Following a remarkable summer campaign for the 2022 Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) champions, the Amsterdam Mohawks, infielder Gage Miller was tabbed the PGCBL Player of the Year.
Miller, a rising sophomore at Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama, is the fifth Mohawk to win PGCBL Player of the Year, joining the likes of Maxwell Costes (2019), Joe Genord (2016), Josh Gardiner (2014), and John Nogowski (2013).
The Palmyra, New York, native, terrorized opposing pitchers all summer long. Miller ended the regular season ranked first in the PGCBL in total bases (90), second in batting average (.400), slugging percentage (.667), and runs scored (46), third in on-base percentage (.517), and fourth in both hits (54) and home runs (7).
After a hitless debut in the season-opener on June 3, Miller posted a 23-game on-base streak that lasted the entire month of June. His 14-game hit streak inside Shuttleworth Park from June 10 through July 15 was the longest home consecutive game hit streak by any player in the PGCBL this year.
The slugging second baseman was one of only five qualified hitters in the league with an OPS (on-base plus slugging) over 1.000, and capped off the year second in the PGCBL with an eye-popping OPS of 1.184.
Miller’s name is also scattered throughout the Amsterdam record books. His 46 runs shattered the previous franchise, which was set by 2014 PGCBL Player of the Year Josh Gardiner. Miller and Gardiner are also tied for second in team history in doubles. Additionally, Miller and 2013 PGCBL Player of the Year, John Nogowski, are tied with the seventh-most hits in a season.
In five postseason games, Miller hit .300 with four runs and four RBIs. He homered twice in a 9-2 first-round win over Oneonta on July 30. He produced a hit in all three games of the title series against Batavia.
Featured in an article by Paul Wagner in Amsterdam’s The Recorder, Miller’s journey to the Carpet City was unlike most of his Mohawk teammates, many who come from recognizable Division I programs. Keith Griffin, who served as interim head coach at Coastal Alabama Community College last fall, first saw Miller play in a game against Bishop State. After a standout freshman season with the Wildcats, Griffin officially offered Miller a spot on the team on May 1.
The PGCBL Player of the Year Award was voted on by the league’s head coaches.