(ROCHESTER, MN) The Northwoods League has announced the recipients of the 2012 \”Finest in the Field\” Award. The annual award recognizes the top fielders at each position. The winners are selected based on final fielding statistics compiled by league statistician Pointstreak, a Vancouver, British Columbia based sports statistical service company. The League has also announced the 2012 Rawlings “Big Stick” Award. This award is given to the player at each position who had the best batting average during the 2012 regular season.

The 2012 Rawlings Finest in the Field Award recipients and their field percentages are below.
 
Position    Player    NWL Team    College    Fielding Percentage
C    J.D. Dorgan    Willmar    St. Thomas    .992
1B    Joshua Cyr    Wisconsin Rapids    North Alabama    .989
2B    Luis Munoz    Madison    Coffeyville    .973
3B    Brandon Hohl    Wisconsin Rapids    Illinois    .930
SS    Brett Kay    Thunder Bay    Illinois State    .963
OF    Ryan Shober    Eau Claire    Illinois at Chicago    1.000
OF    Forrest Chadwick    Lakeshore    Southern Maine    1.000
OF    Phil Imholte    St. Cloud    St. Cloud State    .991
P    Jake Powers    Waterloo    Missouri State    1.000

The expansion Lakeshore Chinooks had their first award winner as Chinooks outfielder Forrest Chadwick committed zero errors in 83 total chances. Corner infielders from Wisconsin Rapids were honored as first baseman Joshua Cyr committed 5 errors in 453 chances and third baseman Brandon Hohl had 128 assists from the hot corner. Thunder Bay shortstop Brett Kay continued his defensive prowess in the NWL by winning the award for the second year in a row. The Eau Claire Express starred in the outfield for the second season as outfielder Ryan Shober committed zero errors in 96 chances.  Willmar Stingers catcher J.D. Dorgan made just two errors behind the plate while Waterloo pitcher Jake Powers didn’t commit and error in 22 chances off the mound.

Rawlings has been rewarding the top defenders in the Northwoods League since 2002. The recipients receive a special Rawlings baseball glove mounted on an engraved trophy base.
Alexandria Beetles second baseman Tanner Vavra and Duluth Huskies outfielder James Ramsey each earned a Rawlings “Big Stick” by leading the league in batting average.
Rochester Honkers outfielder Justin Parr was second in the league in batting at .370 while Lakeshore Chinooks outfielder Eric Aguilera finished third with a .369 average. Shortstop Brett Kay of the Thunder Bay Border Cats was the only player to earn both the Rawlings “Big Stick” and Rawlings “Finest in the Field” Award in 2012.
Rawlings has been rewarding the top hitters in the Northwoods League since 2007 in addition to honoring the best fielders since 2002. To honor their achievement the eight award winners will receive an engraved bat from Rawlings. The complete list of 2012 Rawlings “Big Stick” Award Winners is below.

Position    Player    NWL Team    College    Batting Average
C    Paul Karmeris    Duluth    North Florida    .344
1B    Michael Suchy    Willmar    Florida Gulf Coast    .349
2B    Tanner Vavra    Alexandria    Valparaiso    .381
3B    Brendon Hayden    Wisconsin    Virginia Tech    .343
SS    Brett Kay    Thunder Bay    Illinois State    .320
OF    James Ramsey    Duluth    South Florida    .381
OF    Justin Parr    Rochester    Illinois    .370
OF    Eric Aguilera    Lakeshore    Illinois State    .369

To be eligible a player would’ve needed to have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. A player must have a minimum of 2.7 plate appearances per team game. Those players that saw time at more than one position qualify at the position they played most often.

The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America.  2013 Willmar Stingers season tickets are on sale now.  The 2013 season is presented by Charter.

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