Lanciault: Cienfuegos wins CBN's Claude Pelletier Award, as top pitcher indy/foreign ranks
Left-hander Miguel Cienfuegos (Laval, Que.) has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Network’s Claude Pelletier Award, an honour which is handed out annually to the best Canadian pitcher in the independent professional or foreign ranks. Photo: Frontier League
December 2, 2022
By Jacques Lanciault
Canadian Baseball Network
Left-hander Miguel Cienfuegos had a phenomenal season with the Capitales de Québec of the independent Frontier League.
The Laval, Que., native was so dominant that he has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Network’s Claude Pelletier Award, an honour which is handed out annually to the best Canadian pitcher in the independent professional or foreign ranks.
Cienfuegos was overpowering for the Capitales in 2022, finishing with a 10-2 record and a 1.79 ERA in 131 innings in 21 games.
The 6-foot-4 lefty dominated his opponents, allowing only 107 hits and his 1.79 ERA was the lowest in the history of the Capitales.
He becomes the seventh Capitales player in the 14-year history of the award to win the honour.
Eleven baseball experts from around North America voted for the award and all but one had Cienfuegos at the top of their ballots. In total, Cienfuegos earned 53 points in the voting. The runner-up was RHP Jake Polanic (Langley, BC), of the Evansville Otters, who had 15 points.
The rest of the vote getters were LHP Evan Grills (Whitby, Ont.), of the Ottawa Titans, 9; LHP Ryan Johnson (Winnipeg, Man.), of the Trebec Nuclears in the Czech Republic, 6, and RHP Michael Mueller (Mississauga, Ont.), of the Karlskoga Bats in Sweden, 5. Mueller had the other first-place vote.
At the end of the Frontier League season, Cienfuegos was voted the league’s Pitcher of the Year and Starting Pitcher of the Year.
This was his second season in the Frontier League. In 2021 with Équipe Québec, he was 9-6 with a 3.78 ERA in 22 games -- making 19 starts -- striking out 80 and walking 25 in 116 2/3 innings.
After the Frontier League season, Cienfuegos headed to Australia to pitch for the Adelaide Giants. So far, he has made three starts for them and is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA, with seven strikeouts in 13 innings.
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The Canadian Baseball Network’s top pitcher award (pro independent/foreign ranks) is named after legendary scout Claude Pelletier (Saint Lazare, Que.). For more than three decades, Pelletier was one of the most respected talent evaluators in the game. He spent 13 years scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers and signed 2003 National League Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne (Mascouche, Que.). He later moved on to scout for the New York Mets for 21 seasons.
Previous winners
Independent/foreign lands Pitcher of the Year
(Renamed the Claude Pelletier Award for 2021 season)
2008 - Michel Simard (Charlesbourg, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
2009 - Aaron Wideman (Mississauga, Ont.) New Jersey Jackals.
2010 - Aaron Cotter (Kitimat, BC) Sioux Falls Pheasants.
2011 - John Mariotti (Toronto, Ont.) Capitales de Québec.
2012 - Jeff Duda (Surrey, BC) Capitales de Québec.
2013 - Karl Gelinas (Iberville, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
2014 - Karl Gelinas (Iberville, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
2015 - Karl Gelinas (Iberville, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
2016 - Karl Gelinas (Iberville, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
2017 - Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC) Yomiuri Giants.
2018 - Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.). Orix Buffaloes
2019 - Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) Ottawa Champions.
2020 - Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.). Orix Buffaloes
2021 - Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.) Uni President 7-Eleven Lions
2022 - Miguel Cienfuegos (Laval, Que.) Capitales de Québec.
*Bold indicates spent time in the major leagues.