Nominated in the Playing Category.

Consistently excellent service to Queensland baseball over a long period

1994-2014

State Level

Among other achievements, Brad led the Rams to their undefeated Claxton Shield victory in 2006, winning the helms award. He played every game in its entirety, providing errorless defence at shortstop and leading the Championship in Batting Average, Hits, Total Bases, and Slugging Average. Starting infielder for the Bandits for the first 4 years of the new ABL. Provided valuable development advice and coaching to emerging junior through the first decades of this century.

Brad made his debut in the 2003 Claxton shield with the Queensland Rams, batting .333 at second base. In 2004, he played with Creighton University and hit .325 and improved to .335/.377/.459 in his second season at Creighton. Brad then starred in the 2006 Claxton Shield, going 15 for 28 (.536) for Queensland with 3 doubles, a triple and home run in 6 games steering Queensland to a Claxton Shield win and a Helms Award.

For the 2008 Claxton Shield with the Rams, he hit .310/.420/.429 in 12 games and stole 4 bases in 4 tries. He played for the Australia national baseball team in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament at shortstop. Unfortunately, in his national debut, Dutton Australia failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

He continued his Claxton Shield career with the formation of the Australia nBaseball League in 2010 and was an everyday player for the Brisbane Bandits until the 0213-14 ABL season. In four seasons with the Bandits hit hit .253/.299/.321 in 162 games, leaving him the eighth most capped Bandits player as of 2019.

Following his ABL career, Brad continued to play for the Redcliffe Padres and then the Ipswich Musketeers in the Greater Brisbane League before retiring in 2019.

International Level

He played shortstop for the Australia national baseball team in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament. Unfortunately in his national debut, Australia failed t oqualify for the 2008 Olympics.

Professional Level

In 2006, he played for the Rockford River Hawks in the independent Frontier League and hit .217/.269/.286. In the Claxton Shield, he was less impressive batting at a .292/.292/.333 clip for Queensland. He returned to Rockford for the summer and batted .288/.370/.384 in 83 games. This included 20 stolen bases in 26 attempts.

Dutton returned to Rockford for a third season in 2008 and batted .311, narrowly missing out on the top 10 in the Frontier League for average. For 2009, Brad signed with the Gauting Indians in Germany. He debuted in the Bundesliga on 5 April, going 4 for 8 with a run, double, 2RBI and a steal.

Long, consistently excellent service to Queensland baseball as a junior and senior player.

Playing Category

International success, playing at the highest level in QLD, coaching QLD juniors

2003-2015

State Level

Queensland Rams Juniors 1998-2004

Queensland Rams Seniors 2004-2009

Bandits 2010-2015

Coached in QLD Juniors teams 2016-2020

International Level

Australian U18 World Championships Taiwan

2009 Mens World Cup Mexico

Professional Level

Phillies Minor Leagues 2004-2010

Phillies 40 man roster 2008-2009

Japan Minor Leagues 2015

Signed with Chunichi Dragons 2015

As a RHP, Drew has spent over a decade in professional baseball achieving 40 man roster status 2008, 2009 and then culminating in his signing some 6 years later with the chunichi dragons of NPB in 2015. He has overcome major injuries to his arm over a number of years from 2011 to 2014, still managed to help coach in Queensland junior teams, played in Queensland senior teams for over a decade, and still plays A grade for Red sox the club he started with back when 10 years old. Drew is of wonderful character, this has been a great ambassador for Queensland baseball and proven excellence in the US and Japan.

Player Category

Brisbane Bandits 2010-2020, Queensland Claxton Shield teams prior. Current Club Ball.

State Level

Pine Hills, Windsor Royals, Brisbane Bandits

International Level

Team Australia

Professional Level

Los Angeles Dodgers

Brisbane Bandits for 11 seasons, 6x Claxton Shield teams prior. 3x Team Australia. 4x straight ABL Title Winner, consistent clutch hitter. Good Power. His defense was Gold Glove standard. Softly spoken, genuine man who is a role model for all aspiring baseball players. Now he is coaching at Pine Hills giving his time and expertise back to the game.

Keith Wenban has contributed to the growth of baseball at a state and national level. Although his playing career ended on the cusp of the sport becoming semi-professional, he contributed positively as a player, mentor and coach during and post his official career end. As well as playing at a state and national level, Keith coached and mentored younger players through the School Representative pathways, coaching or assisting with regional and state school sports teams from 1998-2021 in Western Australia and Queensland. This commitment often involved Keith donating large amounts of his personal time to ensure that members of various schools sports teams could benefit from his experience and knowledge. Keith believes in the development of players at a grass roots level and happily played and coached club teams in metropolitan and regional areas.

State Level

Played for Queensland Claxton Shield team for three years as a starting pitcher (game 1 started by Adrian Meagher, game 2 started by Keith Wenban), Queensland were a dominant team in those years. When the Austrralian Baseball League formed in 89-90, he went 3-6 with a 4.72 ERA for the Brisbane Bandits. He had a 2-1, 3.46 record for  Perth in winning the title in 1991. In 1993-1994, Keith was 1-3 but with a 2.03 ERA for the Canebrra Bushrangers for his best ABL campaign. He had an ERA .42 better than leader Brad Cornett but fell just short of qualifying (44 1/3 IP, Kim Jessop qualified with 51 2/3 so he was within one start of making it).

Playing for Canberra in 1994-1995, he tied for third in the league with 16 starts. He was 5-3 with a 6.18 ERA for the Gold Coast Cougars in 1995-1996, His career ended in 19961997.

In his ABL career, he had gone 15-29 with a 5.22 ERA in 81 games (55 starts), striking out 197 in 319 IP.

International

Keith Wenban was with Australia for the 1985 Asian Championship and 1985 Intercontinental Cup.

He got the start against Japan in the 1991 Asian Championship and kept it even at 6-6 after five innings before Brett Cederblad relieved. Australia would win, handing Japan its lone loss of the tournament.

Nominated for Player category

Pitcher – Queensland Claxton Shield Team (84-88), Australian Team (83-91), Brisbane Bandits (1989), Perth Heat (90-93), Canberra Bushrangers (93-95), Gold Coast Cougars (95-97).