). His total base and extra-base hit marks established Revs’ single-season records. The 23 homers were a career-high for Perez.

Hernandez and Haveman were second-team league selections. Hernandez finished the year batting .303 (the second-highest average on the team) and added 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 105 games played. Haveman joined York in late May after coming over from Lancaster. He went to bat .370 in his first 34 games with York and hit .290 overall in 106 games. York went 66-39 with Haveman as the lead-off man. The speedy outfielder also collected six homers, 48 RBIs and 21 stolen bases.

Pitching: Thurman, Feierabend and Gomez were also second-team selections.

Thurman went 14-3 with a 3.82 ERA in 27 starts, tying for the league-lead in wins, while topping his own club record for wins in a season when he had 13 Ws in 2011. The Revs won 22 of Thurman’s 27 starts and are 41-11 in games started by the right-hander the last two years.

Feierabend established a new team record for ERA in a season at 2.71, which was the third-best in the league. The lefty went 9-5 in 18 starts. He was one of three Revs’ players to be picked up by an affiliated club mid-way through the season when the Cincinnati Reds purchased his contract and assigned him to Class AAA Louisville, where he made seven starts before returning to York.

Gomez emerged as York’s closer this season, assuming the duties over reliever R.J. Rodriguez. The right-hander went 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 46 appearances, earning 17 saves in 18 tries. He came within one of matching the Revs’ single-season saves record and held opponents to a .152 batting average over 47.1 innings of work.

Menzer: Menzer shares the league’s top executive award with his predecessor in York, Matt O’Brien of the Sugar Land Skeeters. The Revs drew 273,648 fans this year over 67 openiongs for an average of 4,084 fans per game. That’s up from the average of 3,904 fans in 2011. The Revs capped things off by drawing a playoff-record crowd of 6,437 fans Sept. 29.

Looking at the rest of the country, the Revs ranked 80th among 388 minor league teams according to rankings compiled by ballparkdigest.com. The list includes affiliated, independent, summer-collegiate and Mexican League teams. York has now drawn 1.6 million fans during the six seasons Sovereign Bank Stadium has been open.

League: Click here to read about Lancaster’s honors, which include Gailen getting POY and Butch Hobson being named manager of the Year. Below is the full list of league honors, in no particular order:

FIRST TEAM: 1B Chris Nowak (York), 2B Andres Perez (York), OF Blake Gailen (Lancaster), RHP Dwayne Pollok (starter, Lancaster), OF Fehlandt Lentini (Lancaster), DH Ryan Harvey (Lancaster), C Emerson Frostad (Lancaster), LHP Tim Hamulack (reliever, Lancaster), INF Ray Navarrete (Long Island), INF Dan Lyons (Long Island), LHP Paul Oseguera (starter, Bridgeport), LHP Rommie Lewis (reliever, Bridgeport), OF Prentice Redman (Bridgeport)

SECOND TEAM: 1B Brandon Sing (Long Island), 2B Casey Benjamin (Southern Maryland), OF Brian Barton (Southern Maryland), OF Jeremy Owens (Southern Maryland), INF Eddie Rogers (Bridgeport), 3B Ofilio Castro (Sugar Land), OF Bubba Bell (Sugar Land), RHP Gary Majewski (reliever, Sugar Land)

 

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York Revolution first baseman Chris Nowak and second baseman Andres Perez were named to the Baseball America Independent League All-Star Team.

Baseball America revealed the list Wednesday afternoon. It includes players from the independent Atlantic League, American Association, Can-Am Association, Frontier League and North American Baseball League are eligible for the team.

It marks the second straight year York put two players on the list.

Accomplishments: Nowak earned the honor for the second straight season after getting on the team last year as York’s designated hitter. He surpassed his own Revolution single-season home run record of 25 in 2011 by nine, clubbing 34. His 107 RBIs in 2012 were also a new franchise best, topping Jason Aspito’s 105 in 2008. Nowak’s 59 home runs in a Revolution uniform gives him the all-time franchise lead by 17.

Perez led York in hitting with a .314 average, while smacking 23 homers and driving in 86 runs. His 23 long balls were the fourth-most by a Rev in a single season.

Lancaster outfielders Blake Gailen and Ryan Harvey, and starting pitcher Dwayne Pollok were also selected to the team, making it five Atlantic League players to be chosen among the 14 players selected.

The 2012 Atlantic League awards are expected to be released by the end of this week according to Revs’ play-by-plan man Darrell Henry.

