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....

Ryan Howard, Hillsborough

Hillsborough selected Howard with their 12th pick in the 2005 DMBL draft (155th overall). Howard would not play that season. Management decided it was best for Howard to learn the ropes in AAA before joining the DMBL team. It seems that the Hitmens' patience was rewarded. Howard had a monster 2006 campaign, leading all rookies in homers (46) and RBIs(119). Howard also compiled a .320 average, 1.053 OPS, and .689 slugging percentage, which would have led the respective categories among rookies if he had enough at bats. Howard was platooned by Hillsborough with teammate Carlos Delgado at first base. Howard ended up playing in only 117 games. Had he played a full schedule, those numbers may have looked like .320, 64 HRs and 165 RBIs! Can you say MVP? Well, the numbers would probably not be that great since Howard's initial experience with lefties has not been so good (0-17 with 9 Ks on the 2006 season). But with a full season under his belt, Howard will look to build on his successful 2006 and maybe we'll see him on the MVP page in '07.

Howard had to be proud of fellow teammate Felix Hernandez, who finished second in the balloting. Though most Hillsborough fans feared that maybe the two players, along with fellow rookie teammate Robinson Cano might split the Hillsborough vote, it didn't appear to hurt either one. Cano was left shut out of the voting, but finishing with a 1-2 Hillsborough result isn't too shabby.

Finishing third was Marietta's Jonny Gomes, who came over in a midseason trade from Las Vegas. Gomes sparked the Mighty Men's second half surge. Others receiving votes were Dan Johnson of South Boston, Grady Sizemore or Carolina, Joe Mauer of Las Vegas, and Derrick Turnbow of Honolulu.

Howard becomes the first Hillsborough player and the first first baseman to win the award.