Named after the first winner of the award, Ben McDonald of Arkansas, the trophy rewards the finest pitcher in the DMBL.

This year's award goes to....

Johan Santana, Philadelphia Endzone Animals

Santana became the first Philadelphia player to win a major DMBL award. Santana squeaked out the award this year by only 2 points, one of the closest votes in DMBL history. Santana had a great season, leading Philly to their first ever playoffs. He finished 17-7 (5th in wins, 8th in winning percentage), second by percentage points in ERA with 3.02, fourth in strikeouts (243), first in OPS against (.626) and runners per 9 innings (9.8), tied for first in quality starts (23), and first in WHIP (1.06).

Santana was taken in the first round by Philadelphia (#3 overall) in the 2003 draft. The players taken before him? Vicente Padilla(Harrison) and Junior Spivey (Westwood). Santana had been moderately successful with Philly before really putting it all together in 2005, improving slightly each year.

It was a big year for pitchers in the DMBL. Coming in second in the voting was Arkansas' Roger Clemens, who finished 21-5 with a 3.29 ERA. Coming in third was Jason Schmidt of Honolulu, who led the league in ERA. And in fourth was the league's strikeout leader (265), Newark's Randy Johnson. Another 20-game winner and teammate of Clemens, Pedro Martinez finished 5th, while Santana's teammate, Brad Radke received the other first-place vote.

Points are scored as follows: 10 points for a first place vote, 7 for second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth and 1 for sixth.

The all-time winners of the McDonald Award: