Held is the first pitcher from Simpson to earn Pitcher of the Year honors. The Storm won the league MVP award three times prior to the awards being split in 2008 to honor a pitcher and a position player. Previous Simpson MVP honorees include; Joe Blake (1971), Joel Johnson (1991), and Dan Rieck (2004). The Storm senior pitched in six league games, starting five of them. He had the league’s sixth-best ERA in conference contests at 2.88, being one of seven A-R-C pitchers to hold a sub-3.00 ERA. In 34.1 innings pitched in league games, Held allowed his opponents to hit just .181 off him, which is good for second-best in the league. The Indianola native led the league in strikeouts, recording 57. In addition to his performance on the mound for the Storm, Held batted in 18 conference games, holding a .352 batting average. He recorded 19 hits, 17 runs scored, and eight runs batted in (RBI). Five of his hits were doubles and three were homeruns, holding a slugging percentage of .611.
