Knights' Sam Bull And Wiffle Dees' Brayden Ruiz Named Rookie of The Year Award Winners

Throughout the week, we will be announcing the winners of each regular season award voted on by all eighteen Managers. A player/Manager received 3 points for a 1st place vote, 2 points for a 2nd place vote, and 1 point for a 3rd place vote. We will kick off awards week by announcing the winners of the National and American League Rookie of the Year Awards.

Starting off in the National League, it was Kingsbury's Sam Bull who ran away with the award as he finished with the most total votes out of any given award. Fourteen out of the eighteen Managers had Bull in their top spot while he was included on all eighteen ballots. Bull's Kingsbury teammates Adin Newman finished 2nd while their ace Jarod Michael finished in 3rd.

For Bull, it was truly an unforgettable rookie season as he rose to fame at the ORWBL All Star Game. Bull was actually voted in as the NL Last Man In through the twitter vote as the fans certainly made the right call. After competing in the Home Run Derby, Bull ended up hitting 4 Home Runs in the All Star Game as he nearly helped lead the National League to a come from behind win.

Bull's success story was only beginning on that summer night at Migley Field as he then went on to have a fantastic 2nd half to the season. He ended up putting together an MVP caliber year as the rookie belted 48 HR (Tied/2nd in NL), 77 RBI (1st in NL), and 63 Runs (3rd in NL) all while hitting at an impressive .524 clip. He led the upstart Knights in every hitting category as he quickly blossomed into one of ORWBL's brightest young stars.

All in all, Bull and the rest of his Knights teammates had to feel great about the rookie season they all put together. They finished with a respectable 12-18 record while still outscoring their opponents by 28 runs throughout the course of the year. They gave the defending champion Granger Panthers all that they could handle and would have been right around .500 had a few of the close ballgames they played in gone their way. You can be assured that Bull and the entire Knights roster will only continue to improve as big things are ahead for the Knights franchise.

Moving over to the American League side, it was Brayden Ruiz of the Wiffle Dees who was voted as the American League Rookie of the Year. The Ruiz name certainly sounds quite familiar to all of us as he is the younger brother of Cityless' Outfielder Garrett Ruiz.

The Wiffle Dees made a few moves shortly before the season started and bringing in Brayden Ruiz was one of them. Ruiz turned out to play a key role in the Wiffle Dees success in their inaugural season as a franchise. Playing alongside many talented players on the Wiffle Dees, Ruiz shined when given the opportunity.

He ended up playing in 19 regular season games, hitting 15 HR, 23 RBI, and 29 Runs to go along with a .404 Batting Average. His 15 HR had him tied for 3rd in that category among fellow American League rookie's. In terms of helping his team win ballgames, Ruiz was able to do just that on multiple occasions as his presence in the lineup was needed at times throughout the year.

During their Week 9 sweep over OTF, Ruiz went 15/23 with 6 HR as he was one of the top producers in the lineup on that day. He then followed that up by going 8/14 with a pair of HR against the Maple City Magic on the final week of the season in a series' that the Wiffle Dees pulled out the three game sweep to steal the #2 seed from the Magic. Without Ruiz, it would have been tough for the Dees to pull out the sweep like they did as he played a key role in all three games which ended up as close ones.

All in all, out of the American League rookies, Ruiz certainly had the most positive impact on his team throughout the year as he embraced his role on the Wiffle Dees and helped them put together a fantastic inaugural season in which they finished 22-8.

Awards week continues tomorrow as we will announce the winners of the National and American League Comeback Player of the Year Awards. Below are the full results for the Rookie of the Year Awards as we will post all of the Manager's ballots in full next week.

National League Rookie of the Year Full Results:

Sam Bull: 49 (Knights)

Adin Newman: 31 (Knights)

Jarod Michael: 10 (Knights)

Cade Skornog: 6 (Knights)

Ryan Moser: 5 (Leprechauns)

Bryce Lesher: 4 (Skeeters)

Cole Mowers: 1 (Sluggers)

Gavin Peters: 1 (Knights)

Michael Schnippel: 1 (Sluggers)

American League Rookie of the Year Full Results:

Brayden Ruiz: 25 (Wiffle Dees)