The Frontier League announces its awards for the 2022 Season. This season’s awards are headlined by Tri-City’s infielder, Brantley Bell, who was named the Most Valuable Player. Quebec Capitales starting pitcher Miguel Cienfuegos won the Pitcher of the Year Award. The Jason Simontacchi Award for Rookie of the Year goes to Washington Wild Thing’s Kobe Foster. The Washington Wild Things were selected as the Organization of the Year. Charles Demers of the Quebec Capitales was awarded the Bob Wolfe Executive of the Year award.

The Morgan Burkhart Most Valuable Player Award goes to Brantley Bell of the Tri-City ValleyCats. Bell is in his first season with the Frontier League, before coming to Tri-City, he played in the Cinncinati Reds minor league system. His best season was in 2021, when he had 47 hits, one homerun and 17 RBI. Bell was also voted an All-Star at the 2022 All-Star Game.

Quebec Capitales pitcher Miguel Cienfuegos won the Brian Tollberg Award as the League’s Most Valuable Pitcher. This is Cienfuegos' second season with the Frontier League and the Capitales. In 2021, he had a 9-6 record with a 3.78 ERA, with 80 strikeouts and only 25 walks. Cienfuegos was also selected to the 2022 Frontier League All-Star team.

Kobe Foster of the Washington Wild Things won the Jason Simontacchi Rookie of the Year Award. Foster has an 8-1 record this season to go along with 51 strikeouts, 7 earned runs, 15 walks and a 1.00 ERA. Before coming to the Frontier League, he attended Tennessee Wesleyan University for three years where his best season came in 2022, when he had a 13-1 record, a 1.42 ERA and 139 strikeouts. Washington Wild Things Tom Vaeth wins the Roger Hanners Award for Manager of the Year. He led the Wild Things to a 58-34 record and a Frontier League Western Division Title. This is Vaeth’s first Manager of the Year honor in only his second year managing the Wild Things.

The Fran Riordan Citizenship Award goes to Kenny Williams of the Ottawa Titans. Martin Boyce, general manager of the Ottawa Titans, nominated Williams. 

Boyce states in his letter, “Kenny Williams immediately established himself as the backbone of the expansionc Ottawa Titans. Kenny volunteered for numerous community events and coordinated two camps for over 200 kids at Ottawa Stadium. There is no one that can match Kenny’s desire to be around the game of baseball and do whatever it takes to empower those around him to love the game as much as he does.” The Fran Riordan Award is named for the Frontier League Hall of Famer who is the current manager of the Oakland A’s AAA team in Las Vegas.

The Frontier League’s Organization of the Year Award goes to the Washington Wild Things as voted by other organizations. The Wild Things became the fastest team to 1,000 wins in Frontier League history. This is Washinton’s fourth Organization of the Year award, with the others being 2002, 2004, and 2005. They joined the League in 2002. 

Charles Demers, general manager of the Quebec Capitales, receives his first Bob Wolfe Executive of the Year Award. The Capitales currently lead the East Division. Demers is completing his third season as the Capitales GM.

Here is a full List of the Award Winners for this season:

Most Valuable Player (Morgan Burkhart Award) – Brantley Bell, Tri-City ValleyCats

Pitcher of the Year (Brian Tollberg Award) – Miguel Cienfuegos, Quebec Capitales

Rookie of the Year (Jason Simontacchi Award) – Kobe Foster, Washington Wild Things

Citizen of the Year (Fran Riordan Award) – Kenny Williams, Ottawa Titans

Manager of the Year (Roger Hanners Award) – Tom Vaeth, Washington Wild Things

Coach of the Year (Darren Bush Award) – Robert Carson, Quebec Capitales

1B – Dalton Combs, New Jersey

2B – Brantley Bell, Tri-City

3B – Brylie Ware, Joliet

SS – Nick Ward, Washington

C – Jeffry Parra, Quebec

OF – Josh Rehwaldt, New Jersey

OF – David Vinsky, New York

OF – L.P. Pelletier, Troi-Rivières

DH – Denis Phipps- Tri-City

SP – Miguel Cienfuegos, Quebec

RP -Logan Sawyer, Evansville

Organization of the Year – Washington Wild Things

Executive of the Year (Bob Wolfe Award) – Charles Demers, Quebec Capitales

Athletic Trainer of the Year – Mandy Flaig, Evansville Otters

Broadcaster of the Year (Robert Ford Award) – Tim Calderwood, Schaumburg Boomers

Clubbie of the Year (Sam Hartsfield Award) – Cameron Ellison, Evansville Otters

Writer of the Year – Carl Tardiff- Le Soleil – Quebec

Umpire of the Year – Mike O’Leary

Field of the Year - Wintrust Field