Elliott: CBN college POY - Curtis, Cottam, Hyland, Julien or Stevenson?
OF Christopher Acosta-Tapia (Laval, Que.) earned Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Year honours when the All-Canadian college team was selected in 2017.
CBN college POY: Curtis, Cottam, Hyland, Julien or Stevenson?
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
This is awards week when it comes to deciding the American and National League MVPs, Cy Young award winners, Rookie and Manager of the Year honours.
Something new a couple of years ago -- when the awards began being televised on MLB Network -- was the way that the Baseball Writers Association of America would release names of the finalists before the official awards were dish out.
Our 19th annual Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian college team and our all-Canadian college Player of the year is only days away.
We have five finalists, in alphabetical order for the Player of the Year honours:
_ Former Ontario Terrier 2B Elliott Curtis (Waterloo, Ont.) of the Columbia State Chargers.
Kentucky C Kole Cottam hit the second most homer among Canucks.
_ C Kole Cottam, who was born in Knoxvillle, Tenn. and played last spring for the Kentucky Wildcats. His pop was a regular at Burlington’s Nelson Park.
_ Former Spruce Grove White Sox SS Kobe Hyland (Edmonton, Alta.) of the Iowa Western Reivers..
DH Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.) was almost a perfect 10.
_ One-time Les Diamants de Québec DH Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.) of the Auburn Tigers.
J.P. Stevenson (New Glasgow, PEI) a Canisius Golden Griffins led all Canucks in innings pitched. Photo: TomWolf.smugmug.com
_ Vauxhall Academy Jet J.P. Stevenson (New Glasgow, PEI) of the Canisius Golden Griffs.
Our previous winners were:
_ OF Christopher Acosta-Tapia (Laval, Que.) of the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles received first-place votes from 41 of 51 (80.3%) voters last year.
_ LHP Guillaume Blanchette (St-Constant, Que.) of the Lubbock Christian, the first to ever bat 1.000, collecting 51 of 51 first-place votes inn 2016.
_ 3B Connor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) of the Canisius Golden Griffins, named first on 33 of 45 ballots (73.3) in 2015.
_ 2B-OF Craig-St. Louis (Gatineau, Que.) of the Seminole State Trojans, 50-for-59 (84.7) in 2014.
_ LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.) of the Arizona State Sun Devils, 50-for-65 (76.9) in 2013.
_ 2B Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ont.) of the Stony Brook Seawolves, 40-for-58 (69) in 2012.
_ OF Chase Larsson (Vancouver, BC), of the Cameron Aggies, 39 of 41 votes (95.1) in 2011.
_ OF Marcus Knecht (North York, Ont.) of the Connors State, 49 of 51 (96.1) in 2010.
_ 3B Jesse Sawyer (Calgary, Alta.) of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, 33 for 49 (67.3) in 2009.
_ DH Mike Gosse (Pitt Meadows, BC) of the Oklahoma Sooners, 35 of 42 (83.3) in 2008.
_ 1B Kevin Atkinson (Surrey, BC) of the New Mexico Jr. College Thunderbirds, 55 for 62 (88.7)in 2007.
— OF Jon Baksh (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Florida Tech Panthers, 40 of 63 (63.5) in 2006.
— 1B Karl Amonite (Woodslee, Ont.) of the Auburn Tigers, 55 for 62 (88.7) in 2005.
— OF Charlie MacFarlane (Lantzville, BC) of the Cumberland Bulldogs, 36 for 45 (80) in 2004.
_ C Aaron McRae (Delta, BC) of the LSU-Shreveport Pilots, 37 for 49 (75.5) in 2003.
_ OF Ryan Kenning (North Vancouver, BC) of the New Mexico State Aggies and RP-SS Jesse Crain (Toronto, Ont.) of the Houston Cougars, who shared honours with nine first-place voters on 16 ballots (56.3) in 2002.
_ LHP Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC) of the British Columbia Thunderbirds, six of seven (85.7) in 2001.
— And OF Ben Emond (Farnham, Que.) of the Texas Longhorns won in 2000, our inaugural year.
Blanchette was the only Player of the Year to run the table collecting every vote, one of four winners from Quebec. BC had seven POYs, one more than Ontario, while Alberta had two winners and that includes a tie in 2002.