Former Delgado Dolphin Craig Westcott was recently awarded the inaugural Minor League Baseball Rawlings Golden Glove award, which recognizes the top nine defensive players in minor league baseball. Westcott is currently a member of the San Jose Giants. He was a member 2006 & 2007 Delgado Baseball squads, including the Dolphins’ 2007 trip to the Junior College World Series. Following his time at Delgado, Westcott tranferred to Belhaven University in Jackson, MS, prior to his being drafted by San Francisco.
Westcott’s former teammate, Lee Haydel, was the recipient of the 2007 Golden Glove award as a junior college centerfielder.
Below is the text of the San Jose Giants’ official press release on Westcott’s award. The Delgado Athletic Department congratulates Craig on this prestigious honor!
_____________________________________________________________
SAN JOSE, CA - San Jose Giants right-hander Craig Westcott was named the inaugural recipient of the 2011 Minor League Rawlings Gold Glove Award® earlier today. Westcott becomes the first recipient in San Jose Giants history as well as the only recipient in the California League this season.
Westcott was a defensive catalyst for the Giants this season posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 25 games. Westcott also led all Giants pitchers this season with 25 assists and 16 putouts in 41 total chances. He is the only pitcher selected to receive the award this season in all of Minor League Baseball.
Minor League Baseball and Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., today announced the nine Minor League Baseball players who have been chosen as recipients of a Rawlings Gold Glove Award® for defensive excellence at their position. The winners, who were selected among qualifying players from the 10 domestic-based, full-season Minor Leagues, will each receive their own Rawlings Gold Glove Award®, modeled after the iconic award given to Major League Baseball’s top defenders. The 2011 Minor League Baseball recipients of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® are as follows:
P - Craig Westcott - San Jose/San Francisco C - Tucker Barnhardt - Dayton/Cincinnati 1B - Efren Navarro - Salt Lake/Los Angeles-AL 2B - Steve Lombardozzi - Harrisburg, Syracuse/Washington SS - Darwin Perez - Arkansas/Los Angeles-AL 3B - Brandon Laird - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/New York-AL LF - Austin Krum - Trenton, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/New York-AL CF - Jordan Danks - Charlotte/Chicago-AL RF - Cole Gillespie - Reno/Arizona
“Rawlings has celebrated defensive excellence at the professional level since the inaugural Rawlings Gold Glove Award team in 1957,” said Mike Thompson, senior vice president of marketing for Rawlings. “Minor League Baseball is and will always continue to be a great partner of Rawlings, and we are thrilled to reward the hard work and dedication of these nine superior defensive players with the newly-designed Minor League Baseball Rawlings Gold Glove Award.”
“All of Minor League Baseball would like to congratulate the winners of 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards,” said Pat O’Conner, Minor League Baseball President. “To be honored with such a prestigious award is quite an accomplishment and exemplifies excellence in the field. Minor League Baseball is also pleased to team with Rawlings Sporting Goods to bring back such a great tradition as the Rawlings Gold Glove Award.”
This season marks the return of Rawlings honoring Minor League Baseball players for their defensive prowess. The St. Louis-based company named a Minor League all-star fielding team on the basis of official fielding averages for several years in the 1960s. The accolade was known as the Rawlings Silver Glove Award during that time.
