NASBL Less Filling Award Winners Announced!

The results from the 2008 NASBL Awards Balloting are in! Here are your winners from the Less Filling Conference:

MVP:
Prince Fielder, PCM - Pocono's first MVP winner in a decade (the last was Mike Piazza in 1998) led the NASBL in homeruns with 57, and led the Less Filling in RBI with 140. Prince also led the LF with an amazing .681 slugging percentage, and posted an admirable .293 batting average. Fielder earned 14 first place votes, but like his counterpart MVP winner David Ortiz in the TG, he was left off one ballot entirely.

Cy Young:
John Smoltz, PCM - Pocono completed a sweep of the two highest awards on the strength of veteran John Smoltz's 3rd career personal award. Smoltz was Fireman of the Year for Pocono in 2006, and also won the Cy Young in 1994. Smoltz led the LF in wins (18) and ERA (3.31), and trailed only Chin Music teammate Johan Santana in strikeouts (219). Smoltz earned 14 first place votes.

Rookie of the Year:
BJ Upton, GCG - The number 3 overall pick in the draft put up solid numbers across the board, leading all Less Filling rookies in RBI (68), runs scored (60) and stolen bases (30). Among rookie homerun hitters, Upton trailed only PCM's Kevin Kouzmanoff. In the closest balloting of the 2008 Awards, Upton took home 5 first place votes, with Grundy County Grizzly teammate Brian Bannister taking another 4 votes.

Fireman of the Year:
JJ Putz, MSU - Miami's JJ Putz became the first NASBL Fireman since Yorktown's Eric Gagne in 2004-2005, and the first ever in the Less Filling, to take home back to back Fireman awards. The award also marked the 3rd consecutive year the FOY has been won by a Miami Surf closer (2006 Chad Cordero being the other in the streak), the first time in NASBL history a single team has won back-to-back-to-back Fireman awards. Putz's 1.54 ERA and 36 saves both led all Less Filling closers, and his .878 save percentage trailed only TRY's Huston Street (.889). Putz's 14 first place and 1 second place vote gave him 73 points in the awards voting, the highest total by any 2008 NASBL Award winner.