For the second time in four seasons, Alamo Short Stacks President of Baseball Operations Greg Shelley has been named the Roger Dorn Baseball League's Executive of the Year. The Stacks captured their second RDBL Regular Season Title in 2022 while significant upgrades to the roster in June and July have club positioned to capture their first RDBL Title while shattering the record for most team points and pitching points in the Playoffs.
The Stacks were expected to be a contender in 2022, but took a firm hold of the top spot in the standings early in the season. That lead held strong until the club felt the heat from the Maltese Falcons and Spokane Fightin' Fish who each took hold of the lead themselves at points in June and July.
That sparked Shelley to pull off a pair of blockbuster deals with the Cloverdale Clovers and Honolulu Hammerheads to acquire Jacob deGrom, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, Corbin Burnes, Carlos Rodon, Ryan McMahon, Bryon Buxton, Yoan Moncada and Luis Garcia.
While those names certainly stole the show, the Stacks heavily relied on their own activations mightily as Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. followed up his Hitter of the Year Award in 2021 with another strong campaign. The pitching staff was led by Julio Urias who has quietly posted more than 1,100 points over his first two seasons for the Stacks for a combined $4 while Logan Gilbert eclipsed 450 points in his activation season. After a shaky start, Brandon Woodruff returned to ace level with a 2.35 ERA after May 15th further strengthening the unit.
Shelley heavily invested in the club's bullpen and it paid off with the trio of Emmanuel Clase, Kenley Jansen and Liam Hendricks combining for almost 1,000 points and 117 saves with Clase earning the Reliever of the Year honors with 414.0 points entering the final three days of play. The three closers came up clutch when the Stacks needed them most, posting 80.0 points and eight saves combined over the last seven days to help grow the Playoff lead.
The Auction paid off nicely as well for Shelley as high-priced acquisition Manny Machado is firmly in the mix for the National League MVP Award while Jeff McNeil's $7 investment proved to be a steal as he fights for the National League Batting Title.
While the Stacks certainly pushed their chips in for 2022, the Amateur Scouting Department certainly deserves praise as the standout prospects used in their blockbuster deals were drafted in the 2nd Round (Marco Luciano), 3rd Round (Quinn Priester), 4th Round (Robert Hassell III) and 7th Round (Andrew Painter), allowing the club to retain expected 2023 activations Corbin Carroll, MacKenzie Gore and Miguel Vargas.
Shelley joins Ryan Atkinson (2014, 2021) and Jason Watson (2015, 2017) as two-time Executive of the Year winners with Terry Shelley, Michael Tirabassi and Nick Holz each winning the award once.
Honorable Mention: Gary Falzon (Falcons), Michael Tirabassi (Fish), Chris Ferraro, Jr. (Maulers), Garrett Shelley (Hops), Ryan Walsh (Ducks)
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