The easiest measure of a team’s most valuable player is how the team fares when he’s not in the lineup.
The Moose Jaw Miller Express would have rather not found out how much they missed third baseman Jess Cooper, but when the 20-year-old from Belfourche, S.D. missed nearly three weeks of the season, his value was obvious to the Western Major Baseball League team.
Tuesday during the Express’ annual awards night, Cooper was named the team’s Most Valuable Player.
“It was a pretty easy choice,” said Express head coach Michael Hunt as he presented the award. “This award doesn’t necessarily go to the best player on the team, but the one that brings the most value to the team itself. With him in the lineup we were very tough to beat. Without him — not so much.”
The Express were 5-10 without Cooper at third base and then went 14-8 in the second half after he returned to the hot corner.
Cooper finished the season with a .375 average.
Cooper also won the Silver Slugger award as the team’s top batter.
Jon Cotter won the Fan’s Choice Award for the second straight year. The local second baseman received 23 per cent of the vote.
Mike Rahrich was named the team’s Top Pitcher. Rahrich was the team MVP a year ago and had a stellar sophomore season. He posted a 5-2 record, with 2.79 ERA.
The Golden Glove award was pluralized as the Express outfield of Fred Atkins, Zack Cadet and Dustin Silva each won a Golden Glove. The trio only committed four errors combined during the regular season.
The Coach’s Choice award was given to rookie pitcher Terry McNabb. Hunt praised McNabb for always going that extra mile and making the trip into Moose Jaw from his home in Davidson whether he was needed or not. Hunt added that they got everything they could out of McNabb on the mound during his rookie season.
For more please see Wednesday's Times-Herald.
