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RAILROADERS 2018 TEAM AWARDS ANNOUNCED

09/07/2018 2:28 PM

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RAILROADERS 2018 TEAM AWARDS ANNOUNCED
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 7, 2018
CLEBURNE, Texas – The Cleburne Railroaders have awarded the individual team awards for 2018, the club announced Friday.
Angel Rosa (MVP), Jared Mortensen (Starting Pitcher of the Year), Shawn Blackwell (Relief Pitcher of the Year), Levi Scott (Position Player of the Year) and Trevor Sealey (Rookie of the Year) have all been recognized for their production on the field for 2018.
Rosa, a former Los Angeles Angels farmhand, was acquired in a mid-season deal with the Kansas City T-Bones and immediately slotted in as the club’s every-day shortstop. Over 52 games with Cleburne, Rosa posted a .254/.329/.866 slashline with 14 homers and 36 RBI.
Eventually moving to the leadoff spot, Rosa posted a HR/AB rate of 14.6 – by far the most potent rate among the Cleburne regulars. This past year was Rosa’s first full season of independent baseball after spending parts of five seasons with the Angels.
Jared Mortensen, who was dealt to the Kansas City T-Bones ahead of this year’s trade deadline, went 4-5 with a 4.01 ERA over 17 appearances and 16 starts with Cleburne. Mortensen threw 110.0 innings and gave up 55 runs on 100 hits with 47 walks and 96 strikeouts in his first year with the Railroaders.
For much of the year, Mortensen had some of the best numbers in the league – and in the month of June, the Abbotsford, BC native posted a 1-1 record with a 1.49 ERA across five starts.
Shawn Blackwell made a team-record 50 appearances across 99 games for the Railroaders, quickly evolving into the team’s closer and providing a rock at the back-end of the bullpen.
A former Texas Rangers farmhand, Blackwell went 5-6 with a 3.67 ERA and recorded 13 saves. In 61.1 innings, he allowed 26 runs on 55 hits with 18 walks and 62 strikeouts. Blackwell was among the league leaders in appearances, and his 50 were 10 more than last year’s club leader Winston Abreu.
Burleson native Levi Scott was a standout for Cleburne in 2018, posting a .267/.361/.819 slashline across 94 games in his first season with the Railroaders.
Scott finished second on the team in homers with 15 and had more home runs in a Railroaders uniform than anyone in 2018 (two of Rosa’s 16 homers came in Kansas City). Scott also finished the year with 55 RBI, and was as productive as anyone in the American Association with 23 RBI over his final 30 games.
Trevor Sealey, who began the year as Cleburne’s utilityman, quickly became a mainstay in the lineup with his improvement at the plate and in the field, earning him a deadline-day move to the St. Paul Saints for a chance to win the 2018 league championship.
Sealey earned his spot on the roster after spending two seasons in the Pecos League and then slashing .215/.269/.277 in 94 games with the Texas AirHogs in 2017.
With the Railroaders this year, Sealey slashed .267/.338/.376 with six homers and 30 RBI to go along with 16 doubles. He especially took off in August, when he posted a .378/.412/.968 line with three homers and 11 RBI in 20 games.
The 2018 season ended for Cleburne on Monday, Sept. 3, but the Railroaders will return to action in May 2019. The anticipated schedule release is set for around the beginning of November, and you can stay in touch with the Railroaders all offseason long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or by checking www.railroaderbaseball.com. 

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