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Ryan Cleveland Represents Rafters Among League’s Best Fielders
Rochester, Min. – The Northwoods League has announced the recipients of the 2015 Rawlings ‘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.
For the second consecutive season, the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters had a player named to the 2015 Rawlings ‘Finest In The Field’ team as Ryan Cleveland finished the season as the top fielding first baseman in the Northwoods League. Cleveland held down the first base position in 56 games during the season, and committed just five errors in 483 total chances, for an impressive .990 fielding percentage. Cleveland joins former Rafters Zack Domingues (2014), Brandon Hohl (2012) and Joshua Cyr (2012) as previous recipients of the award.
Rawlings has been rewarding the top defenders in the Northwoods League since 2002. The recipients receive a special Rawlings engraved trophy. Rawlings is the official equipment provider for the Northwoods League. To qualify for an award a player needs to appear in at least two-thirds of the scheduled games at a specific position, with the exception of catcher which is half. For pitchers, the player that had the highest total defensive chances without committing an error earns the number one spot.
The complete list of Rawlings ‘Finest In The Field’ award recipients and their field percentages are below.
| Position | Player | NWL Team | College | Fielding Percentage |
| C | Liam Bedford | St. Cloud Rox | Doane College | .995 |
| 1B | Ryan Cleveland | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Georgia Southern | .990 |
| 2B | Ty Blankmeyer | Green Bay Bullfrogs | St. John's | .973 |
| 3B | William Paschal | Rochester Honkers | Georgia Gwinnett | .933 |
| SS | Matt Batten | Thunder Bay Border Cats | Quinnipiac | .978 |
| OF | Jake Romano | Lakeshore Chinooks | Miami (OH) | 1.000 |
| OF | Cameron Frost | Madison Mallards | Washington State | 1.000 |
| OF | Cole Krzmarzick | Rochester Honkers | Nevada | 1.000 |
| P | Toby Anderson | Duluth Huskies | Minnesota | 1.000 |
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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (KC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com.