Celis speaks volumes with big stick

The man who has been keeping an eye on Saipan’s hardballers since before many of them were born has finally released the long awaited official statistics from the 2005 Saipan Major League regular season and there were little surprises from the ball field’s namesake.

According to meticulous calculations of Francisco M. Palacios, Tony Celis of the Miller Lite Brewers edged fellow slugger Mel Sakisat by.32 percentage points to take the SML batting title with pitcher pounding .492.

Celis was a coin-flip away from reaching base successfully when he came to the plate, as the Brewers third baseman went 31-for-63 on the season, but the big numbers didn’t stop there.

With 25 runs batted in, Celis ruled the RBI race by 10 runs, and he also led the league with nine doubles. Only two hitters had more triples than Celis’ pair, as Sakisat and Ben Jones shared the top spot with three.

Sakisat is no stranger to sitting atop the league in offensive categories, and this year was no different as he finished second in batting average (23-for-50 .460), second in runs scored (22), second in homeruns (1), and fourth in runs batted in (13).

While Celis enjoyed the top spot, Sakisat is still enjoying playing baseball, as the Northern Yankees are currently contending for the championship against the Ford Rangers.

One of the reasons that the Rangers are there is because of the leadership of JJ Laniyo, who finished third in the batting race with a respectable 18-for-42 .429. Laniyo was one of a slew of players who recorded a pair of triples due to his combination of speed and power.

Another big hitter with a set of wheels is Brewers catcher Manny Sablan. The man who routinely catches rockets behind the plate often fires his share off of his bat. Sablan went 23-for-55 during the regular season, finished second with six doubles, trailed only Celis with 15 runs batted in, and will forever be known as the first player to send a ball of out Tan Ko field with a wooden bat.

The tradition of sluggers continued with Joey Dela Cruz of the Rangers who went 20-for-48 to finish with a .417 and the third highest doubles total (5). Dela “Crankin” often times came up with the clutch hit for the silver and black, much like sixth place finisher Frances George.

The Brewers utility player tallied a pair of triples and narrowly missed out on the top five with a 19-for-46 .413, while edging Mets Hector Efraim’s 18-for-44 .409 to close out the 400 Club.

The Yankees got another one of their stars in the Top 10 as Robert Bansil finished in eighth (18-for-46 .391), and the Kings got a player on the list as well with Tyrone Attao (20-for-53 .377) in ninth. Clifton Silil rounded out the top performers with a 21-for-57 .368.