Sportsman of the Year 2025

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The New England Collegiate Baseball League and Deputy Commissioner Gregg Hunt are pleased to announce the 2025 NECBL Sportsman of the Year recipient. Upper Valley’s Anthony Brotz has been named the 2025 New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) Sportsman of the Year. 

The NECBL Sportsman of the Year was voted on by the 13 on-field managers from across the league. Each team nominated a player worthy of the award, and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players on the ballot. Other voters included General Managers and Umpires.

Brotz has had nothing short of an expansive amatuer baseball career. Graduating from Bath Haverling High School in Bath, NY, Brotz committed to Genesee Community College and played two seasons of ball there. Brotz shined at Genesee, racking up 76 RBIs on 132 hits, and amassed a .449 batting average in two seasons. Following the 2023-24 season, Brotz transferred to Marist University for 2024-25. He would start all 54 games for the Red Foxes and batted .301 with a .391 OBP. Brotz counted for 41 runs and 32 RBIs, and finished the season with a fielding percentage of .958.

In his first and most recent season with the Upper Valley Nighthawks, Brotz proved himself as one of the team’s most valuable players right away. Brotz started 43 of 44 games at second base for the Nighthawks. In 162 at-bats, Brotz racked up 46 hits, drove in 23 runs, and scored 27 runs with a .267 batting average. Brotz also was chosen as the second baseman for the North All-Star Reserves with two plate appearances in the 2025 NECBL All-Star Game. 

2025 NECBL Sportsman of the Year Team Nominees:

Valley Blue Sox- Michael Elko (Richmond) 

Newport Gulls- Petey Craska (North Alabama) 

Mystic Schooners- Jake Kernodle (Princeton) 

Bristol Blues- Gianno Merlonghi (Central Conn) 

Sanford Mainers- Luke Jenkins (North Carolina-Greensboro) 

North Adams SteepleCats- Colin Overholt (Ashland) 

Ocean State Waves- Zach Plasschaert (Fresno State) 

The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 230 alumni to the Major Leagues with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visitNECBL.com and follow the league on X/Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.