2018 Listach Award Winner

Empire City OF Aaron Judge became the first Listach Award winner in franchise history and was a unanimous pick among the handful of DMBL owners who cast ballots.

Judge collected 1st-place votes on all five qualified ballots cast by the league's owners, easily outdistancing four other first-year players who received votes. He's the first unanimous Listach Award winner since Mike Trout did it in 2013 with Philly.

Marietta reliever Chad Green finished a distant second, just 1 point ahead of Sardine City outfielder Cody Bellinger and starting pitcher Luis Castillo, who split his rookie year between El Paso and Vancouver. El Paso 3B Alex Bregman received 1 3rd place vote.

Points are based on a 5-3-1 ballot:

1. Aaron Judge, EC: 5-0-0 -------> 25 points
2. Chad Green, MAR: 0-2-1 ------> 7 points
3. Cody Bellinger, SCS: 0-1-3----> 6 points
4. Luis Castillo, EP-VAN: 0-2-0--> 6 points
5. Alex Bregman, EP: 0-0-1 ------> 1 point

Bellinger and Castillo tied for 3rd but each had a different combination to reach 6 points. Bellinger appeared on four of five ballots, earning a 2nd-place vote and three 3rd-place votes. Castillo appeared on just two ballots but both were 2nd-place votes.

Judge and Bellinger are likely to garner support in voting for the Kevin Mitchell Award, recognizing the league's top batter. Last year, Hopatcong catcher Gary Sanchez took home the Listach Award and finished 2nd in voting for The Mitch.

Judge led all rookies with 47 home runs, which also ranked 4th in the league, and 112 runs, 5th in the league, to go with 97 RBI. The 6'7" slugger led the DMBL, and of course all rookies, with 226 strikeouts and 126 walks. He ranked 3rd in the league with a 1.106 total average and had a .932 OPS (.249/.388/.544). Judge had 10 intentional walks and 7.7 RC/27. In the field, he had 5 errors and 7 assists while manning right field in Empire City.

Judge broke in as a Trojan but he spent time in the minors with two franchises first. He was drafted as an ineligible prospect by the Livingston Lords of Swing in the 6th round of the 2015 draft. A year later, Livingston sent him to Philly with Felix Hernandez and an 11th rounder for OF Carlos Gonzalez, SP Kevin Gausman and a 6th round pick. Later that year, Philly shipped him to Empire City with a 2nd round pick in 2017 for 2B Daniel Murphy and a 6th rounder.