New Jersey MVPs

[mstreeter06]

Announce your team's yearly MVP below...

Yearly Team MVPs
2013: Jorge Sepulveda
2014: Jorge Sepulveda
2015: Ignacio Garlez
2016: Ignacio Garlez
2017: Byron Newbold
2018: Mal Warren
2019: Tim Mayfield
2020: Bobby Brown
2021: Jake White
2022: Francis Guibert
2023: Mike Whitney
2024: Ken Calhoun
2025: Mike Whitney
2026: Jake White
2027: Bob Allen
2028: Ken Calhoun
2029: Bob Allen
2030: Mo Allbutt
2031: Ron Catron
2032: Eric Martin
2033: Eric Martin
2034: Eric Martin
2035:

[mikezone13]

2013 New Jersey Athletics MVP

SP Jorge Sepulveda

• Triple Crown Winner
• 36 starts (30QS), 22 wins, 6 losses
• 2.23 ERA
• 268 strike outs
• 8.8 WAR
• 85.4 VORP
• .205 OAVG

He was, and will continue to be, a star of the AFBL.

Special mentions to
- SP Bob Thompson great support at the top of the rotation (15-7, 2.86 ERA)
- 1B Joe Hunter led the Patriot League in HR and RBIs
- CF Martik Geboyan led the Patriot League in OBP (.426) and hit .295 and stole 32 bases

[mikezone13]

2014 New Jersey Athletics MVP

A really tough decision this year as some of our hitters really shone, and we had Sepulveda bring up his second Triple Crown in a row. I have to give it to Sepulveda once again though. We got hit by injuries to our rotation , with Thompson, Boyer and Martinez all injured at some point and Jorge stood strong, until the 3rd to last game of the regular season - an injury which saw him miss all of the playoffs.

SP Jorge Sepulveda

• Triple Crown Winner
• 36 starts (31QS), 23 wins, 5 losses
• 2.30 ERA
• 284 strike outs
• 8.8 WAR
• 83.1 VORP
• .212 OAVG

2013 and 2014 were just about identical in terms of statistics for Sepulveda, a true quality arm, in fact, he's perhaps the pinnacle others will judge themselves against.

Special mentions to
- CF Martik Geboyan led the AFBL in OBP (.451) and hit .326 and stole 32 bases
- 3B Josh Talley stepped up to the plate this year. At only 23 years of age he hit .317, with 24 home runs and 103 RBIs. Josh also passed the 200 hit mark with 205 safe shots off his bat.
- 1B Tim Mayfield had a breakout year, hitting 33 long bombs and driving in a Patriot League leading 126 RBIs. Starting out at LF, Tim switched to first base with the arrival of the stars from Arizona.

[mikezone13]

2015 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Jorge Sepulveda was not the outstanding pitcher in the Patriot League this year, but whenever 21 wins (incl 3 shut outs), 294 strike outs and a 2.96 ERA is considered a down season you know you've got a real star on your hands. This year we've moved away from Jorge for the award though and it was a toss up between SP Dave Boyer, LF Ignacio Garlez and CF Martik Geboyan. In the end the veteran left fielder, Garlez gets the nod.

LF Ignacio Garlez

• .339 average - 3rd in the AFBL
• .400 on base percentage - 7th in the AFBL
• .587 SLG - 2nd in the AFBL
• .987 OPS - 2nd in the AFBL
• .415 wOBA - 1st in the AFBL
• 197 hits - 4th in the AFBL
• 36 HRs - tied 10th in the AFBL
• 341 total bases - 4th in the AFBL
• 7.2 WAR - 2nd in the AFBL

Special mentions to
- CF Martik Geboyan led the AFBL in OBP (.455) and hit .313 and stole 29 bases
- SP Dave Boyer notched up 19 wins and led NJ in ERA (2.95) amongst starters and struck out 201 hitters
- 1B Tim Mayfield dropped his power numbers with only 19 long balls, but hit above .300 (.318) for the first time in his career

[Troyaof]

2015 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Jorge Sepulveda was not the outstanding pitcher in the Patriot League this year, but whenever 21 wins (incl 3 shut outs), 294 strike outs and a 2.96 ERA is considered a down season you know you've got a real star on your hands. This year we've moved away from Jorge for the award though and it was a toss up between SP Dave Boyer, LF Ignacio Garlez and CF Martik Geboyan. In the end the veteran left fielder, Garlez gets the nod.

