The French website ‘Baseball à la Française’ asked its readers for their vote on the best players in the Elite League. Here are the results:
Best Player: Boris Marche, Rouen Huskies
Boris Marche, the catcher of the five-time French Champion ROUEN, received 31,7 percent of all votes in this category and won against Jean-Michel Mayeur (MONTPELLIER, 27,4%) and teammate Kenji Hagiwara (ROUEN, 18,2%). Marche batted .383 (OBP .458/SLG .464) with two triples, eleven doubles, 47 runs scored and 48 RBI this season. He also threw out 14 of 35 potential base stealers and guided his pitching staff to a league-best ERA of 3.04.
Best Pitcher: Anthony Piquet, La Guerche
The ace of the seventh-ranked club LA GUERCHE Anthony Piquet got 37 percent of the votes to win the best pitcher category. He beat Samuel Meurant of SENART (29%) and Doug Grant of CLERMONT-FERRAND (16%), who finished second and third. Piquet started 16 games and completed eleven of them, finishing with a 7-7 record and an ERA of 1.94. He struck out 152 batters in 125 innings, while walking 33 and hitting 24. Opponents batted .197 against him.
Best Defender: Ianis Bouteloup, Clermont-Ferrand
Ianis Bouteloup narrowly won the award with 26,5 percent of the votes against Jonathan Dechelle (25,9%) of TOULOUSE and Lahence Benhamida of SENART (15,6%). The fast and multitalented Bouteloup appeared in 156 2/3 innings in center, 122 innings behind the plate and 74 innings at third, committing six errors all year long. He batted .276 (.447/.309) with 38 runs scored, 15 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.
Best Reliever: Laurent Aoutin, Rouen Huskies
Laurent Aoutin beat out Nathan French (MONTPELLIER, 11,2%) and Mathieu Brelle-Andrade (SENART, 10,9%) with 44 percent of the votes. He had a perfect 5-0 record with one save and an ERA of 3.98 in 23 games (one start). He struck out 35 (24 walks) in 43 innings. He is leaving ROUEN due to work-related reasons will definitely be missed in their bullpen.
