October 9, 2008
McCallum Wins NWL Award
(ROCHESTER, MN) The Northwoods League is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008 Rawlings Big Stick Award, formerly known as the Offensive Player of the Year. This award is given to the player at each position who had the best batting average.
To be eligible a player would've needed to have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. In 2008 it took at least 184 plate appearances to be listed among the league leaders. Those players that saw time at more than one position qualify at the position they played most often.
It's no surprise that the 2008 Northwoods League Batting Champion, Madison's Rob Lyerly (Charlotte), earned the award for outfielders. Lyerly finished the season with a .342 average playing most of his games as the Mallards right fielder. Duluth's Tim Jobe (Indian River CC) finished a close second in the batting race and takes home a Rawlings Big Stick as the top hitting first baseman in the NWL with a .338 average. St. Cloud's Derek McCallum (Minnesota), the NWL's third best hitter' picks up the Big Stick at second base hitting .328 for the River Bats. McCallum and Wisconsin outfielder Matt Gantner (High Point) both earned their first Big Stick while playing their second summer in the Northwoods League.
To honor their achievement the eight award winners will receive an engraved bat from Rawlings. The complete list of 2008 Rawlings Big Stick Award Winners is below.
Catcher Carlos Ramirez -Mankato MoonDogs
Chandler-Gilbert Community College, .315
First Base Tim Jobe -Duluth Huskies
Indian River Community College, .338
Second Base Derek McCallum - River Bats
University of Minnesota, .328
Third Base Joe Bonfe -Eau Claire Express
Creighton University,.326
Shortstop Josh Prince -Green Bay Bullfrogs
Tulane University,.312
OF Rob Lyerly - Madison Mallards
University of North Carolina - Charlotte,.342
OF Matt Gantner- Wisconsin Woodchucks
High Point University .316
OF Cameron Satterwhite - Green Bay Bullfrogs
University of Cincinnati, .310