LF Ignacio Garlez

• .339 average - 3rd in the AFBL
• .400 on base percentage - 7th in the AFBL
• .587 SLG - 2nd in the AFBL
• .987 OPS - 2nd in the AFBL
• .415 wOBA - 1st in the AFBL
• 197 hits - 4th in the AFBL
• 36 HRs - tied 10th in the AFBL
• 341 total bases - 4th in the AFBL
• 7.2 WAR - 2nd in the AFBL

Special mentions to
- CF Martik Geboyan led the AFBL in OBP (.455) and hit .313 and stole 29 bases
- SP Dave Boyer notched up 19 wins and led NJ in ERA (2.95) amongst starters and struck out 201 hitters
- 1B Tim Mayfield dropped his power numbers with only 19 long balls, but hit above .300 (.318) for the first time in his career

This all makes my heart sad Arizona4Life

[mikezone13]

2015 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Jorge Sepulveda was not the outstanding pitcher in the Patriot League this year, but whenever 21 wins (incl 3 shut outs), 294 strike outs and a 2.96 ERA is considered a down season you know you've got a real star on your hands. This year we've moved away from Jorge for the award though and it was a toss up between SP Dave Boyer, LF Ignacio Garlez and CF Martik Geboyan. In the end the veteran left fielder, Garlez gets the nod.

LF Ignacio Garlez

• .339 average - 3rd in the AFBL
• .400 on base percentage - 7th in the AFBL
• .587 SLG - 2nd in the AFBL
• .987 OPS - 2nd in the AFBL
• .415 wOBA - 1st in the AFBL
• 197 hits - 4th in the AFBL
• 36 HRs - tied 10th in the AFBL
• 341 total bases - 4th in the AFBL
• 7.2 WAR - 2nd in the AFBL

Special mentions to
- CF Martik Geboyan led the AFBL in OBP (.455) and hit .313 and stole 29 bases
- SP Dave Boyer notched up 19 wins and led NJ in ERA (2.95) amongst starters and struck out 201 hitters
- 1B Tim Mayfield dropped his power numbers with only 19 long balls, but hit above .300 (.318) for the first time in his career

This all makes my heart sad Arizona4Life

Hopefully we can deliver him, or he can deliver us, a championship very soon!

[mikezone13]

2016 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Yet again this came down to the flip of a coin between Jorge Sepulveda, who blew a chance at a third Triple Crown in his last start, or our ageing left fielder Ignacio Garlez. Both players won the MVP and MVH awards for the Patriot league and both put up good numbers, but also down on what they have previously achieved.

In the end Ignacio Garlez gets the nod.

LF Ignacio Garlez

• .319 average - 12th in the AFBL
• .382 on base percentage - 14th in the AFBL
• .571 SLG - 3rd in the AFBL
• .953 OPS - 5th in the AFBL
• .396 wOBA - 9th in the AFBL
• 38 HRs - 8th in the AFBL
• 342 total bases - 7th in the AFBL
• 5.6 WAR - 12th in the AFBL

Special mentions to
- SP Jorge Sepulveda won 20+ games for the fourth straight year, 2nd best ERA in the AFBL and picthed nearly 30 innings more than any other pitcher
CL Maddox Hynes became only the second pitcher in AFBL history to save more than 50 games in a season and walked only 14 hitters in 68.2 innings with a WHIP of 0.80, also won the Patriot League Reliever of the Year
- RF Jeff Fowler hit 29 home runs and passed 100 RBIs for the first time in his career
- 3B Josh Talley passed 200 hits in the season for the second time, the only New Jersey player to ever do so. Hit exactly .300 and had career years for home runs (29) and RBIs (117)

[mikezone13]

2017 New Jersey Athletics MVP

With the usual suspects of Geboyan, Sepulveda, Fowler and Talley injured for large chunks of the season the award was always going to be a tough one to give out.

Perennial star Ignacio Garlez put his hand up again, despite also falling to an injury in the middle of the year. His stats were very similar to what he achieved in 2016, showing that age shall not weary him.

However this year the award came down to two players, both who had career years on the mound, 35y/o Stan Craft and 32y/o reliever Byron Newbold.

The case for Craft is that he fought his way back from the pen in 2016 to grab the #5 starter and then #4 spot and grabbed a career high 16 wins. His longevity is one of his endearing points.

For Newbold he really led the way as the leader of the best bullpen in the AFBL. When your ace starter is down you need your pen to stand up and Newbold delivered consistently time and time again. His ERA of 1.37 over nearly 100 innings was well above his NJ bullpen peers and his WHIP of 0.86 was incredibly valuable in ensuring the Athletics made the playoffs.