Below is the list of the entire Baseball America Independent League All-Star Team:

C – Chris McMurry, Grand Prairie AirHogs/Lincoln Saltdogs (American Association)

1B – Chris Nowak, York Revolution (Atlantic League)

2B – Andres Perez, York Revolution (Atlantic League)

3B – Nick Giarraputo, New Jersey Jackals (Can-Am Association)

SS – Angel Berroa, New Jersey Jackals (Can-Am Association)

OF – Nic Jackson, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (American Association)

OF – Blake Gailen, Lancaster Barnstormers (Atlantic League)

OF – Ryan Harvey, Lancaster Barnstormers (Atlantic League)

DH – Joe Weik, Edinburg Roadrunners/Abilene Praire Dogs (North American Baseball League)

SP – Josh Lowey, Wichita Wingnuts (American Association)

SP – Mike Recchia, Windy City Thunderbolts (Frontier League)

SP – Jeff Duda, Quebec Capitales (Can-Am Association)

SP – Dwayne Pollok, Lancaster Barnstormers (Atlantic League)

RP – Jonathan Kountis, Lake Erie Crushers (Frontier League)

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At the start: York’s infield at the start of the year had Chris Nowak at first base, Andres Perez at second, Danny Gonzalez at short stop and Ramon Castro at third with depth coming from back-ups in utlity man Joe Spiers and player-coach Liu Rodriguez.

With so many infielders, York soon shipped Spiers to Lincoln (American Association) on May 21 for a player to be named later – opting to give him an opportunity to play more often with the Salt Dogs instead of sitting on the bench in York. Spiers, who York acquired from Lancaster in an off-season trade for a player to be named later,  played in just three games for the Revs, batting 2-for-7 at the plate (.286) with a double, RBI and one run scored. He went on to bat a collective .305 with two homers, 29 RBIs 53 runs scored and 33 stolen bases in 86 games split between Lincoln St. Paul (American Association).

In the middle: York took a big blow to its lineup when Nowak got picked up June 22 by the Mexican League’s Mexico City club. Outfielder Michael Hernandez would end up playing first during Nowak’s brief absence. The Revs also signed Kyle Haines to provide some depth in the infield. However, Nowak soon returned July 2 after being cut by Mexico City – the team apparently needed to trim its roster for the playoffs and decided between Nowak and Johan Limonta (more on him later).

York released Haines a couple weeks later. He held a .217 average with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored in the eight games he played for the Revs. Haines soon found work with Lancaster and finished the year batting .239 with a homer, eight RBIs and 12 runs scored 42 games for the Barnstormers. He also had two at-bats in the Freedom Division Championship Series against York.

Anyway, the Revs ended up making a huge upgrade at short stop (and no, I’m not talking about the size of the players involved) by signing Joe Thurston and trading away Danny Gonzalez to Lancaster.

Gonzalez hit a disappointing .249 in 75 games for York. For what it’s worth, he also had three homers, 20 RBIs  and 39 runs scored. He didn’t have a great glove, either. Perhaps that’s why Thurston looked so good at short. Or perhaps it’s because he’s arguably the best short stop York has had at the position. Outside of four games at Class AA Reading in 2007, Thurston hasn’t played below the Class AAA level since 2001. The former big leaguer – mainly with the St. Louis Cardinals -  owns a career .291 average in more than 1,100 games at the Class AAA level. He went on to collect a .314 average, eight homers, 28 RBIs and 46 runs scored in 58 games for the Revs. In addition, consider that he put up those numbers after sitting out the previous couple months since the Minnesota Twins released him from Class AAA Rochester in mid-May.

The Revs also added infielder Johan Limonta (remember him?) in early August. He came up from the Mexican League’s Mexico City ballclub, where he batted an astounding .384 in 27 games. The Cuban defector wound up .277 with one homer and 15 RBIs in 39 games for the Revs.

Saying goodbye: Ramon Castro entered the 2012 season on thin ice with Andy Etchebarren. Sure, the infielder had put up good numbers since coming to York in 2010 and helping the ball club win back-to-back league titles. But at times during those two seasons, Etch’ would have appreciated a little more hustle from Castro. So, Castro was already on a short leash when he did something Etch’ didn’t approve of during a game Aug. 29 at Southern Maryland. Etch’ soon suspended Castro for what he called an “on-the-field incident.” The team would cut release him just a few days later. There could have been other factors into his release as well, like his 10 errors at third base or his .288 average in 105 games (a good average, but off from the .323 average he had in 2011 and .339 average he had in 2010).

In the end: By the of the end of the year, York’s infield consisted of Thurston at short stop and Perez at second base. With the departure of Castro, Limonta moved to first base while Nowak moved from first to third.

