Welland's Essery named IBL Manager of the Year
Less than a week after guiding Welland to a Dominico Cup title, Brian Essery was named Intercounty Baseball League Manager of the Year.
It’s the second time Essery has earned the Troy May Memorial Award after winning in 2022. He joins Dave Rosenhahn (Toronto), Kevin Hinton (Guelph), Jeff Sharpe (Barrie), Angus Roy (Barrie), Roop Chanderdat (London) and Dean Castelli (Hamilton) as multi-time winners.
Welland was the class of the IBL in 2025, finishing atop the regular season standings with a 31-11 record – eight games ahead of Barrie and London. The Jackfish’s plus-190 run differential was 162 runs better than the next team.
It was the same story in the playoffs, as Welland went 10-3 and beat Kitchener and Guelph on its way to the final. The Jackfish defeated Barrie in five games to capture its second title in three seasons.
The Closer of the Year will be announced on Friday.
IBL Managers of the Year:
1994 Dennis Schooley, Stratford
1995 Dave Rosenhahn, Toronto
1996 Tom McKenzie, Kitchener
1997 Nick Noonan, Guelph
1998 Dave Rosenhahn, Toronto
1999 Alf Payne, Brantford
2000 Dave Rosenhahn, Toronto
2001 Ian Buglass, Waterloo
2002 Nick Owen, Barrie
2003 Rick Johnston, Toronto
2004 Kevin Hinton, Guelph
2005 Jeff Sharpe, Barrie
2006 Jeff Sharpe, Barrie
2007 Brian Bishop, Kitchener
2008 Kevin Hinton, Guelph
2009 Tim Harkness, Toronto
2010 Scott Van de Valk, Mississauga
2011 Angus Roy, Barrie
2012 Dave teBoekhorst, Guelph
2013 Matt Fortuna, Hamilton
2014 Angus Roy, Barrie
2015 Kyle MacKinnon, Burlington
2016 Roop Chanderdat, London
2017 Angus Roy, Barrie
2018 Dean Castelli, Hamilton
2019 Dean Castelli, Hamilton
2020 No season
2021 Roop Chanderdat, London
2022 Brian Essery, Welland
2023 Bill Matetich, Kitchener
2024 Dino Roumel, Guelph
2025 Brian Essery, Welland