MR Byron Newbold

• 1.37 ERA - 2nd in the AFBL amongst relievers
• 0.86 WHIP - 5th in the AFBL amongst relievers
• .193 OPP AVG - 9th in the AFBL amongst relievers
• 2.9 WAR - 7th in the AFBL amongst relievers

[mikezone13]

2018 New Jersey Athletics MVP

In 2018 the Athletics really followed the mantra of a star team, rather than a team of stars. There was no individual who really stood out at a league wide level, but plenty of guys who put in good honest efforts game after game and start after start.

I really did struggle to find a winner this year. Ron Pratt, who came back from the Mormon missions and clocked up 15 wins and a 2.85 ERA was up there, as was veteran Pat Benton who had a 0.82 WHIP and a 0.95 ERA from the 76 inings he pitched in.

In the end, one of our recent trade acquisitions got the nod...

LF Mal Warren

• .272 AVG
• .359 OBP
• 31 HRs - 6th in the PL
• 101 RBIs - 6th in the PL
• .528 SLG - 5th in PL
• 277 TBs - 10th in PL

As you can see, far from dominant, but the key man on our offense this season.

[mikezone13]

2019 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Yet another tough decision, not because we had a heap of star players, just that everybody played pretty solidly. It would've been pretty easy to hand Jorge Sepulveda his third club MVP award due to his 21 wins and 2.36 ERA, or possibly reliever Maddox Hynes who turned an 8-3 record and 0.72 WHIP after being removed from the closer role to a setup role.

However this year I went with a guy who has been a mainstay of our team since joining from neighbours New York midway through 2013. He wasn't always a guaranteed starter with the quality Ignacio Garlez blocking his way but we put our faith in him at 1B full time and he literally stepped up to the plate and became the first NJ player in club history to play every game in a single season, yes this year Tim Mayfield gets the nod.

1B Tim Mayfield

• .311 AVG - 5th in the PL
• 5.0 WAR - 10th in the PL
• 52 2Bs - 1st in the PL and an NJ club record
• 109 RBIs - 6th in the PL
• 329 TBs - 2nd in the PL
• 199 hits - 4th in PL
• First NJ player to play 162 games in a season
• Has now hit the most HRs of any NJ player in their NJ career (147)
• Increased his career average at NJ to .300
• Became the 2nd NJ player to pass 1,000 hits for the club

[mikezone13]

2020 New Jersey Athletics MVP

It had to go to a pitcher this year as these guys got us into the playoffs when midway through the season it looked like we could implode and miss for the first time ever.

Fan favourite and all time NJ star, Jorge Sepulveda was up there for consideration but this year we've gone with the unexpected of players, one who we hope didn't just have his career year and can deliver these type of performances time and time again. Cue the music and step forward #5 SP Bobby Brown.

SP Bobby Brown

• 2.65 ERA
• 21 quality starts from 26 attempts (80.8%)
• 16-6 record
• 160 Ks
• 5.5 WAR
• 2 complete games (1 shutout)
• 2-1 playoff record
• 199 hits - 4th in PL

[mikezone13]

2021 New Jersey Athletics MVP

A really tough decision for us this year, again. There were no stand out stars across the year, with hardly an Athletic making it onto the Patriot League leaderboards.

Last year's MVP Bobby Brown was up there going 10-3 in his last 16 starts and bringing his ERA down from 4.10 to 3.25 in the process. He also had the best ERA of our SPs while he tied for the most wins with lefty Jeff Flowers.

Ju-Hyung Kang was another possible worthy winner leading the team in home runs (31) whiel 2B Dusty Simmons led the team in batting average (.276) and OBP (.348). However thsi year we've given the award to who we hope will win the Rookie of the Year award, 3B Jake White.

3B Jake White

• 2 time RotM
• Led the Athletics in RBIs (82)
• 2nd in team HRs (28)
• .266 AVG
• 4.4 WAR (9th in the PL)

Overall a top season from a 2nd round draft pick in his first year of professional baseball

[mikezone13]

2022 New Jersey Athletics MVP

After not making the playoffs or having a player hit .300 for the first year in our existence, being awarded the New Jersey MVP is a bit of let down this year.

Tough call this year, Bob Jones blew too many saves and just wasn't his dominant self at the back end of the season. Jeff Nielsen looked to be hitting .300+ on the year but slumped in September. Gil Russel put up an excellent second season hitting 20+ HRs and .288 but that wasn't enough.

