Sunday, October 25, 2071
RU GOLDEN SWINGER TROPHY GOES TO DE JONKER OF BELAIR BEACH
It's a delemma every year for the sportswriters and broadcasters that choose the IPA Award winners... should it be the guy with the lofty batting average that scores a lot of runs, but doesn't hit with a lot of power and drive in a big bunch of runs?... should it be a high-average contact hitter or the guy with all the homers and RBIs and sometimes a relatively low batting average?... this year the Ruthlandian Union Golden Bat trophy goes to Belair Beach's Andrianus De Jonker, a splendid hitter that drives in lots of runs and rarely strikeouts... De Jonker beat out Wilmer Blanton of the Grand City Cybercats and Stefan Skarzynski of the Valmara Vipers for the prestigious honor.
It was a marvelous year for the Belair Beach Sunbirds (100-54)... not only did De Jonker win the 2071 RU Golden Bat, the 28-year-old right fielder sparked them to the RU South Division flag, he led them to the biggest prize of all -- the IPA Pro Cup... De Jonker played in 142 games, led the league with a .347 BA and 199 hits... he doubled 33 times, tripled 10 times, homered 13 times, drove in 126 runs, 2nd highest total in the league and scored 91 runs... in his 6 years with the Sunbirds, De Jonker is batting .334... he is 28 years of age.
A similar-style hitter, left fielder Wilmer Blanton of the Grand City Cybercats, age 26, gave De Jonker the most competition in the poll... Blanton hit .343, ranking second to De Jonker for the batting crown, with 186 base hits in 133 games and a league-leading 42 doubles, 7 triples, 23 roundtrippers, 96 RBIs and scored 103 runs... Blanton also stole 24 bases... however, Grand City only came in tied for the 4th spot in the RU South standings with a 75-79 mark, 25 games back of the Sunbirds... Blanton is a 6-year veteran with the Cybercats with a lifetime .329 BA.
An up-and-coming powerhitter Stefan Skarzynski wound up number three in the RU Golden Bat poll... he played in all 154 games this year for the Valmara Vipers (101-53) and paced them to the Ruthlandian North pennant... the 22-year-old first baseman excelled in his second season with a .306 BA, 32 homers, 111 RBIs and 103 runs scored... he also stole 14 bases... Skarzynski also stood out on defense... so far the youngster sports a .297 BA overall.