Anthony Stephan Awarded Rawlings “Big Stick” Honor
October 21, 2022 – Northwoods League (Northwoods) – Kalamazoo Growlers News Release
Kalamazoo, MI – The Northwoods League has announced the recipients of the 2022 Rawlings “Big Stick” Award. This award is given to the player at each position who had the best batting average during the 2022 regular season.
Wisconsin Rapids Rafters shortstop Ben Ross leads the list of award winners. Ross earned a Rawlings “Big Stick” by leading the league with an impressive .421 batting average. Prior to the Northwoods League All-Star Game Ross was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the MLB draft. Growlers infielder Anthony Stephan took home the award at his position after posting an impressive .340 batting average. Stephan helped lead the Growlers to their first championship in team history with plenty of clutch hitting. Stephan hit a go-ahead home run in the opening playoff game which propelled the Growlers over the Traverse City Pit Spitters.
Rawlings has been rewarding the top hitters in the Northwoods League since 2007 in addition to honoring the best fielders since 2002. To honor their achievement, the nine award winners will receive an engraved bat from Rawlings. The complete list of 2022 Rawlings “Big Stick” Award Winners is below.
Position Player NWL Team College Batting Average
C Colin Tuft Wisconsin Rapids Virginia .331
1B Anthony Stephan Kalamazoo Virginia .340
2B Tristan Garcia Green Bay Western Kentucky .343
3B Trevor Austin St. Cloud Mercer University .305
SS Ben Ross Wisconsin Rapids Notre Dame College .421
INF Kristian Campbell Duluth Georgia Tech .356
OF Sean Ross Mankato Indiana State .376
OF Nick Mitchell Fond du Lac Western Illinois .356
OF Ben Vujovich Minnesota St. Thomas .355
DH John Nett St. Cloud St. Cloud State .352
To be eligible a player would have needed to have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. A player must have a minimum of 2.7 plate appearances per team game.
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