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....
Shin Soo Choo, Hillsborough
Lots of rookies got votes, and Choo didn't even get the most first place votes, but Choo was the only rookie to appear on all
nine ballots that were submitted. Choo was a first round pick by Hillsborough (#7 overall) and helped the Hitmen return to the playoffs
and almost win the division. The Hitmen fell just one game short of appearing in their first World Series. Choo struggled in his first
playoff appearance (.190/.292/.333 in 42 at bats), but the team has high hopes for the rookie. In the regular season, Choo batte
.290 with a solid .363 OBP and an impressive .565 slugging. He hit 51 doubles, 33 home run, drove in 90 runs and scored 100. He
led all rookies in SLG, OPS, doubles, runs, extra base hits, total bases, runs created, and RC/27. He also tied for the rookie
lead in home runs and was second in batting average, hits, and RBIs.
Coming in second in the voting was Newark's closer Joey Devine. Devine led the voting with 3 first-place votes, but was left
off the ballot 4 times. Devine led the league in saves, but the rookie already has one award under his belt (Devine won this year's
Dennis Eckersley Award) so maybe the voters wanted to spread the love. In third
was Amityville's Chris Volstad, who also had two first place votes. The other two first place votes went to Skip Schumaker of Arkansas
and Joba Chamberlain of Sardine City.
PLAYER |
TEAM |
1 |
2 |
3 |
PTS |
Shin Soo Choo | HIL | 2 | 5 | 2 | 27 |
Joey Devine | NWK | 3 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
Chris Volstad | AMI | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
Skip Schumaker | ARK | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
John Baker | CAR | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
Joba Chamberlain | SAR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Jay Bruce | DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Elijah Dukes | NJ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Choo is the second Hitman to win the prize.
PAST LISTACH AWARD WINNERS |
PLAYER |
YEAR |
TEAM |
Shin Soo Choo | 2009 | HIL |
Dustin Pedroia | 2008 | CAR |
Francisco Liriano | 2007 | MAR |
Ryan Howard | 2006 | HIL |
Victor Martinez | 2005 | VAN |
Marcus Giles | 2004 | NWK |
John Lackey | 2003 | PHX |
Joel Pineiro | 2002 | HBK |
Barry Zito | 2001 | CAR |
Homer Bush | 2000 | VAN |
John Rocker | 1999 | ARK |
Nomar Garciaparra | 1998 | PHX |
|