Amsterdam’s Keith Griffin and Batavia’s Joey Martinez have been named the 2023 PGCBL Coaches of the Year. The selections come on the heels of Griffin leading the Mohawks to their league-leading seventh PGCBL championship and Martinez guiding the Muckdogs to the top of the West Division for the second consecutive season.
Griffin is no stranger to the league recognition, as the highly acclaimed skipper picks up his third overall, and second consecutive, Coach of the Year award. Martinez’s selection is his first nomination in what has become a budding PGCBL coaching career.
Griffin led Amsterdam to their 11th East Division regular season title in 2023, as the Mohawks went a league-best 36-5 (.869 win percentage) in the regular season. Their success continued into the playoffs when Amsterdam went a perfect 4-0 to claim their seventh, and second straight, PGCBL championship. After a dominant regular season that included Griffin’s 500th win as the Mohawks Head Coach, his experience and leadership was crucial especially in the postseason, as the Mohawks won a pair of one-run games against Saugerties and Utica before they shut out Elmira in games one and two of the PGCBL Championship Series to remain atop the PGCBL hill.
Statistically, Amsterdam was the only team to hit over .300 during the season (.319), and mashed the baseball when they did so, as they were the only team with a slugging percentage over .400 (.455), with 20+ homers (27), and with 400+ hits (432). While the bats did their thing, the pitching staff had their own share of success, leading the league with a 2.70 staff ERA and .188 batting average against. Their 384 staff strikeouts also set the pace for the league.
After a third-place finish in the West Division in their first year in the PGCBL, Martinez has directed the Muckdogs to back-to-back West Division titles. With the West being an uberly competitive division in 2023, Batavia battled for the first three weeks before winning 13 of 15 in a stretch from June 21st to July 13th that catapulted them to the top of the division. Martinez’s guidance led the Muckdogs down the stretch, where they jockeyed with rivals Elmira for the top spot in the West Division heading in the playoffs before four wins in the final week gave the Muckdogs their second consecutive Division crown.
While no one had an offense that matched the Mohawks’ this summer, Batavia rivaled Amsterdam’s for top staff. Batavia’s team ERA was just behind Amsterdam’s at 2.75, and their staff WHIP of 1.22 was best in the league. Batavia’s starters also tied for the league-high in complete games with four, and the staff had 15 guys register an ERA under 2.60, including six that pitched 15 or more innings.
The PGCBL would like to congratulate Keith Griffin (Amsterdam) and Joey Martinez (Batavia) on their selections as the PGCBL Coaches of the Year. The league will be announcing their 2023 Pitcher of the Year on Thursday and 2023 Player of the Year on Friday.