D J Gladney will be honored as the Chicago Area Minor League Player of the Year at the 77th Annual Pitch & Hit Club Awards Banquet. The banquet will be held January 19 at the Tinley Park Convention Center, 18451 Convention Center Drive, Tinley Park. Doors open at 3:30PM for autographs and the memorabilia auction. Dinner begins at 5PM.
Gladney, a native of Matteson, IL., played high school ball at Illiana Christian Academy. As a product of the White Sox ACE program, Gladney caught the attention of White Sox scout J.J. Lally at the Area Code Games in 2018. The White Sox selected Gladney in the 16th round of 2019. Last season, after being promoted to Birmingham in the Southern League, he had a breakout season. In 97 AB’s, he hit .278, with 6 HR’s, and 18 RBI’s. He also had a .819 OPS in helping the Barons to the Southern League Championship.
OTHER AWARD WINNERS
Lou Boudreau Hall-of-Fame – A. J. Pierzynski
Lou Boudreau Hall-of-Fame – Gene Honda
Chicago Area MLB Player of the Year – Michael Massey – KC Royals
Harry Carry Sportscaster of the Year – Matt Spiegel – 670 The Score
High School Softball Player of the Year – Madison Vrastil – Andrew High School
Chicago Area College Player of the Year – Kendal Ewell – UIC
Gordie Gillespie College Coach of the Year – Brian Michalak – University of St. Francis
High School Softball Coach of the Year – Tom Poulin – St. Charles North High School
Chicago Area Minor League Team of the Year – Kane County Cougars
Len DiForte Amateur Baseball Service Award – Black Baseball Media
Presidents Award – Mike McCartney
BANQUET TICKETS
They will be available at all meetings. They are also available at https://pitchandhitclub.com/banquet/. Tickets are $85 member price, $100 non-member and $825 for a table of ten.