Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians prospects Win High-A Awards
The High-A regular season has officially come to a close and the playoffs are set to begin (the Florida State League playoffs got under way Tuesday, more on that later). Now that it’s the end of the season, it’s time to dish out some awards. I’ve been following the Carolina League, the California League and the Florida State League all season, and here are my 2015 MVP and Cy Young picks for each league. A couple of the names didn’t appear very often in the weekly recaps because I tried to focus on highly-rated prospects, but these players had stellar seasons regardless and are deserving of recognition. Among the recipients are Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians prospects.
I’ll begin in the FSL…
Florida State League MVP—Garrett Cooper, 3B, Brevard County Manatees
Cooper is one of the names that didn’t appear in the weekly recaps, but his season was impressive. While Phil Ervin, Austin Meadows and Dominic Smith are the most recognized position players, Cooper’s .294/.356/.436 line put him among the best offensive players in the league: he was first in slugging, sixth in on base percentage, first in weighted on base average and first in wRC+.
Florida State League CY Young—Amir Garrett, Daytona Tortugas
Garrett’s exploits as a two sport athlete are well documented, and in the first season in which he was fully devoted to baseball, the Reds prospect provided copious examples of his supreme athleticism and potential. Perhaps the best example came yesterday, when he allowed one hit and struck out 12 in seven shutout innings in Game 1 of the North Division Finals. The Tortugas won the game 3-0 and are one win away from the Championship Series. In the regular season, Garrett led the league in strikeouts per nine innings (8.53), was third in opponent’s average (.227) and second in ERA (2.44). Despite some control problems, Garrett only allowed 0.26 home runs per nine innings and had a 2.90 FIP.
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California League MVP—Eric Aguilera, 1B, Inland Empire 66ers
To be fair, this award would easily have gone to Astros prospect A.J. Reed, who was promoted to Double-A in the middle of July, had he played the whole season in Lancaster. But his promotion opened the door for Aguilera to win MVP. He is another name that is tough to find on a top prospect list, but that didn’t keep him from mashing in the California League. His .327/.392/.532 line puts him among the top three hitters in the league, and although he only hit 17 home runs compared to Tyler O’Neill’s 32, Cody Bellinger’s and Chase McDonald’s 30 and Kevin Cron’s 27, Aguilera’s .401 wOBA and 149 wRC+ are almost identical to or better than those of the other players mentioned.
California League CY Young—Antonio Senzatela, Modesto Nuts
The youngest qualified pitcher in the league according to FanGraphs, Senzatela had the league’s highest strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.33) the lowest ERA (2.51) and the second lowest FIP (3.56). This was an easy choice. He has the skill set, like other Rockies minor leaguers, to contribute in the future.
Carolina League MVP—Clint Frazier, OF, Lynchburg Hillcats
No matter what this award was going to a Hillcat—just look at the offensive leaderboards of this league. Nellie Rodriguez and Luigi Rodriguez (no relation) had stellar seasons and Bradley Zimmer propelled himself into the upper-crust of the prospect rankings with his demolition Carolina League pitching. Frazier, however, wins the award for his full body of work. Frazier was top five in the league in average, OBP, slugging, home runs, RBI, total bases, wOBA and wRC+. No hitter in the league had a more complete offensive profile, except for possibly Zimmer, who was promoted to Double-A after the All-Star break.
Carolina League Cy Young—Seth Webster, Carolina Mudcats
Webster was pitching for the Schaumburg Boomers in 2013, 2014 and at the beginning of this season. If you don’t recognize this team, it’s probably because it plays in the independent Frontier League. He only pitched one game for them—seven shutout innings on three hits and six strikeouts on May 14—and was signed by the Braves the next day. After making one start for Single-A Rome, Webster hung a 2.82 ERA and 1.06 WHIP on Carolina League offenses, which puts him among the three lowest in both categories. Webster’s K/BB of 12.0 led all qualified starters by over four K/BB—the next lowest was Alec Mills, who had a 7.93 K/BB—and his FIP is second in the league. He is one of the feel good stories of the 2015 minor league season.
All stats from MiLB.com, FanGraphs.com and Baseball-Reference.com