Manchester,
N.H. - The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Double-A
affiliate of the Toronto Blue
Jays, are pleased to announce that Fisher Cats catcher Travis
d'Arnaud was named the 2011 Double-A winner of the R. Howard Webster Award, recognizing
the top player at each level of the Blue Jays organization, as
announced by the
Blue Jays earlier today. Centerfielder
Anthony Gose has been named the
recipient of the Blue Jays' Community
Service Award.
d'Arnaud led the Fisher
Cats and finished
fourth among active Eastern League hitters with a .311 batting average
while
also leading the club in doubles (33), homeruns (21), RBI (78), total
bases
(230), OBP (.371), and OPS (.914).
His
.542 slugging percentage finished first in the EL among active players. The 6-foot-2, 195 lb.
catcher threw out
26-percent of would be base stealers this season in 98 games behind the
plate.
The
22-year-old native of Long Beach,
California, was
selected as the starting catcher for the
Eastern Division at the 2011 Northeast Delta Dental Eastern League
All-Star
Game in Manchester
on July 13 as well as the catcher for the 2011 Eastern League Season
Ending
All-Star Team. Just
prior to being named
the Eastern League's Most Valuable Player in August, d'Arnaud was named
as the
"Best Defensive Catcher" in the Eastern League by Baseball
America.
d'Arnaud,
who entered the season ranked by Baseball
America as the fifth best prospect in the Toronto
organization, was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies with
the 37th
overall pick in 2007 and became a member of the Toronto Blue Jays
organization
when he was included in a trade from Philadelphia
for Roy Halladay on December 16, 2009.
Previous
winners of the Webster Award for the Fisher Cats are Eric Thames
(2010), Brian
Dopirak (2009), Scott Campbell (2008), David Smith (2007), Adam Lind
(2006),
Josh Banks (2005) and Aaron Hill (2004).
Here are all of this year's Webster Award winners:
Las Vegas 51s (AAA) -
David Cooper, 1B
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
(AA) - Travis d'Arnaud,
C
Dunedin Blue Jays (A
Advanced) - AJ
Jimenez, C
Lansing Lugnuts (A) -
Jacob Marisnick, OF
Vancouver Canadians (A
Short) - Justin
Nicolino, P
Bluefield Blue Jays
(Rookie) - Chris Hawkins,
OF
DSL Blue
Jays (Dominican Summer League) - Jorge Vega-Rosado, SS & Jairo
Labourt P
Gose, who set the
Fisher Cats single
season franchise record for stolen bases with 70, quickly became a fan
favorite
in New
Hampshire,
putting in as much effort off the field as he did between the lines.
The
21-year-old centerfielder strengthened the partnership developed by the
Fisher
Cats with the community as the go-to-guy for community appearances and
initiatives.
The
EL
Season Ending All-Star consistently volunteered to visit with sick
children and
their families. One
of those families,
the Arsenaults, was particularly affected by their time with Anthony
after they
initially met at the ballpark in early June.
Anthony developed a relationship with their son, Donnie,
who spent the
summer enduring grueling rounds of chemotherapy. Later
in the season they presented Anthony a
green bracelet that read 'Keep the Faith-Team Donnie' as a token of
their
appreciation which Anthony wears proudly each day.
The
Bellflower,
California
native was the only player to work all four sessions of the Fisher Cats
Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Baseball Camp in addition to offering his services for several other
camps and
community initiatives.
Tickets
to
for the 2011 Granite State Baseball Dinner, presented by Northeast
Delta Dental
on November 19 and Fisher Cats 2012 season tickets are on sale now at
the
Fisher Cats Ticket Office at 1 Line Drive, Manchester, NH 03101,
online at www.nhfishercats.com
or by
calling the Fisher Cats at (603) 641-2005.
