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....

Marcus Giles, NWK

It wasn't even close this year. Giles took all six first place votes in 2004. Giles was first drafted in round 15 of the 2001 draft by Hoboken. The Cutters were unable to hold onto him, and two years later, the Sugar Bears made him their 8th selection of the Supplemental Round. Giles would spend all of 2003 in the Sugar Bears farm system. Giles tore through Single-A Hialeah and was the starting second baseman for the Double-A Golden State Golden Grahams by May 14 of that season. After a month in Golden State, it was clear that Giles was ready for another promotion and finished the season out with the Triple-A Dublin Lucky Charms. In 2004, Giles was handed the starting second base job for the Sugar Bears and incumbent second baseman Alex Cora was let go.

Obvioiusly, Giles did not disappoint. Giles finished seventh in the DMBL with a .319 batting average and seventh with 198 hits. He was tied for second in the league with 49 doubles. His .916 OPS led all rookie batters. As if that wasn't enough, he was the Hanover Division starting second baseman.

Giles had some tough competition from Tijuana third baseman Hank Blalock, who came in second. Blalock was also an All-Star starter and finished with impressive numbers of his own (.322 BAVG, .890 OPS, 27 HR, 88 RBI). Coming in third was Giles' teammate, pitcher Eric DuBose(15-5, 4.05 ERA). Rounding out the voting were two relief pitchers, Rafael Soriano of Honolulu and Arkansas' Brad Lidge.

Giles breaks the streak of starting pitchers that won the Listach award and is the first Sugar Bear to win the award.