(October 10, 2025, New York) – The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball today named James Nelson of the Charleston Dirty Birds as the league’s Player of the Year and Noah Skirrow of the Lancaster Stormers as the Pitcher of the Year in voting conducted by the league’s managers, coaches and front office staff.
Nelson is the second consecutive Dirty Bird to earn ALPB Player of the Year honors, following 2024 honoree Keon Barnum. Skirrow is the first Stormer to earn Pitcher of the Year recognition since Nate Reed in 2018 and the fifth Stormer to win the award.
Both Nelson and Skirrow experienced historic seasons in 2025.
Nelson, 27, had a truly outstanding campaign in 2025, becoming the first player in league history to post 30 homers and 50 stolen bases. He was the only player in the league to finish among the top seven in batting average, home runs and RBI.
Nelson hit .315 in 124 games with 34 home runs and 89 RBI. He finished seventh in batting average, second in home runs and seventh in RBI. He was the only ALPB player to appear in 124 games, led the league with 158 base hits and was third with 53 stolen bases.
Skirrow, 26, had a season that matched Nelson’s for its historic significance. Skirrow led all ALPB pitchers with 15 wins, tied for the most starts with 25, finished second with 143 strikeouts and was second with a 3.99 ERA. Only seven pitchers in league history have won more than 15 games in a season and Skirrow is the first to win that many since Daryl Thompson of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs went 15-4 in 2022. With a .833 winning percentage, Skirrow recorded the fifth-highest win rate among all ALPB pitchers with 15 or more wins in a season.
After starting the year 5-3, the right-handed starter won 10 straight decisions over his final 15 starts. He never allowed more than four hits in any of his last 15 starts and struck out a season-high 10 in a 4-0 win over Hagerstown on July 23.
A former starter at Liberty University, Skirrow spent four seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organization before joining Lancaster prior to the start of the 2025 campaign.
About the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB)
Celebrating its third decade, the Atlantic League is Major League Baseball’s first Professional Partner League, a player gateway to the major leagues, and a leader in baseball innovation. Over its 27-year history, the ALPB has sent over 1,450 players to MLB organizations while drawing over 49 million fans to its 10 state-of-the-art ballparks that stretch from New York to North Carolina. Follow the action at AtlanticLeague.com.