WESTLOCK – A first-year Westlock Red Lion has been named the North Central Alberta Baseball League’s most promising junior player for 2022 and been awarded the Dan Gerlach Memorial Award.
Kade Knight, a 21-year-old Morinville native, earned the honour after posting a .378 batting average to go along with 13 runs, nine RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 49 plate appearances over the 20-game season. A catcher by trade, Knight said it was a distinct honour and thanked his teammates calling it a “team award.”
The honour is voted on by league governors and managers and presented annually to a deserving player who is under 21 and will not celebrate his 22nd birthday in the playing year — due to the last two seasons being shortened due to COVID-19, the league did not hand out the award.
Knight, who’s 6’1” and bats lefthanded, was recruited to the team by long-time Red Lion Jordan Brand as he works for him in Morinville. Coming into the league, Knight wasn’t sure what to expect but says his eyes were opened by the level of play in the NCABL.
“It’s awesome. I was maybe a little skeptical at the start of the year as I had never played for another organization, and I didn’t know how it would turn out. But I loved playing for the Red Lions and to win the award was big for me because I really wanted to gain the respect of the guys I played with, and I wanted it to be a win for the Red Lions. I was happy to bring it home to them,” said Knight. “I love all the guys and want nothing more than to come back next summer.”
Knight started his minor ball career in Morinville, then moved on to play for higher-tiered St. Albert clubs when he was around 11 years old. And just this past week Knight packed his bags and headed south to West Point, Georgia, where he’ll be playing for the Point University Skyhawks who compete in the Appalachian Athletic Conference under the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics — basically Div. 2 of the NCAA. While Knight has dreams of playing pro ball, he’ll use this opportunity to not only hone his skills but get a degree as he’s on a full athletic scholarship.
“My focal point is to get my degree and to keep playing for the Red Lions in the summers in the meantime. Obviously playing pro ball is dream of mine, but I’m also realistic. Worrying about pro ball will be an after-college discussion,” he said.
And although it’s been a great season for him and he was looking forward to his first year in Georgia, Knight admitted it was “bittersweet” having to leave before the playoffs began — Knight left for Georgia Aug. 18, while the Red Lions faced the Fort Saskatchewan Reds in Game 1 of the NCABL semifinal Aug. 19.
“Leaving the diamond after the final game versus Parkland hurt for sure knowing I wasn’t going to be around for playoffs,” Knight said.
Red Lions skipper Chris Brand said Knight has been a great teammate and was a solidifying force behind the plate — in his absence, Jordan will slide back behind the plate and assume the catching duties. NCABL commissioner Paul Riopel said Knight had a “brilliant” season highlighting the fact he finished eighth among the league's Top 20 batters and showed long-range power by amassing seven doubles.
“He’s an excellent ball player, it’s well deserved for him to not only win the award, but to be moving on to play in the States. We haven’t had a catcher like him a long time. He also has a great arm and can really control the other team’s run game,” said Brand. “He really came on at the plate at the end of the year and was a really tough out and scored a lot of runs for us. Jordan will be able to step in and do a job for us but taking Kade out of the line-up hurts for sure.”
Award history
The Dan Gerlach Memorial Award has been handed numerous times to Westlock-based players throughout the league’s history.
In the inaugural year of its presentation in 1978, Barry Kuzminski, from the Waskatenau area, won the award while playing for the Westlock Astros, a junior club, and later went on to play for the Canadian National Senior Baseball Team. He was followed locally by Rick Provencal, then playing for the Vimy Blues, who won the award in 1980 and 1981 — Provencal is also one of handful of men with his name on the outfield wall at Keller Field.
The honour was then claimed five times in a six-year stretch by a “young phenom” from Westlock by the name of Terry Vandenborn who first won the award as a Westlock Cobra, the junior club, in 1983 and then picked up four more from 1984 to 1987 as a Red Lion — only one other player in the history of the league has even won the award three times.
“Vandenborn dominated this award from the age of 17 until he turned 21,” said Riopel.
Eldon Senko was the next Red Lion to place his name on this trophy in 1992 and was followed by Ryan Squire (2003), Trevor Miller (2005), Aaron Watamaniuk (2010), and his brother Austin Watamaniuk (2019).
