NKY POY

[fastball21]

As for Hempel, I think he is an offensive machine, however defensively he is at best--- average. Not alot of range...I am shocked that he is at 3rd. If I coached that team, he would be at first base or AH.

[Clyde]

They are also fairly hard to believe. Not taking anything away from him - he's a terrific catcher - but 85%? That's just unrealistic unless HHS' pitchers are simply unreal at holding on runners, slide stepping to plate, and apparently almost never throwing a difficult pitch from which to make a throw. Again, he's a fantastic catcher - best defensively in the 9th without question - but I have a very hard time buying into 85%.

 

We're probably working off of a small number of attempts. In about half of their games no one attempted to steal.

[The Engineer]

I think Liggett was a contender because of his glove, and now with the fact that he hit well over .400 should put him in serious consideration.

[cooperstown]

I have seen Hoskins catch the last few games and he has improved however, to say that defense is not a major component for POY consideration dilutes the award in my mind. If defense is not a component than call the award "Offensive Player of the Year". If Hoskins just does an adequate job catching why would they not use him use as a AH and get another catcher? I do not think he is above average defensively as a catcher. He has a tendency to let balls go by and throw balls into center field and left field.

As someone who lives in Kentucky, I want the POY to be well rounded. Top in offense and top in defense. He is representing PLAYER OF THE YEAR. I would not want to say,”Oh he is a machine on offense but he is just an adequate fielder or catcher etc.” POY is best of the best in all categories and a leader on the field and in the dugout. My vote would be for Lauman.

 

Interesting. Laumann is a defensive stud, is he?

 

It is simply too hard to quantify a "great" defensive player. You claim someone is "great", but maybe the one or two times I see him play, he looked only average. Or below average. Or simply didn't have any fielding attempts. Am I wrong if I claim I'm unimpressed with that player? Cotton is terrific defensively, so is Liggett. But it would be hard to make a case that Sexton is a defensive standout. Does he therefore automatically get excluded from consideration? What about Pugh? He's not getting to catch nearly as much as last year and is playing first base - not an overly valuable defensive position. Do we also exclude him? Are only catchers, SS, and CF'ers give the extra defensive "bonus" points? There are plenty of other top defensive players that exist in the 9th, but people simply don't know about them because they don't get to see Ryle, HHS, Conner, NCC, Beechwood, Bellevue, Newport (or whomever) on a regular basis and therefore have no real way to make a meaningful assessment of their defensive skills - other than to read extremely biased opinions on this website.

 

Show me some stats - some REAL defensive stats - that let people know the candidate's defensive abilities and I'll agree it should be a much bigger component of the award. Otherwise, it's simply your personal and subjective assessment vs. mine vs. everyone's else. Teams either don't record them or don't post them. When the last time you read about defensive statistics in the newspaper? At least offensive numbers can be quantified with much more clarity. I'm thinking back to the past few POY awards and don't recall the paper going on about their defensive abilities bringing them the award - they got the award based almost exclusively on their offensive/pitching exploits.

Edited May 24, 2010 by cooperstown
spelling

[cooperstown]

We're probably working off of a small number of attempts. In about half of their games no one attempted to steal.

 

Sorry, still don't buy it. Look, I'm a Liggett fan, I promise. Nice kid, great catcher. But throwing out 9 out of 10 baserunners?? I find that a bit much. Most steals are earned off the pitcher - something that Liggett can't control. I simply find it very, very hard to believe that HHS pitchers (and let's be honest - their staff is not real deep or experienced this year) are THAT good at ensuring Liggett gets a fair shot at throwing out the baserunner each and every steal attempt. If you'd have said 60-70%, I'd have been thoroughly impressed and not questioned the legitimacy of the numbers. 9 out of 10? Just can't buy it.

 

And to prove that I'm not anti-Liggett is the slightest, he would most definitely be in my top 2 or 3 picks for POY right now. I just mentioned as much to someone this weekend when we played HHS.

[Voice of Reason]

If we are going to get into a catcher discussion, one catcher that I think is very good all the way around and gets little hype on here is Popham at Dixie. I am not saying he is a POY candidate but he is one of the top catchers in the region IMO - especially when you look at both defense and offense.

[cooperstown]

As for Hempel, I think he is an offensive machine, however defensively he is at best--- average. Not alot of range...I am shocked that he is at 3rd. If I coached that team, he would be at first base or AH.

 

OK, I'll give you that defense is not his strong point. But it's not as if he's miserable. He's also leading the entire 9th region in hitting and doing so against a very, very strong schedule. But you would automatically exclude him from consideration despite this? Yet if he was playing 1B (a much easier position than 3B) and making less errors, you would be willing to include him for consideration? If you think he's in the wrong spot, blame the coach, not Hempel. Someone who has an average above .500 at this point in the season against Ryle's level of competition should absolutely be considered. Not saying he's the best choice for the award, but that alone makes him worthy of consideration - even with some struggles at 3B.

[Walter]

I don't follow baseball that closely and I'm coming in kind of late, but I have to ask why the Pugh kid from Conner isn't being mentioned?

 

Pretty sure he's tied with Cotton for the lead in homeruns with 10. Anyone have his other stats?

[cooperstown]

As for Hempel, I think he is an offensive machine, however defensively he is at best--- average. Not alot of range...I am shocked that he is at 3rd. If I coached that team, he would be at first base or AH.

 

BTW, I'd love to see you submit a high school lineup with an AH. Don't think it would go over too well with the umps or the other team. :sssh:

[hja1224]

I think the race is going to be very close and several legit claims. After reading the stats in the paper today, but honestly not seeing every player mentioned more than once or twice, I would give my choice to Sexton. Not only hitting very well with lots of doubles but pitching extremely well. I go by ERA's versus wins and losses. With so many players with high batting averages I have to give the nod to a player that is dominating from a pitching standpoint as well.

[straycat]

I think the race is going to be very close and several legit claims. After reading the stats in the paper today, but honestly not seeing every player mentioned more than once or twice, I would give my choice to Sexton. Not only hitting very well with lots of doubles but pitching extremely well. I go by ERA's versus wins and losses. With so many players with high batting averages I have to give the nod to a player that is dominating from a pitching standpoint as well.

 

ERA is normally a good measure to use. You would think all teams would make a good faith effort to distinguish earned vs. unearned runs for their pitchers. Connor doesn't appear to distinguish between earned and unearned runs. All their pitcher's runs this year show as earned. Since we're talking about POY here, that wouldn't have an impact on Pugh since he hasn't pitched much this year. But for West, it doesn't help. He's pitched a fair amount of innings this year for Conner with a 3.50 ERA and a .400 BA.

[Voice of Reason]

I don't follow baseball that closely and I'm coming in kind of late, but I have to ask why the Pugh kid from Conner isn't being mentioned?

 

Pretty sure he's tied with Cotton for the lead in homeruns with 10. Anyone have his other stats?

 

I believe Pugh was mentioned a fair amount earlier in the thread. I think he is worthy of consideration but falls a little short of Sexton/Cotton.

[Sportsfan 99]

I have two questions:

1. When does POY get announced?

2. Who is everybodies top 3 Candidates in order?

[Coachg13207]

1. Cotton- In the top in almost every offensive category, may be all of them.

2. Liggett- They have played a very tough schedule also.

 

 

3. Sexton

[Voice of Reason]

My question is when does the voting happen? It is close enough that I think post season performances will impact the voting, depending on when the voting happens.