The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) announced the league winners for the 2023 season on Monday.
Award winners include the regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP), the Most Outstanding Canadian, the Most Outstanding Pitcher, the Rookie of the Year, the Coach of the Year, the top players from each WCBL team, as well as the postseason MVP.
Josh Weisner of the Sylvan Lake Gulls was named the 2023 MVP. He led the league in runs batted in (RBI) with 49, while scoring 44 runs, clubbing five homers and stealing 23 bases. The Mission, B.C. product also had .392 batting average.
Weisner signed with the Frontier League’s Quebec Frontiers.
The winner of the Most Outstanding Canadian for 2023 is Dawson Tweet of the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
Tweet led the WCBL in batting average (.411), runs (61) and hits (90). The Russell, MB product also set a new WCBL record with a 36-game hitting streak.
Ty Bourdeau from Sylvan Lake was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher. The Calgary, AB, product has the lowest ERA (earned runs average) for the 2023 season (1.54), through 15 games and 46.2 innings.
Brooks Bombers OF Eric Rataczak was named the Rookie of the Year, with 11 homeruns, 48 RBIs and a .358 average.
Brendan Luther helped the Okotoks Dawgs to their seventh league championship and was named the Playoff MVP. This marks the second straight season Luther claimed the award.
Rounding out the league winners was Medicine Hat’s Kevin Mitchell who was named Coach of the Year.
The Regina Red Sox named Justin Simard the team’s MVP and Rookie of the Year. Simard had a .332 batting average with 29 runs and 10 stolen bases through 51 games.
Zane Pollon was named the team’s Pitcher of the Year. The Wilcox, SK. product was 2-3 with a 2.45 ERA and 57 Ks in 58.2 innings in 16 games.
