By Brut Australian Baseball League
The Brut Australian Baseball League’s players have spoken.
That’s right, they’ve voted for a series of awards, starting with the 2018/19 Players’ Choice Team of the Year.
Here’s who made the team:
C – Mitch Edwards, Adelaide (32% of votes)
Edwards played a career-high 38 games during his first season with Adelaide, hitting .321/.368/.415.
He led the Bite with 45 hits with three homers and drove in 24 runs.
1B – Luke Hughes, Melbourne (40%)
Hughes made an instant impact in his first season with Melbourne after crossing from Perth.
The 34-year-old hit .309 with a team-high 10 homers and 34 RBI.
2B – Dwayne Kemp, Sydney (36%)
Kemp topped the Brut Australian Baseball League with 55 hits, helping Sydney end their three-year playoff absence.
The 30-year-old hit .348/.385/.462 with two homers and 24 RBI.
3B – Robbie Glendinning, Perth (28%)
Glendinning joined Perth a few weeks into the season and wasted no time settling in.
He went on to lead the Heat with a .364 batting average and drove in 25 runs in 28 games.
SS – Gift Ngoepe, Sydney (29%)
The former big leaguer finished behind on Canberra’s Michael Fransoso with a .379 batting average in his first season with Sydney.
Ngoepe led the Blue Sox with six homers, 32 runs batted in and nine stolen bases.
LF – Michael Gettys, Adelaide (13%)
Gettys finished sixth in the ABL with 33 RBI during 40 games with Adelaide this season.
He hit .290/.375/.559 with a team-high seven home runs, including three in one game at Adelaide Shores in November.
CF – Andrew Campbell, Brisbane (15%)
Campbell put up career best numbers in his ninth season with Brisbane, finishing with 34 RBI and a .310 batting average.
He had 48 hits, including 10 homers, and walked 28 times to record an OBP of .415.
RF – Tim Kennelly, Perth (23%)
Kennelly hit above .300 for the fifth time in nine ABL seasons with Perth.
He ended up equal-seventh in the league with a .338 average to go with six homers and 24 RBI.
DH – Zach Wilson, Canberra (41%)
Wilson finished only second to Brisbane’s TJ Bennett with 12 homers in his 40 games with Canberra.
The 28-year-old hit .331 with a team-high 31 runs batted in.
SP – Markus Solbach, Adelaide (28%)
Solbach starred for Adelaide, finishing second in the ABL for ERA (1.10) and third for strikeouts (74).
He went 5-3 and only allowed more than one earned run in one start.
RP – Ty’Relle Harris, Sydney (36%)
Harris proved tough to hit coming out of the Sydney bullpen, allowing just seven base knocks across the season.
He compiled an ERA of 0.87, striking out 31 hitters in 20 2/3 innings.