Nowak and Perez clearly had the the best seasons of any Revs players in 2012. Nowak became the club’s all-time leader in homers (59) and set York’s single-season home run mark with  34 dingers, which led the league. A clear candidate for the league’s MVP honor, Nowak was also the league’s highest home run total since 2005. His 107 RBIs were also tops in the league and the most since 2005. Twenty-one of his 34 homers came at Sovereign Bank Stadium, which set a club record for homers hit by a Revs’ player at home in a single season. He also holds the all-time stadium record (30). Though Nowak fnished with a .285 average, he did bat an impressive .320 in the final 67 games.

Perez, meanwhile, just had career-highs in homers (23) and RBIs (85). He ranked fourth in the league in homers and fifth in RBIs. He scored 86 times. In addition, Perez made quite an improvement moving from the outfield, a position he had played most of his career, to second base. Player-coach Liu Rodriguez can be credited with a nice job teaching Perez the tricks of the trade at second base.

Who should stay/go: I guess I should always preface this by saying if the team can afford the player then he should return. It’s recommended Atlantic League clubs pay out a maximum to a player of $3,000 a month. And after the years Nowak and Perez had, one can imagine they’ll be asking for raises.

With that being said, Nowak and Perez should be brought back. As should Thurston.  Nowak and Perez and still young enough to draw interest from major league clubs in the future (remember, that’s what the Atlantic League is here for, to send guys to the bigs). I hesitated on Thurston a little bit considering his age (32). I get the fact that he’s put up good numbers and consistently made dazzling plays at short. But there comes a point when Atlantic League clubs should cut ties with a player when he becomes older and not just keep him around because he puts up good numbers while scouts have very little interest of him because of his age. However, Thurston was last in the majors in 2011 at the age of 31. And he’s put up good numbers everywhere he’s been. So, I imagine there are still some scouts out there who are still interested in his services.

Limonta, meanwhile, is a different story. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy. He seemed like he is good for the clubhouse and he was always respectful with the media. This is moreso because of the defense. Should Nowak return, I’d rather see him back at his normal position at first base. As much as Nowak improved through the season at third, he did end the year with a team-high 18 errors, which  tied for seventh in the league. So, put Nowak at first and find a solid defender at third who can match or do better than Limonta’s .277 average.

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In case you haven’t check out these blog entries yet, click here to read the final notes and observations from the Freedom Division Championship Series or here to read about former Revs pitcher Shawn Hill making history when picking up a win in the big leagues Saturday with the Blue Jays.

Also, check out my column reflecting on the Revs’ 2012 season.

THANK YOU! I understand if most of you check out on baseball for a little while. So, just in case, I want to say thank you to  all of those who daily check in on this blog throughout the year. It definitely makes me feel like all the hard work I put in for you all is worth it.

For those of you who stick around, I’ll be posting stuff on here at least through October related to the Revs and the Atlantic League, maybe recapping the pitching staff, outfield and infield, notable roster moves made that aided down the stretch (and moves that didn’t happen), as well as recapping the Atlantic League players who earned affiliated contracts this season. There’s also going to be an article on the final 2012 attendance numbers coming looking at the Revs and the rest of the Atlantic League.

Revs playing winter ball: No. York is not going to be suiting up during the months of November and December. Rather, there are quite a few Revs’ players planning on playing winter ball during the so-called “off-season.”

According to York baseball operations manager Andrew Ball, there are at least seven players who have expressed interest in playing somewhere this winter. He said slugger Chris Nowak, short stop Joe Thurston and first baseman Johan Limonta plan on playing in Venezuela. Starting pitcher Chris Waters, reliever Kris Regas, second baseman Andres Perez and outfielder Michael Hernandez also plan on playing somewhere this winter.

Roster moves: There are always outs and ends to tie up at the end of every season, sometimes there are previous deals like “player to be named later” or “future considerations” to seal up. Ball said the Revs could make roster moves right now, but Atlantic League clubs are advised to wait until the playoffs are finished to do so. As a result, clubs will likely start messing with their rosters around Oct. 10. As for the 2013 season, teams can’t begin to put their rosters together until Jan. 1, 2013.

Championship Series: The Long Island Ducks defeated the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 5-4, in the deciding Game Five of the Liberty Division series on Sunday night. Long Island scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to eventually to win it. Two of those came on a two-run homer from former Rev Bryant Nelson. Former Rev Matt Esquivel scored the final run on Shawn Williams RBI single. The Ducks will now move on to face the Lancaster Barnstormers in the Atlantic League Championship Series, which begins Wednesday in Lancaster. That will mean eight of the last nine league champions will have won a first-half division crown.

