Flat Rock's Jackson Buzea and Glen Lee's Peyton Doran Named 2024 Comeback Players of the Year

Throughout the week, we will be announcing the winners of the 2024 ORWBL regular season awards which were voted on by all sixteen Managers. Players/Managers 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 announce the winners of one award each day on the American and National League side leading up into Game 1 of the 2024 ORWBL World Series on Sunday.

Today we will announce the 2024 ORWBL Comeback Player of the Year Award winners. This award originated as the Most Improved Player Award in 2019 but in 2021 it was renamed as the Comeback Player of the Year Award just like Major League Baseball has it.

Starting off in the American League it was Jackson Buzea of the Flat Rock Cyclones who won an extremely tight vote over Clayten Strauch of the Pink Pandas, with Ashlen Strauch of Union Mills not too far behind, finishing 3rd in the vote.

"Buzz" as he is known to many in the Wiffle world had a very productive season last year in 26 games as he went 55/123 with 38 R, 49 4BI, and 26 HR to go along with a .450 AVG. Meanwhile over in the Leroy Wiffle Association, he played his way to a Leroy MVP Award last season. Now in his 2nd year with Flat Rock, "Buzz" became the certified star player in ORWBL that he is in Leroy.

Buzea put up MVP caliber numbers in 2024 as he hit for a .603 AVG, going 88/146 at the plate with 68 R, 69 RBI, and 54 HR. He finished 3rd in ORWBL in Batting Average, 4th in HR, 4th in RBI, and 7th in Runs Scored. Simply put, he was one of the top players in all of the league this season as he helped Flat Rock climb back to finish .500 after a rough start to the season. They earned the #5 seed in the playoffs and had regular season series' wins over Maple City and Mill Pond to close out the season. Buzea also made the American League All Star team for the first time in his career this season. He figures to be a key part of the puzzle going forward as Flat Rock will look to get back to finishing over .500 in 2025.

Moving onto the National League side, it was Peyton Doran of the Glen Lee Skeeters who won another tight vote over his Skeeters' teammate Nolan Crail by one vote. The Skeeters skipper played a massive role in helping Glen Lee finish the season with a 19-11 record as they were just 1 win away from heading to the World Series.

We saw the Skeeters become a true World Series contender this year and his improvement was key to their success. He nearly saw his At Bats multiple by two as he went from 93 to 176 bats this season. He finished 2023 with a .200 Batting Average, going 19/93 at the plate with 13 Runs, 5 RBI, and 5 HR.

In 2024, "PD" took massive leaps as he finished the year with a .426 Batting Average, going 75/176 at the plate with 55 R, 48 RBI, and 26 HR. He was named to the National League All Star team for the first time in his career as he was able to team up with his older brother and Billy Goats Skipper, Andrew Doran.

On top of his performance on the field, we saw the younger Doran continue to grow as a leader as he is blossoming into one of the top young skipper's in the game. It will be exciting to see Peyton Doran and the rest of the Skeeters ballclub continue to improve as they will head into 2025 as a serious World Series contender.

Below are the side by side comparisons for both players from 2023 and 2024 along with the full results for the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award.