1970: Awards
To top up his team winning the whole thing, Center Fielder Zachary Pritchard was awarded the MVP award. Out of the ten ballots submitted, Pritchard got 8 of the first ballot votes -- the only other serious contender his one teammate in Pitcher Tyler Grimes and Hawke's Bay CF Matthew Currier.
Pritchard might not have lead in any of the major categories but he was certainly a common presence in the leaderboards. His 28 home runs was only one off the leader (Auckland's Rhys Howarth) and his 18 stolen runs was only 5 off off the leader (Hawkes Bay's Matthew Currier) but no one else could quite match the combination of power and speed that Pritchard bought to the table.
His main competition, Matthew Currier of the Moonshots definitely bought speed to the table (23 stolen bases) and a lot of other impressive feats (leading the league in hits and double plus a .343 batting average and .399 on-base percentage as well as much better defense than Pritchard) but ultimately the lack of power (only 11 home runs) counted against him.
The Manawatu Vikings completed their dominant year by taking the Championship, MVP and Pitcher of the Year! But this one wasn't quite as straight forward as the others as Grimes faced stiff competition from Taranaki's Scott Kennedy as well as his own team mate: Dylan O'Neill.
Grimes and Kennedy had virtually identical ERAs (1.86 vs 1.88) but Kennedy had some better peripherals. The HR/9 was basically identical at 0.3, but Kennedy had some better numbers with BB/9 at 3.2 vs 3.5 and K/9 at 7.6 vs 7.2.
The main claim to fame of Grimes was his playoff record and beating out Kennedy for complete game shutouts (5 vs 4) despite 3 fewer starts thanks to a sore elbow that saw him miss a few games in the middle of the season.
Rookie of the Year: Douglas Adams (1B of the Taranaki Thunder)
The 22 year old was a near unanimous pick for this award but lost one vote to Canterbury Pitcher Jon Viergutz. Adams was one of the big power hitters of the league with 25 home runs to his name.
Reliever of the Year: Casey Ogilvie (Taranaki Thunder)
It was a three way tie for first with Ogilvie barely narrowing out Neil Cox (Waikato Morepork) and Ellis Peacock (Hawkes Bay Moonshots). Ogilvie combined the Saves of Peacock (13 saves, 4-1 record vs Peacock's 14 saves, 4-5 record) and the ERA of Cox (1.31 vs 1.29) in a deadly combo that propelled Taranaki to their league best record of 52-28.
Ogilvie didn't give up a single home run over 34.1 innings and picked up an absurd ERA+ of 318. His main weakness was a tendency to give up walks. Peacock gave up less than half the walks that Ogilvie did (BB/9 of 4.5 vs 2.2) but ultimately Ogilve's ability to limit the run rate gave him the nod amongst the voters.
Cheese Roll Award for Best Hitters by Position
P Scott Kennedy (Taranaki Thunder)
C Matt Rushing (Auckland Sharks)
1B Emanuel Kice (Bay of Plenty Steam)
2B Ray Dickerson (Otago Penguins)
3B Dwaine Lowe (Waikato Morepork)
SS Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)
LF Alan Golding (Auckland Sharks)
CF Zachary Pritchard (Manawatu Vikings)
RF Francis Dobson (Canterbury Knights)
Mince Pie Award for Best Defense by Position
P Paul Cochrane (Wellington Bees)
C Stewart Whelan (Southland Stags)
1B Borick Stockmeyer (Southland Stags)
2B Mitchell Waring (Southland Stags)
3B Jin Yong (Manawatu Vikings)
SS Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)
LF Clyde King (Southland Stags)
CF Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots)
RF Jonathan Rox (Manawatu Vikings)
Mince & Cheese Pie Award for Best Overall Defense: Richard Hayes (Manawatu Vikings)
Batting Champion: Jin Young (Manawatu Vikings) .345
Home Run Champion: Dwaine Lowe (Waikato Morepork) 29
RBI Champion: Rhys Howarth (Auckland Sharks) 66
Stolen Base Champion: Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 23
OPS+ Leader: Emmanuel Kice (Bay of Plenty Steam) 184
ERA Crown: Tyler Grimes (Manawatu Vikings) 1.86
Wins Champion: Dylan O'Neill (Manawatu Vikings) 16
Saves Champion: Ellis Peacock (Hawkes Bay VIkings) 14
Strikeout King: Ben Goetting (Bay of Plenty) 150
WHIP Leader: Dylan O'Neill (Manawatu Vikings) 1.00
FIP Leader: Scott Kennedy (Taranaki Thunder) 2.22
10/10 Club (10 Home Runs & 10 Stolen Bases)
CF Matthew Currier (Hawkes Bay Moonshots) 11 HR / 23 SB
RF Francis Dobson (Canterbury Knights) 17 HR / 14 SB
CF Zachary Pritchard (Manawatu Vikings) 28 HR / 18 SB (also 15/15 Club)
CF Marcus Thompson (Taranaki Thunder) 13 HR / 14 SB
CF Howard Williams (Canterbury Knights) 14 HR / 12 SB