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It’s that time of year. The time when reporters, team officials and league officials get together over a three-course meal and some drinks and have a lengthy chat about the 2012 selections of the best players position by position. Ok, it doesn’t really go like that. But the ballot was recently sent to everyone to fill out. And since I’m taking the time out to make my selections, I figured why not share them with the rest of you?

Feel free to comment below if you agree/disagree and who you might select. And please note that all numbers used in this entry are through Wednesday, Sept. 19.

CATCHER: Emerson Frostad, Lancaster

This position is always tough since most teams have two catchers that split the duties behind the plate throughout the year. As a result, it seems like mostly everyone’s numbers are about the same. Still, when a catcher has a batting average close to .300 in the Atlantic League it’s hard not to choose him for this spot. Thus, Frostad’s .299 average, seven homers and 35 RBIs are enough to sway my vote. Camden’s Raul Padron deserves an honorable mention here since he’s tops in RBIs among catchers (43) and second in homers (10) and is batting .270. He would have been my other pick if not for Frostad.

FIRST BASE: Chris Nowak, York Revolution

This might have been the most obvious selection among the positions. And though I’m trying hard not to be a homer here, Nowak is still far and away the top first baseman in the league this year – lets just ignore the fact that he’s been playing third the last few weeks or so since Ramon Castro got booted from the team. Anyway, Nowak has MVP-candidate numbers and is the biggest force in the Revs’ lineup. He’s already set club records this year  in homers (34) and RBIs (104) despite a batting average of .279. He also has 25 doubles, 79 runs and nine stolen bases. It’s also pretty remarkable that nearly half (47.6 percent) of his 126 hits this year are for extra bases.

SECOND BASE: Andres Perez, York Revolution

If not for Nowak, we’d likely be talking about Andres Perez being the Revs’ best position player this season. No matter, he does MVP-like numbers, even though he might be on the fringe of players being considered for the award. Career-highs in batting average (.321), homers (23) and RBIs (85) – all of which rank near the top in the league – plus the fact he has made a ton of improvement throughout the year after making the switch from outfield to second base makes Perez an easy choice here.

 

SHORT STOP: Eddie Rogers, Bridgeport Bluefish

This is definitely one of the toughest selections of the bunch, coming down to Rogers and York’s Joe Thurston. I ultimately went with the Rogers for the mere fact he’s played in 128 games to Thurston’s 54 games. Thurston leads all short stops with a .311 batting average. Both Thurston and Rogers are tied in homers (8). And Rogers leads all short stops with 67 RBIs. Still, if you calculate out the number of RBIs Thurston would have had in 128 games, he would be on par with Rogers. If you do the same to Thurston’s homers, he would have double the amount of Rogers’ total. This is really a coin flip. But in the end I gotta give it to a guy who played more than double the amount of games Thurston has played in this season.

THIRD BASE: Bryant Nelson, Long Island

Some might think this is a “homer” pick because Nelson played for York last year – and had a couple big hits in the playoffs. But really this is another tough one. For me, it came down to Nelson, Lancaster’s Kody Kirkland and Sugar Land’s Ofilio Castro. Castro leads all third basemen with a .302 average but has just three homers, which is the least among players at that position. Castro (54 RBIs) and Kirkland (53 RBIs) are the same in runs batted in, while Nelson leads third basemen with 78 RBIs. Nelson also leads players at that position in runs scored (72), ahead of Castro (63) and Kirkland (51). Castro’s lack of power knocked him out of this race. Kirkland (.264) and Nelson (.267) are about the same in batting average, while Kirkland leads all third baseman with 17 homers to Nelson’s 13. Still, Nelson’s run production won me over. Plus, the veteran had a good glove at third this year.

DESIGNATED HITTER: Ryan Harvey, Lancaster

A lot of good choices here. You have Long Island’s Brandon Sing (.285, 24 HR, 70 RBIs), Southern Maryland’s Jesse Gutierrez (.307, 14 HR, 49 RBIs) and Sugar Land’s Josh Pressley (.275, 16 HR, 73 RBIs). Still, it’s hard not to pick Harvey (.311, 27 HR, 77 RBIs).

OUTFIELD: Prentice Redman (Bridgeport), Blake Gailen (Lancaster), Fehlandt Lentini (Lancaster), and Adam Godwin (Lancaster)

You’re going to be doing something right by setting the Atlantic League’s all-time wins mark in a season. And thus it’s turning out that Lancaster is filling many of my selections throughout this ballot. Redman is an easy pick. Defensively, Bridgeport probably has the best outfield in the league, mainly thanks to the glove work from Redman and James Simmons. So Redman (276, 18 homers, 76 RBIs, 74 runs scored) is an easy choice here.. I wanted to throw in York’s Brandon Haveman for the simple point that he’s been a huge upgrade to York as the lead-off man after coming over in May. His numbers are just under those put up by Lancaster’s three outfielders but he just isn’t good enough defensively to get my vote. York’s Scott Grimes also deserves an honorable mention here. Though his numbers are underwhelming, he would easily get my Gold Glove vote if one existed in the league. Anyway, Godwin (.326, 2 HR, 44 RBIs, 88 runs),  Gailen (.330, 22 HRs, 86 RBIs) and Lentini (.326, 18 HRs, 90 RBIs) have just been too good this year to not be chosen here.

