Herts members have been casting their votes and the club has just announced the MVPs (Most Valuable Players) of the five senior league teams as well as awards in the other categories.
The Herts Falcons MVP is shortstop, Xavier Gonzalez. In a team packed with superstars it says a lot about Xavi when his teammates recognise his outstanding debut season for the Falcons by voting for him. There aren’t many 5-tool players in the world and Gonzalez is one of them. His batting average was .411 and slugging average .712 with 3 home runs. Defensively he committed only 2 errors and was awarded a Gold Glove as the best shortstop in the NBL for 2013. We can add his speed to that with 13 stolen bases.
HERTS FALCONS
MVP, Xavier Gonzalez
Batting Champion, Ryan Bird (.549)
Infield Gold Glove, Dave House (F% .956 E2)
Outfield Gold Glove, Cristobal Hiche (F% 1.000 E0)
Best Pitcher, Robbie Unsell (W5 ERA 1.09)
Most Stolen Bases, Robbie Unsell (33)
Home Run Champion, Cristobal Hiche (3)
Home Run Champion, Xavier Gonzalez (3)
Most RBIs, Ryan Bird (31)
Coach’s Award, Jordan Farkas
Rookie of the Year, Conner Brown
Liam Green picks up the Ravens MVP. He also collected the Home Run Champion (1HR) and Most RBIs (14). He was also in the chase for the Best pitcher award with 2 wins, however Matt Spaulding, Louis Hare and Pete Kikel were slightly ahead of him overall.
HERTS RAVENS
MVP, Liam Green
Batting Champion, Gilberto Medina (.340)
Infield Gold Glove, Pete Kikel (F% .833)
Outfield Gold Glove, Seth Lipstock (F% .846)
Best Pitcher, Louis Hare (ERA 3.86 W3)
Most Stolen Bases, Jon Lewys (9)
Home Run Champion, Liam Green (1)
Most RBIs, Liam Green (14)
HERTS HAWKS
Hunter Devine is the 2013 Hawks MVP. He has grown up in the Herts organisation joining as a youngster and working his way up the leagues. In 2013 he earned the name “Mr. Clutch”. Whenever a Hawks game was in the balance, Devine delivered the big hits including the walk-off hit in the final game of the regular season against Kent.
2013 was the best season in Raptors history and Zack Longboy played a key role in the team’s success. His teammates have voted him as this season’s MVP. He led the team in batting average (.482), slugging (.625), wins (tied with Will Zucker and Brodie Caress all on 2 wins), and ERA (5.40).
HERTS RAPTORS
MVP, Zack Longboy
Batting Champion, Arnie Longboy (.482)
Infield Gold Glove, Jeff Witter
Outfield Gold Glove, Brodie Caress
Best Pitcher, Zack Longboy (W2 ERA 5.40)
Most Stolen Bases, Ken Pike (42)
Home Run Champion, Jim Arnott (1)
Home Run Champion, Ben Marques (2)
Most RBIs, Jeff Witter (31)
Rookie of the Year, Andy Bartram
Duncan Hoyle has put so much into the Eagles over the last few years and it is very fitting that he has been voted as the team’s MVP. This is not just a recognition of his hard work off the field as the team manager. He had an outstanding season leading in several categories including Best Pitcher (W2), Most Stolen Bases, Batting Champion (.591), Home Run Champion (1) and Most RBIs (23).
HERTS EAGLES
MVP, Duncan Hoyle
Batting Champion, Duncan Hoyle (.591)
Infield Gold Glove, Tomasz Kosak
Outfield Gold Glove, Adam Landau-Smithers
Best Pitcher, Duncan Hoyle (W2)
Most Stolen Bases, Duncan Hoyle
Home Run Champion, Duncan Hoyle (1)
Most RBIs, Duncan Hoyle (23)
Rookie of the Year, Manny Banson
Coach’s Award, Joseph Osborne-Brade
Coach’s Award, Manny Banson
BEST PLAYS OF 2013
Club members also voted for the 2013 Play of the Year. There were two clear favourites. It is very rare to see back-to-back no-hitters at any level but Ryan Bird did it in the NBL. It is also very rare to see two grand slam home runs in the same game and Ben Marques managed to do it against the Guildford Mavericks. The voting was close and at the end both ended up tied and are both confirmed as the 2013 Herts Plays of the Year.
NOB-OUT
The dreaded Nob-Out award is usually awarded to a player or member of staff, however for a second consecutive year it has been awarded to a team. In 2012 the Hawks picked it up for celebrating their playoff-clinching win at the Daws Hill Spitfires extravagantly on the field only to be told by the umpire that there is one more inning left to be played. It seems that there is a real issue with keeping track of innings and outs for the Hawks squad as they have won the Nob-Out again. This time Hunter Devine, Ben Marques and John Kjorstad turned a 6-4-3 double play against the Kent Mariners and the team started to celebrate walking off the field, but it was too late when they realized that there are only 2 outs as the supposedly stranded Kent runner came in to score with no fielders around. This 6-4-3 double-play was also nominated for Play of the Year but it will now be recorded in the history books as a Nob-Out winner instead. The Hawks better introduce some kind of system to help them keep track of the game in 2014 and cut down on those premature celebrations.