The greatest offensive team in Key West Ramblers history mashed its way to a 42-15 overall record and to four championships during the 2017 season. It was a fitting end to manager John Knabel's 14 years guiding a team that he brought back to life in 2004. The final weekend of the season included postseason titles in both the Prairie League and the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye League.
No Ramblers team has ever showed off as much thunder from top to bottom. Four different players belted six or more home runs, including Andrew Redman, the MVP of both the Farley and Dyersville Tournaments. Redman broke Chris Briggs' five-year-old record for home runs in a single season by hitting 13 big flies. At the top of the lineup, Anthony Razo set a new team standard for hits (68) in a season while hitting an even .400. It was also a stellar season for Nick Woltkamp, who delivered 10 doubles, six triples and six home runs.
The 2017 Ramblers made up for a lack of pitching depth by pushing across a team record 370 runs. They also broke team records for doubles (95), triples (18), home runs (44), total bases (747) and slugging percentage (.489). Next in line behind Redman for the team lead in home runs were Briggs (8), Brett LaMere (6) and Woltkamp (6). A complete summary of team records broken in 2017 can be found below.
On the mound, Redman and Woltkamp starred as the team's top two pitchers. Redman was incredibly dominant, going 10-0 with a 1.29 ERA and just 44 hits allowed in 77 innings. He struck out 99 hitters and broke Ned Schauff's team career record for strikeouts. Meanwhile, Woltkamp was again the workhorse. He logged more than 100 innings for the third season in a row. He went 14-6 with a 3.79 ERA over 137.2 innings, a figure that broke his own team standard.
After a three-game losing streak in June, Key West sat at 13-8 overall. It was a bit of a disappointing start considering the team's 49-7 record in 2016. However, the Ramblers got on a roll and went 29-7 the rest of the way. They finished the season by winning 12 of their last 13 games. In the final weekend of the year, Key West defeated Bellevue in the Prairie League championship game and then Cascade in the EIHL title game. It marked the first time in team history that the Ramblers had won both championships in the same season. In the Farley tournament championship game, Key West topped Epworth, 5-4.
Aug. 5 was a historic day for Key West. Not only did the Ramblers trounce Balltown, 18-3, for the Dyersville tournament title, they claimed win No. 400 since their rebirth in 2004. Knabel finished his 14 years leading Key West with an overall record of 409-225-1 and 22 tournament championships. In 2017, the Ramblers reigned supreme in Eastern Iowa semi-pro baseball with the top record in the area in terms of both overall number of wins and winning percentage.
As part of Key West's prolific offense, six Rambler regulars batted better than .300: Razo (.400), Woltkamp (.387), Redman (.385), Briggs (.361), Ben Oglesby (.309) and LaMere (.301). Redman topped the team in many statistical categories, including home runs, RBI (48), on-base percentage (.506) and slugging percentage (.779). If there were an official MVP named in Eastern Iowa semi-pro, it would have been difficult to go against Redman, the best player on the area's best team.
TEAM RECORDS BROKEN IN 2017
Individual Hitting, Season
Slugging Percentage
New record: Andrew Redman, .779
Previous Record: Chris Briggs, .731 (2012)
Games Played
New Record: Nick Woltkamp, 53
Previous Record: Ben Oglesby, 52 (2016)
Runs Scored
New Record: Nick Woltkamp, 54
Previous Record: Andrew Redman, 50 (2014)
Hits
New Record: Anthony Razo, 68
Previous Record: Ryan Siems, 66 (2016)
Doubles
Tie: Spencer Kuehn, 19 (2012) / Anthony Razo, 19 (2017)
Individual Pitching, Season
Wins
Tie: Nick Woltkamp, 14 (2016/2017)
Earned Run Average (min. 30 IP)
New Record: Andrew Redman, 1.29
Previous Record: Kenny Capesius, 1.32 (2016)
Innings Pitched
New Record: Nick Woltkamp, 137.2
Previous Record: Nick Woltkamp, 122.2 (2016)
Games
New Record: Nick Woltkamp, 26
Previous Record: Nick Woltkamp, 23
New team single-season records broken in 2017
Doubles: 95
Triples: 18
Home Runs: 44
Total Bases: 747
Runs Scored: 370
Slugging Percentage: .489
Complete Games: 29
*Note: Nick Woltkamp has now moved to the top of the Rambler career record book in four pitching categories: wins (40), innings pitched (368.2), games (69) and games started (50). He extended his already existing team career record for complete games to 31. Andrew Redman owns team career pitching records for ERA (1.56), strikeouts (354) and lowest opponent batting average (.161).
