Millers Announce Award Winners

The Millers held their annual year-end awards night on Sunday following the season finale on Saturday. There were many stellar performances throughout the year, but Derek Cornell stood above the rest as the team's most valuable player after serving as the heart and soul of the squad throughout the year. “He was absolute grit, absolute vinegar, absolute sand paper to a lot of teams and the guys respected him for that because he wore his emotions on his sleeve and everybody knew the effort he was going to give day-in and day-out was going to be whatever he had in the tank,” said Hunt. “On any given day, 60-percent of Derek Cornell is better than 100-percent of anybody else.” His numbers didn't standout quite as much as during his first season in Moose Jaw in 2014, but Cornell was the undisputed leader for the Millers and he said he's really enjoyed his two years with the team. “Coming up here for a second year, I had a lot expectations and we didn't meet all of them, but (the MVP award) is pretty humbling, especially with all the great talent that we have on the team. It's a great feeling,” Cornell said. Marvin Malone was given the team's silver slugger award after finishing second in the league with a .364 average. He was also tied for third in home runs with five and runs batted in with 35, while committing just one error in the outfield all season. J.J. Santa Cruz was named the team's top pitcher after posting a 4-2 record and finishing with a league-leading 79 strikeouts, which was 18 ahead of second place, in 11 games. He also had a 3.30 ERA in 62.2 innings pitched. The coach's award went to rookie catcher Jeremy Stidham, who appeared in a league-high 41 games behind the plate, 44 games in total, during the year and made just three errors. The award was presented for his heart and determination.