SIMBL GM AWARDS HISTORY

SIMBL GMS HAVE SPOKEN: 2026 SIMBL GM AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Oregon's Historic One-Season Turnaround Earns Imasa GM Of The Year Honors

Chicago closer Ron Orr (above right) celebrates one of his 45 saves this season en route to helping the Hitmen to the SIMBL's best record this season of 106-56.  Orr sported one of the best seasons by a closer in SIMBL history this past season going 7-0 with a blistering 0.78 ERA with a 93.8% save conversion rate.  Orr also became the fourth pitcher in SIMBL history to win both a Middle Reliever Of The Year and a Fireman Of The Year Award in their career.  Orr won the SL Middle Reliever Of The Year just last season before converting to the closer role for the defending SL East Champions this season.

2026 SIMBL GM AWARDS:
SIMBL GM Of The Year: Tim Imasa Oregon
UL Slugger Of The Year: Tony Aguilar Dallas
SL Slugger Of The Year: Taki Taketo Knoxville
UL Hurler Of The Year: Richard Dicks Jr. Cleveland
SL Hurler Of The Year: Alan Alexander Anderson Las Vegas
UL Middle Reliever Of The Year: Luis Martinez Calgary
SL Middle Reliever Of The Year: Aaron Vukevich Chicago
UL Fireman Of The Year: Dontrelle Jackson Texas/Seattle
SL Fireman Of The Year: Ron Orr Chicago
UL Rookie Of The Year: Sammy Flynn Bristol
SL Rookie Of The Year: Julio Cardona Boston

The 2026 regular season and postseason have concluded and with that the SIMBL GMs have spoken with the annual SIMBL GM Awards voting.

Oregon GM Tim Imasa was voted by his peers as the 2026 SIMBL GM Of The Year.  Imasa took his team that had the worst record in the SIMBL last season at 53-109 and improved them to a .500 record at 81-81 within one season.  The Pioneers were in contention for a playoff berth until the last SIM of the season.  The +28 game improvement is the second-best one season improvement in SIMBL history.

Knoxville GM Andy Hutchinson came in second and Westbury GM Bill Atteberry and Chicago GM John Bowden tied for a distant third.

Dallas slugger Tony Aguilar was voted the 2026 UL Slugger Of The Year/MVP for the fourth time in the past six seasons.  "Troop" led Dallas to the first division title in franchise history by hitting .301 with 45 HR and 128 RBI along with 58 stolen bases.  It was Aguilar's unprecedented sixth consecutive 40 HR/40 SB season.

Last season's UL MVP, New York's Artie Bradley, and Oregon's Ty Brown tied for second while Calgary's Colt McAlister finished a distant third in the voting.

Knoxville backstop Taki Taketo won the third SL Slugger Of The Year award of his career previously winning the honors in 2019 and 2022.  Taketo led the Lumberkings to their first divisional crown since the 2020 season by hitting .301 with 44 HR and 109 RBI.

Sacramento's Logan Raynes and Chicago's Ju-Won Shi, last season's winner, finished tied for a distant second.

The 2026 Hurler Of The Year Awards were repeats from last season and deservedly so as Cleveland's Richard Dicks Jr. and Las Vegas' Alan Alexander Anderson were clearly the cream of the crop again this season.

Dicks led Cleveland to the path to the Brownies' first SIMBL Championship by winning the pitching Triple Crown in the UL by going 20-9 with a 2.29 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 212 strikeouts.

Dicks was almost an unanimous choice for the award except one vote was cast for Westbury's Brian Woods.

"Triple A" won the Triple Crown as well in the SL with a SIMBL leading 26-7 record with a SIMBL-leading 1.96 ERA along with a SIMBL-leading 0.85 WHIP and a SIMBL-leading 240 strikeouts.  Anderson become only the eighth pitcher in SIMBL history to win 25 or more games in a season and posted the 12th 25-win season in league history.  Anderson also won 25 games last season and joined future SIMBL Hall Of Famer Bobby Grimes as the only pitchers to win 25 games in back-to-back seasons.  Grimes did so back in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Like Dicks Jr., Anderson almost received an unanimous vote though Sacramento's Joe Tarnowsky received one vote for the award.