Jake White suffered a little bit from second season syndrome, he wasn't bad, he just didn't kick on. His average was below .250 and his OBP below .290.

This year the award goes to 2B Francis 'Franny' Guibert who seemed to have his best year ever with the bat and got voted to the All Star game for the first time in his career.

While he only hit .220 and 39 home runs in 530 games for Idaho, he has hit .301 and 50 home runs in just 214 games for New Jersey. This is the type of improvement we love to see after a trade is made.

• Only NJ Athletic to hit more than 30 home runs (33), career best
• .288 AVG, career best
• 4.5 WAR, a career best
• .342 OBP, a career best
• .522 SLG, a career best

[mikezone13]

2023 New Jersey Athletics MVP

Another year out of the playoffs, no player hitting .300 and a record below .500 for the first time in the history of the Athletics there wasn't much to scream and shout about.

A playoff spot was in our grasp, and the old saying "we were close if we were good enough" really rang true. Unfortunately, we weren't good enough and the final wildcard spot went to the neighbours in NY.

So it really is hard to find a silver lining to this season.  Jose Martinez hit .298 and 28 HRs in a career best season, but he was a liability in the field. Franny Guibert was solid and Jake White had a career power year topping 30 home runs for the first time in his fledgling career.

However this year we're going back to the arms, Bob Jones was solid yet again, a career low 1.10 ERA and only 2 blown saves as well as contributing 8 wins from the pen, but this year we go to the only starting pitcher who managed to keep his ERA under 4.00 the entire season. He also had a shot at reaching 20 wins, but 2 losses from his last 3 starts put paid to that. Stand up Mike Whitney. Taken as the 1,534th pick in the inaugural draft as a 16y/o, Whitney only made his debut in the AFBL aged 26y/o. In that time he has started 40 times, collected 23 wins (19 came this season) and just 11 losses. He has given the team an awesome return from a traditional #5 quality SP.

• 19-9 record
• 3.67 ERA
• 19 quality starts from 32
• 4 complete games including 3 shutouts
• 0.9 HRs per 9 innings
• .243 opponent batting average

[mikezone13]

2024 New Jersey Athletics MVP

We were back amongst the big boys this year. A plethora of trades in the pre-season and before the trade deadline saw real quality added to the group and added to the existing talent this meant a rapid climb to over 100 wins, a 22 win improvement from the 2023 season.

Trying to identify the one person who had the greatest impact was mighty difficult. Dan Allen (acquired from Illinois) looked to be heading towards just the second Athletic to top 40 HRs in a season until injury stopped him at 35 in September, an injury that may have derailed our playoff run too.

Derek Anderson a deadline day trade acquisition from Ontario hit .357 for us but wasn't with us long enough to figure. Jake White, the former Rookie of the Year, hit .281 and cleared 30 HRs for the second time in his 4 seasons.

But really it came down to a choice between players, both drafted it he 2020 ammy draft. Bob Allen a talented pitcher reversed his record from 9-17 to 17-9 while dropping 2.05 from his ERA in 2023, down to 2.56 and Ken Calhoun, yet another new player to the team, obtained from Ohio along with 'the man who is ALL BUTT!'.

In the end we went with Ken Calhoun. The 26y/o from McAllen, TX, had a career year and anchored the lineup from the #3 spot for most of the season. Ken was the first Athletic to cross .300 for a season (.315 is 6th all time for the A's), his season ranked him #2 all time in single season VORP for the A's. He also scored more than 100 times, drove in more than 100 and most impressively of all became only the second Athletic of all time to hit more than 200 times in a season. Add to all of this 30 HRs, a +11.7 ZR and .991 fielding pct at CF, Ken was the main man for us, shoring up a spot that has never been properly filled since Martik Geboyan wore the yellow, white and blue.

Ken Calhoun, not just an all round hitter an all round player.

• .315 avg, #9 PL
• .545 SLG - #5 PL
• 7.7 WAR - #4 PL
• 203 hits - #4 PL and 2nd ever in Athletics colours
• 38 doubles - #3 PL
• 10 triples - #3 PL
• 30 HRs - #9 PL
• 103 RBI - #5 PL
• 106 runs - #6 PL
• 33 steals - #6 PL
• 78 XBH - #2 PL
• 351 total bases - #2 PL
• 15 assists - #1 PL and AFBL amongst CF
• 3 double plays - #1 PL and AFBL amongst CFs
• +11.7 ZR - #2 PL amongst CFs
• 1.049 EFF - #2 PL amongst CFs