The Northwoods League has announced the recipients of the 2011 Rawlings “Finest in the Field” Award. The annual award recognizes the top fielders at each position.

The Thunder Bay Border Cats announced that Andy Judkins has been hired as the team's new field manager for the 2012 Northwoods League season. The 26-year-old native of Lakeville, MN has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Rochester Honkers where he helped guide the Honkers to the 2010 North Division title and a berth in the NWL Championship series against the Eau Claire Express. Judkins becomes the ninth manager in Border Cats history and replaces Mike Steed who stepped down as manager on September 15th for family reasons.

The Willmar Stingers of the Northwoods League announced that Matt Hollod will return for his third season as the Field Manager for the 2012 season. Hollod managed the Stingers to a 39 – 31 record in both his previous seasons with the Stingers. The Stingers finished second and third overall respectively during his two seasons at the helm. The Stingers record was the fifth-best of sixteen teams in the Northwoods League during the 2011 season.

The St. Cloud River Bats announced Monday that Augie Rodriguez will return for a second season as the team’s pitching coach. Rodriguez is entering his third season as the pitching coach at Augusta State University in Georgia.

The Willmar Stingers of the Northwoods League and local businesses teamed up this summer to raise $10,219.00 for charitable organizations during the 2011 season. Unique summer promotions with the Stingers have raised dollars for three non-profit organizations that serve the Willmar Lakes Area community.

The Madison Mallards and their general manager Conor Caloia swept the postseason awards announced at the Northwoods League’s annual fall meetings, which wrapped up Friday in Mankato. Caloia was named as the Northwoods League Executive of the Year for 2011 while the Madison Mallards were honored as the 2011 Organization of the Year.

Another former Northwoods League player has made his Major League debut. Former St. Cloud River Bats pitcher John Gaub appeared last night for the Chicago Cubs in their 12-8 victory against the Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. The 6-foot-2 left-hander entered the game to start the seventh inning. His first batter was former Battle Creek Bombers outfielder Dave Sappelt, and Gaub struck him out swinging on five pitches. A Joey Votto ground out and a Jay Bruce fly out ended the 1-2-3 inning. Gaub returned for the eighth and had a tougher time. The 26-year-old faced three batters, retiring one, before leaving. Both base runners scored on reliever Ramon Ortiz giving Gaub a final line of 1 1/3 innings, one hit, two runs, one walk and one strikeout.

Former Northwoods League players continue to break into the Major Leagues over the final stretch of the 2011 season. Former La Crosse Logger Jordan Pacheco made his Major League debut Tuesday night contributing to the Colorado Rockies’ come-from-behind 8-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pacheco, starting at third base and batting eighth, went 2-for-4 in the game and drove in two runs, including one on his RBI-single in the Rockies’ seven-run eighth inning.

Battle Creek Bombers right-handed pitcher Nolan Sanburn (Arkansas) was ranked as the top prospect in the Northwoods League this summer by both “Perfect Game USA” and “Baseball America”, who recently announced their annual prospect rankings. Perfect Gam ranked the Top 75 prospects from the Northwoods League while Baseball America ranked the Top 20 prospects from this past season in the NWL.

A former Northwoods League Most Valuable Player will soon be making his Major League debut for the Los Angeles Angels. Left-handed hitting first baseman Efren Navarro, who led the Rochester Honkers to the Northwoods League Championship in his MVP season of 2006, will be in uniform tonight for the Angels when they open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins in Anaheim.