Calgary veteran reliever Luis Martinez was voted the 2026 UL Middle Reliever Of The Year.  Martinez was the Clippers workhorse going 10-5 with a 2.63 ERA and 0.91 in 144.0 innings appearing in 89 games.  The lefthander struck out an amazing 178 batters which placed him among league leaders with starting pitchers and had ten holds along with three saves.

Martinez's teammate and former two-time UL Middle Reliever Of The Year winner Bob Detty placed second in the voting while former 2023 UL Middle Reliever Of The Year Chet Fisher of Westbury finished third.

Chicago's veteran Aaron Vukevich was voted the 2026 SL Middle Reliever Of The Year.  "Vuke" went 6-2 with a 1.86 ERA and 0.84 for the Hitmen.  He also had ten holds, three saves and 55 strikeouts in helping solidify the bullpen for Chicago to have the best record in the SIMBL this season at 106-56.

Last season's SL winner, Asheville's Dez Jordan, Hawaii's Angel Soriano and Rochester's Michael Holloway finished tied for second in the voting while Knoxville's Sean O'Neal, Deer Lake's Donald Miller and Las Vegas' Blair Singleton finished tied for a distant third.

Veteran closer Dontrelle Jackson, who always has had excellent seasons in his eight-season SIMBL career, finally earned some accolades and was voted the 2026 UL Fireman Of The Year.  Jackson spent his entire career with Texas who drafted him in the eighth round of the live part of the 2019 SIMBL New File Era Inaugural Draft then was traded at this season's trade deadline to Seattle.  Jackson finished the season with 37 saves, a 1.64 ERA with a 1.04 WHIP and 97.4% save percentage.  The 37 year-old closer has a 2.06 career ERA with a 90.5% career save conversion rate.  He is five saves away (295) from becoming one of the few closers in SIMBL history to achieve 300 career saves.

Oregon's Andrew Stephens finished a vote behind Jackson for second while last year's winner, Whitby's Keith Patterson, and Westbury's Andrew Walker finished tied for third-place in the balloting.

Chicago's Ron Orr was voted the 2026 SL Fireman Of The Year and became the fourth player in SIMBL history, joining the SIMBL First File Era's Richard Bell and Charles Vue and the SIMBL New File Era's Dez Jordan, to win both a Fireman Of The Year and Middle Reliever Of The Year Award in their SIMBL careers.  Orr won the SL MROTY Award last season.  After converting to the closer role this season Orr was outstanding.  The 36 year-old went 7-0 with a blistering 0.78 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 45 saves in 69.2 innings.  Orr sported a 93.8% save conversion rate in helping the Hitmen to the best record in the SIMBL this past season.

Bristol starting pitcher Sammy Flynn was voted the 2026 UL Rookie Of The Year.  "The Bull" went 15-7 in 30 starts with a 2.95 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.  Flynn struck out 133 while walking 58.  It's the fourth Owl to win the award in the past five seasons.

New York starting pitcher Casey Barker and Westbury starting pitcher Alexander Darby finished in second and third-place respectively.

Boston left fielder Julio Cardona was voted the 2026 SL Rookie Of The Year.  The former #21 overall pick of the 2023 SIMBL Draft hit .255 with 9 home runs and 54 RBI in his first 111 SIMBL games.  Cardona also stole 36 bases in 40 attempts and sported a .738 OPS.

Knoxville starting pitcher Chris Townend and Boston starting pitcher Juan Jose Domingo finished tied for second-place while another Revolution teammate, third baseman John Papcun, finished third.

The 2026 SIMBL Richard P. DeMarco Gold Gloves Defense Awards will be announced next in a league press conference.

After the Gold Gloves are announced, the SIMBL League Office will formally announce the official upcoming 2027 off-season SIM schedule as the SIMBL ventures towards its 23rd season of competition.