2010 Team Awards

As is the tradition, the Resurrection Life Warriors completed their post-season team voting for the following awards:
MVP
Infield Gold Glove
Outfield Gold Glove
Surprise Player of the Year
Favorite Player of the Year

Each team member gets one vote, Ron Loven gets a vote and as Manager, Austin Colby gets a second vote for a total of 13 possible ballots. Everyone is allowed to vote for as many as three people for each category. 1st place votes are worth five points, 2nd place votes are three points and 3rd place votes are one point. With all the votes counted, the results are in:

Surprise Player of the Year:
Winner: Adam Hey - 34 points & 10 votes (5 firsts, 2 seconds, 3 thirds)
Runner-up: Logan Brincefield - 26 points & 8 votes (3 firsts, 3 seconds, 2 thirds)
3rd place: Lee Valle - 23 points & 7 votes (2 firsts, 4 seconds, 1 third)
Always a fun category to vote on because of the variety of reasoning behind the vote. There are parameters so each person can choose what 'surprise' means to them. In some years, it's because underperformed beyond belief. In others, it's because they outperformed. In this year's case, the overwhelming majority felt like Adam's continued improvement from 2008 to 2009 to 2010 was outstanding and that garnered him enough votes to take the 2010 Surprise Player of the Year honor. Adam smoked the ball early in the year and held on to finish with solid stats across the board. If you compare some numbers from 2008 to now, you'll see why many still give him the Surprise nod: batting average (2008: .273 2010: .534) extra-base-hits (2008: 2 2010: 9) runs produced per game played (2008: 1.14 2010: 3.22). Great year for Adam, and he continues to turn heads.

Favorite Player of the Year:
Winner: Austin Colby - 20 points & 6 votes (1 first, 5 seconds)
Runner-up: Logan Brincefield - 17 points & 5 votes (2 firsts, 2 seconds, 1 third)
3rd place: Jeff Tenney - 15 points & 5 votes (2 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds)
This was a new award for the season. Every single player received votes with 9 of the 10 eligible players receiving first-place votes and multiple votes. The only player to not receive a first place vote received five total votes between second and third. Great to see such a spread amongst all the teammates. With a humble heart, this sportswriter accepts the award on behalf of Manager Colby. What a surpirse and a blessing. Thank you!

Infield Gold Glove:
Winner: Lee Valle - 49 points & 11 votes (8 firsts, 3 seconds)
Runner-up: Jeff Johnson - 20 points & 6 votes (3 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds)
3rd place: Austin Colby - 18 points & 8 votes (1 first, 3 seconds, 4 thirds)
No real surprise here. Lee Valle continues his dominance over this award. He won it in 2008 and probably would have won it in 2009 had he been able to play the season. He received 8 first place votes and appeared on 11 of the 13 ballots. Great season from Lee at the hot corner. Well deserved honor. Six players received all the available votes with each one receiving three or more votes.

Outfield Gold Glove:
Winner: Logan Brincefield - 56 points & 12 votes (10 firsts, 2 seconds)
Runner-up: Tim Jandro - 25 points & 11 votes (1 first, 5 seconds, 5 thirds)
3rd place: Austin Colby - 21 points & 7 votes (2 firsts, 3 seconds, 2 thirds)
This one was just about as easy as the infield one as Logan ran away with the votes. He received 10 of 13 first-place votes with Austin and Tim picking up the final three. Logan played a solid left-field in a down outfield year for the Warriors. But, his very good defense was a bright spot out there for the team. Great job Logan.

MVP:
Winner: Austin Colby - 51 points & 11 votes (10 firsts, 1 third)
Runner-up: Jeff Tenney - 32 points & 12 votes (1 first, 8 seconds, 3 thirds)
3rd place: Eric Johnson - 10 points & 4 votes (3 seconds, 1 third)
Austin captures his fourth MVP award in the past five seasons for the Warriors. He had another solid season offensively and played a good pitcher's mound too. Tenney had a slower start than expected but finished with massive stats and had he played in two or three more games, I'm betting he would have won this category hands-down. Steady-as-he-goes Eric Johnson (2005 MVP) snuck in for third place and still says he'll challenge for the award in the upcoming seasons.

All-League honors should be released later this week. Stay tuned.