Named after the great Maine and Waikiki outfielder, the Mitchell Award rewards the player who is the top hitter in the league.

This year's award goes to....

Joey Votto, New Jersey

New Jersey's Joey Votto had an outstanding year for Team Buddah. Votto led the league in OBP (.417) and Slugging (.630) (and consequently in OPS 1.047), runs (121), and runs created (153.0). He finished second in batting average (.336) and hits (199), and third in RBI (117) and home runs (45). It may have been the best ever single season by a Buddah player in franchise history. Votto received 5 of 7 first place votes to win the first Mitchell Award for New Jersey.

New Jersey first selected Votto in the second round of the 2008 draft. Votto spent his first year in the minors before getting the call in 2009. Votto struggled in his rookie year, hitting only .230, but displaying decent power with 25 homers. In 2010, Votto showed signs of improvement, batting .262 with a .796 OPS, 30 homers and 90 RBIs.

Arkansas' Justin Morneau also had an astounding year (.337/.399/.599, 40 HR, 112 RBI) and finished second in the voting, including one first place vote. Finishing third was Hoboken's slugger Jose Bautista who hit 60 homers for the Cutters, but was probably hurt by his poor .242 batting average. His teammate Miguel Cabrera finished fourth. Last year's winner, Albert Pujols took the other first place vote, but finished in fifth.

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 Mitchell Award: