| THE 2008 MARK TARKANICK TROPHY FINALISTS: SBL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Tim Martin, the laser cats 10 GP, 3 HR, .484 AVG., 23 RBI, 4 AST, 17 DP, 0 PSY, 2 DUMB a second-round draft pick of the cats, few in the sbl foresaw martin becoming the all-around player he is today during his one week of play in 2007. he led all rookies who played in a substantial amount of games in batting average and assists, all while keeping his dumb thing total lowest among all rooks. Opie Neff, the fleshy funbridges 27 GP, 22 HR, .361 AVG., 61 RBI, 3 AST, 31 DP, 0 PSY, 11 DUMB neff, a late-round roster filler for the funbridges, took the league by storm this summer. in addition to his redefining the solo homer celebration and becoming the most-loved rookie of all time. he led the SBL rookies in games played, at bats, homers, rbi, assists and tip-ins, and his .361 average was in the middle of the pack. he was without a doubt the rookie most valuable to his team as well, frequently being leaned on by the funbridges to hit the big shot. and frequently he did, most notably in week four when he hit 5 homers in the final two innings to erase a 13-run defecit to the kamikazees. Billy Deforest, the laser cats 23 GP, 11 HR, .400 AVG., 53 RBI, 0 AST, 9 DP, 0 PSY, 6 DUMB deforest placed second among all rookies in the big three offensive categories- homers, average and runs batted in- for the regular season champion laser cats, and also finished second in the SBL with 23 games played. he proved himself to be a solid defender for the cats as well, tho he rarely got to showcase his defensive talents playing alsongside shernisky and tomko. his all-around play this summer was second only to his commitment to the league, and if anyone in the rookie class can touch opie in loveablilty, it's billy d! Chris Pacsi, the kyoto kamikazees 10 GP, 22 HR, .390 AVG., 49 RBI, 1 AST, 16 DP, 0 PSY, 7 DUMB an argument could certainly be made that chris pacsi was the most talented rookie in the sbl this year, and his rookie-best 22 homers would certainly back up that sentiment. he proved big inside for the kk, tipping in 16 double plays and was one of only three freshmen to register an assist. though he played in far less games than either billy deforest or opie neff, pacsi was right behing them in runs batted in, and topped neff in average and deforest in the tip categories. PJ O'Connor, the oatcake hate monsters 8 GP, 9 HR, .375 AVG., 37 RBI, 0 AST, 20 DP, 0 PSY, 6 DUMB sure, technically the SBL rulebook states that a player must play in at least 10 games to be eligible to win rookie of the year, but i'm sorry: you get traded for probable all-star and .650 hitter katie kelly, you're a rookie of the year finalist in my book. O'connor showed up in week seven, but has been on time and ready to play (for whichever team he was on) each week since then. he's a dominant defender, as evident by his 3 swats of bryan frankovich in his first game in the league, and as adept at hitting the left double as any homer on the court. plain and simple, had pj shown up 3 weeks earlier this wouldn't be a competition. THE CHICKEN LEG TROPHY: SBL MOST IMPROVED PLAYER Bob Spohn, the laser cats from reserve player on the worst team in the league to leadoff hitter for the wire-to-wire league champs, spohnny doubled his homer output, more than tripled his rbi total (and that wasn't an easy team to get rbi's on), and raised his average .100 points! 2008 STATS: 23 GP, 11 HR, .450 AVG., 83 RBI, 2 AST, 5 DP, 0 PSY, 5 DUMB 2007 STATS: 17 GP, 5 HR, .350 AVG., 25 RBI, 2 AST, 10 DP, 0 PSY, 10 DUMB Stud Frankovich, the queens of the rest stop reacharound this is stud's fourth SBL season, and in it he's destroyed his totals from the first three seasons COMBINED. I went back and checked: the queens were 13-7 this season, but sub .500 (4-5) without him. had he played in a full slate of games, stud would be a player of the year finalist right now. 2008 STATS: 12 GP, 32 HR, .612 AVG., 89 RBI, 0 AST, 23 DP, 1 PSY, 3 DUMB 2004-2007 STATS: 8 GP, 21 HR, .406 AVG., 46 RBI, 2 AST, 15 DP, 0 PSY, 2 DUMB John Offutt, the banana democracy offutt, in one seasons time, has gone from a player rando would call on as a member of pj & the ladies to avoid a shameful forfeit to one of the most consistent offensive players on the surprising democracy. he went from zero career homers to ten this season, all while raising his average, psyche out total, and tripling his career rbi output. 2008 STATS: 11 GP, 10 HR, .396 AVG., 32 RBI, 0 AST, 2 DP 3 PSY, 8 DUMB 2007 STATS: 6 GP, 0 HR, .373 AVG., 9 RBI, 0 AST, 0 DP, 0 PSY, 4 DUMB Jeanne Mentrek, the kyoto kamikazees a near-.200 point increase in batting average took jeanne from jukebox hero to more than adequate leadoff hitter for the underperforming kyoto kamikazees. she was the only member of the kamikazees excluding captain mike moroco to suit up for more than 10 games. 2008 STATS: 21 GP, 1 HR, .426 AVG., 15 RBI, 0 AST, 0 DP, 0 PSY, 6 DUMB 2007 STATS: 4 GP, 0 HR, .250 AVG., 4 RBI, 0 AST, 0 DP, 0 PSY, 3 DUMB 2008 HOME |