Named after the phenom Columbia Crusaders shortstop in 1993, who batted .315 in 161 games, the Pat Listach Award has stood for excellence among first year players in the DMBL. The Listach Award first was awarded in 1998 to Nomar Garciaparra of the Phoenix Dragons, who was also the first pick in that year's draft.

This year's award goes to....

John Lackey, PHX

The Phoenix Dragons were never known for pitching, but in 2003, the Dragons featured the top rookie pitcher in the DMBL, John Lackey. Lackey was selected in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. It was quite a steal for the Dragons, who featured three rookie pitchers in their rotation, including Japanese import Kazuhisa Ishii and Peter Munro, as well as Oliver Perez who made a couple of starts. Lackey led all rookies with 19 wins a 3.10 ERA. Overall Lackey finished sixth in ERA, tied for second in wins, fifth in win percentage (.731), tied for eight in runners per 9 (11.2), and tied for third in quality start percentage (.688). Lackey becomes the second Dragon to win the award (Nomar Garciaparra won the inaugural award in 1998.

Lackey secured four of six first place votes. Philadelphia's Mark Prior received the other two and finished in second. Tijuana's dynamic duo of Austin Kearns and Josh Phelps tied for third in the voting. Vancouver's Bobby Kielty and Philadelphia's Vernon Wells rounded out the rest of the voting.

Lackey is the third consecutive starting pitcher to win the Listach Award.