Molleken earns Premier 12 all-star berth

Premier 12: Leroux, Molleken, O’Neill pick up tournament honours
 November 24, 2015

By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
OTTAWA - Canada’s run at the inaugural WBSC Premier 12 came to a disappointing end last week as a result of a 4-3 quarterfinal loss to Mexico in Taiwan, but that didn’t stop three members of Team Canada from collecting hardware following the conclusion of the event.

Named to the Premier 12 “All-World” team at relief pitcher was Dustin Molleken (Regina, Sask.) who was successful in converting three out of a possible three save opportunities to lead the category among all pitchers. Molleken had a 2.45 ERA in three and two-thirds innings of work and struck out four batters

Individual awards were also handed out and Team Canada players received two of them.

Starting pitcher Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) earned wins in both of his Premier 12 outings beating Cuba and the Netherlands to help Canada secure top spot in Group A. For his efforts, Leroux was given the award for Pitcher with Best Won/Loss Average. Leroux had a 1.42 ERA and struck out 16 batters over 12 and two-thirds innings of work.

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) put on a power display at Premier 12 hitting three home runs in the preliminary round, good for second among all batters, and had an OPS of 1.042. The Seattle Mariners prospect also led the event in runs scored and was thus given the Most Runs Scored Award.

Starting Pitcher OTANI Shohei (JPN)

Relief Pitcher MOLLEKEN Dustin (CAN)

Catcher SOSA Humberto (MEX)

First baseman NAKATA Sho (JPN)

Second baseman FRAZIER Adam (USA)

Third baseman HWANG Jaegyun(KOR)

Shortstop DAAL Carlton (NED)

Outfielders ODUBER Randolph (NED) MCBRIDE Matt (USA) KIM Hyunsoo (KOR)

Designated Hitter LEE Dae Ho (KOR)

WBSC also announced individual award winners as followes:

Leading Hitter MCBRIDE Matt (USA)

Pitcher with Best ERA OTANI Shohei (JPN)

Pitcher with Best W/L Average LEROUX Chris (CAN)

Most RBI NAKATA Sho (JPN)

Most Homeruns LIN Chih-Sheng (TPE)

Most Stolen Bases ODUBER Randolph (NED)

Most Runs Scored Tyler O’Neill (CAN)

Outstanding Defensive Player SAKAMOTO Hayato (JPN)

Most Valuable Player KIM Hyunsoo (KOR)