Good friends and Battlefords North Stars teammates the last three hockey seasons, Dylan Esau of the Meadow Lake Sox, and Ryland McNinch of the Mervin Flyers are among the nominees for NSRBL MVP this year. (Submitted photo/Ryland McNinch)

By Martin Martinson

Best in Senior Ball

NSRBL announce MVP nominees for 2022

Jul 5, 2022 | 2:57 PM

As the senior baseball regular season draws to a close, the North Sask River Baseball League (NSRBL) has announced its nominees for 2022 MVP.

Each of the league’s 10 teams selected a player as their MVP nominee via team vote, with the winner to be determined through a league-wide voting process.

This year’s MVP nominees include: Bob Hudec (North Battleford Beavers), Dylan Esau (Meadow Lake Sox), Ryland McNinch (Mervin Flyers), Layne Young (St. Walburg Reds), Rob Cey (Wilkie Brewers), Jared Hillis (Macklin Lakers), JD Knutson (Kindersley Stallions), Ethan Scherr (Unity Junior Cardinals), Masen Anderson (Standard Hill Lakers), and Kelton Hanley (Lloyd Twins).

Hudec, a veteran of the NSRBL, has played primarily first base and pitcher for the Beavers this year, leading the team with 10 strikeouts from the mound. He said the nomination means a lot coming from his teammates.

“We’ve got a great group of guys here, so it feels pretty good for them to give me that nomination,” Hudec said. “We’ve got a lot of good players on the team, so obviously it’s pretty special.”

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Bob Hudec in action on the mound for the Beavers. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Hudec leads the Beavers in hits (15), runs (11), and plate appearances (41), while also having the top batting average (.417) amongst players to play all 10 games with North Battleford this season.

That jack-of-all-trades ability is a fixture amongst this year’s MVP nominees, including McNinch who has been a bit of a Swiss army knife for the Flyers, suiting up wherever needed, from back catcher to anywhere in the infield.

Coming off his final year of junior hockey last season, McNinch is one of three former Battlefords North Stars up for the MVP award this season on the ball diamond. He is joined by teammate from the last three years, Dylan Esau, and fellow former Stars captain, Layne Young, who played with the team from 2015-18.

McNinch said he’s had a bit more time this summer to get out on the ball field, with the MVP nod from teammates simply serving as the cherry on top this season.

“We just like to come out and have fun and play some ball, so it means a lot to me for my teammates to select me for MVP, and it’s been a good year,” McNinch said. “We’re still battling for that last playoff spot, and we’ve got a wildcard game coming up here at the end of the week, so hopefully we can pull out a win and head into the playoffs.”

McNinch is one of just two Flyers to play all 11 games with the team this year, and leads Mervin in plate appearances (36), at-bats (31), hits (nine), and stolen bases, with a league-high 13.

Esau, who has been playing on and off with the Sox for the last five years, has been an ace on the mound this year as a constant in Meadow Lake’s pitching rotation.

Opening the season pitching a no-hitter against Mervin, Esau hasn’t looked back, building on his MVP case with a league-best walks/hits per inning pitched (.86) and earned run average (1.00) amongst players to pitch at least five games.

“It’s awesome to be recognized by my teammates and it’s a good group of guys, so it’s always nice to be seen as an important part of the team,” Esau said of the MVP nomination. “Consistently throwing this year, the arm feels good, the body feels good and just the consistency of being able to pitch quite a bit has really helped me this year.”

Esau’s five games pitched lead the Sox, while his 23 strikeouts delivered sit second on the team.

Another veteran of the NSRBL, Layne Young, who has been playing senior ball since 2016, said just to be nominated for the MVP honours is a special feeling.

“Any time you get nominated by your teammates to be picked as MVP it’s an absolute honour,” Young said. “There’s a lot of good ball players in this league, and there’s a lot of guys that have had some very good seasons on the mound and batting as well.”

Young is tied with Meadow Lake’s Quincy Winkler for most strikeouts in the NSRBL this season (36), while also leading the Reds in games pitched (five), wins (three) and innings pitched (28), with the lowest walks/hits per inning pitched (1.79) and earned run average (6.25) on the team.

Each team will vote for their top-three MVP choices, with five points awarded for each first-place vote, three for each second, and one point for each third. Teams are unable to vote for their own nominee, and have until July 17 to cast their ballots.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1