These are our picks for the all old school team. That is, the original 12 teams that we covered when we first started out. We went with 12 players and a coach. Yes we could have gone with a DH, but the pitching was so dominant in the area that it was hard to not go with a three man pitching staff.
Pitcher: Corey Copping (Temple City) – Took his game to the next level this year and he’s still only a junior. 0.97 ERA, 59 strikeouts.
Pitcher: K.J. Edson (Arcadia) – Was the Apaches ace on a very good staff. Seemed to get even better in the post season as Arcadia advanced to the semi finals. 10-1 with 0.56 ERA.
Pitcher: Angel Acosta (Gabrielino) – Acosta has been doing it since his freshman year. Acosta is fun to watch; always seems to have a smile on his face. 1.50 ERA with 109 strikeouts.
Catcher: Jonah Jarrard (Temple City) – Has been playing since T-Ball and it’s easy to tell. Jarrard is as good as they come defensively throwing out potential base stealers with regularity. Oh yeah but the way he hit .382 with 18 RBI.
1B: Juan Morales (Alhambra) – Morales was absolutely scary at the plate hitting .392 with 10 extra base hits and 23 RBI while scoring 16 runs.
2B: Paul Cruz (Rosemead) – Captain for the Panthers hit an incredible .509 and scored 16 runs. Cruz can play any of the infield positions but he’s our second baseman on this team.
3B: Frankie Wright (Alhambra) – Supplied the power for the Moors like a third baseman should. .421 average with two bombs and 17 ribbies.
SS: Nick Bueno (Monrovia) – Believe it or not baseball is Bueno’s best sport. You may even see him on the diamond at Cal Lutheran next year. He hit .411 with 25 stolen bases.
OF: Anthony Miller (Arroyo) – Two thirds of the earth is covered by water and the other third is covered by Anthony Miller. Rarely was there a ball hit in the air to center that Miller didn’t run down. At the plate he was lead off hitter extraordinaire.
OF: Ayman Nureldeen (Duarte) – Flew under the radar while playing for the Falcons. Was a terror at the plate batting .456 with 23 RBI.
OF: Brandon Benson (Arcadia) – Always seemed to be starting a rally for the Apaches. Led Arcadia in at bats while hitting a cool .342. He was as comfortable chasing down fly balls in the outfield as he was running on the base paths as he had six steals.
Player of the Year: K.J. Edson (Arcadia) – He was everything that Coach Nick Lemas asked for and more. He was called on time after time to get a big win and always responded. Was instrumental as the ace in the Apaches’ post season run. Oh and by the way, he could hit too. Edson finished the season with a .389 average.
Coach of the Year: Nick Lemas (Arcadia) – Really? Was there any question here? He led Arcadia on its longest post season run in the last two decades and he hasn’t lost a Pacific League game since 2009. Lemas has turned Arcadia into one of the most dominant programs in the area.
Leave a Reply