RELIEF: RHP Chris Mobley, Southern Maryland

Honestly this could go to a number of relievers. Lancaster and York have a good bullpen, as does Southern Maryland – at least the back end of it. And there are a number of very good set-up/closer type guys here, too. My homer pick would have been York’s Wade Korpi, simply because he’s been lights out in his spot starts this year and has a stellar ERA. But he hasn’t seen enough action to get the vote. Another homer pick could’ve been York set-up man R.J. Rodriguez, but there are too many occasions when he puts runners on base before getting the final out of the inning. So, Mobley (5-2, 1.57 ERA, 11 saves, 51 appearances) is deserving of this award.

CLOSER: LHP Tim Hamulack, Lancaster

A league-leading 32 saves. A 2.00 ERA. Fifty-one strikeouts to 14 walks in 45 innings. Is there any need to explain this choice? (No. No there’s not.)

Right-handed starter: Corey Thurman, York

Sometimes his efforts aren’t always the prettiest. Eight of his 26 starts this year he’s given up at least four earned runs. But he’s been consistenly good to dominant throughout the year, which is really what I’m looking for here. Lancaster’s Dwayne Pollock (league-leading 2.19 ERA) could be considered for this award, but he’s only been starting regularly since mid-June. Bridgeport’s Paul Oseguera and Lancaster’s John Halama are both left-handers, although both could be considered Pitchers of the Year candidates. So, when it comes to best and most consistent right-hander this year, it has to go to Thurman (14-3, 3.84 ERA). His wins broke his own club he set a year ago. His 147.2 innings pitched sits tenth in the league, but of those top ten pitchers in innings, only two (Lancaster’s John Halama and Somerset’s Roy Merritt) have an ERA better than Thurman’s. Did I also mention he held opponents scoreless in five of his starts this year?

Left-handed starter: Paul Oseguera, Bridgeport

This is an easy choice since it came down to Lancaster left-hander John Halama and Oseguera. I think Halama is the league’s Pitcher of the Year. So, Oseguera will get this award here. His 2.52 ERA is second in the league while his 146 strikeouts leads all pitchers. He’s also sixth in wins (12-6).

 

Note***The Atlantic League’s Board of Directors will choose the Manager of The Year, Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. Still, I figured I’ll just throw out my picks here anyway for what they’re worth.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Butch Hobson, Lancaster

How can you argue for another manager? Hobson is guiding a club to the league’s wins mark this year. Most of his team that he started the year with is still there. But the Barnstormers did lose six players to major league clubs since early June. When you have three guys leading the league in average and three other pitchers leading the league in wins and another leading the league in ERA, others start to take notice.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Nowak, York

Criticize me all you want as a “homer” pick but I’m strictly basing this on Nowak’s success this year. The guy has hit the most homers of anybody in the league since 2005. And he set a club record in RBIs, which he leads the league this season by a good measure. Sure, his .279 average might lose him some votes from others. But he’s clearly had the biggest impact of anyone on a team this year. Take Nowak’s bat out of the lineup, and I would bet Andres Perez wouldn’t be putting up as good of numbers he is without Nowak batting behind him. Lancaster has quite a few talented players, which is exactly why no one stands out as a clear cut POY candidate for the ‘Stormers. Take one guy out of that lineup, and they still have seven to eight other quality players, plus they’ll probably find someone else to fill in adequately. Lancaster’s Ryan Harvey (.311, 27 homers, 77 RBIs) trails Nowak in the home run lead and does have an impressive .311 batting average. But he only has 77 RBIs and doesn’t play the field enough to get this distinction. And Long Island has a couple guys who have put up good numbers this year, but this award can’t go to a player on a team that tanked the second half.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: John Halama, Lancaster

Tons of good candidates here. For me it came down to Halama and Bridgeport’s Paul Osequera (12-6, 2.51 ERA, league-leading 146 Ks). His 3.09 ERA is third in the league while his 13 wins is fifth and his 113 punch-outs sits tied in seventh. The former major leaguer also tossed two complete games this year, one of which was a shutout.

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