PHILADEPHIA, Pa. – Roly de Armas, former Georgia Southern baseball player during the 1972-73 seasons, was named the 13th recipient of the Mike Coolbaugh Award by Minor League Baseball Tuesday. 
 
The Mike Coolbaugh Award is presented nationally to an individual who has shown "outstanding baseball work ethic, knowledge of the game and skill in mentoring young players on the field." MiLB created the award in 2008 to honor Coolbaugh, who was a 17-year Minor League player and in his first season as a coach when he died.
 
de Armas finished his 35^th year as a Minor League Manager, spending this past season with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Phillies. He started his career as a player-coach in the Phillies' system with Class A Peninsula in 1977. 
 
Along with coaching in MiLB, de Armas served as the bullpen coach for Team USA in the World Cup from 2007-09 and spent several months with the Phillies in 2008 as the interim bullpen coach. He served as the bullpen coach for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, and earlier this year he served as bullpen coach for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics, winning a silver medal.
 
"It's truly an honor to be selected for this award and to be mentioned with the previous winner, many of whom I know personally," de Armas said. "The previous winner of this award, Glenn 'Goose' Gregson, was my pitching coach in my first year, and here we are almost 50 years later, and we are the last two winners of this award, so that is pretty amazing. Mike Coolbaugh was a great man, and I'm honored to win the award named in his honor."