Welcome to awards season at Bus Leagues! Once again, we will have nine to hand out: Full-season, Short-season and Independent League Player, Starter and Reliever of the Year. These players are the best of the best of minor league baseball, except for the short-season starter I forgot to put on the ballot and didn’t realize until it was too late. Voting works like the college football polls. Voters selected five players from a list of 12, with a first place vote being worth five points, a second place vote being worth four and so on. Ties were broken by most first place votes. If neither had a first place vote, I look at who had the most second place votes and that continues down the line. If somehow ties still aren’t broken, I give Brian’s vote extra weight. Players not in the top five will not have ties broken.
The voters in the 4th edition of the Bus Leagues Awards include five experts: Chris Fee, Brian Moynahan and Andrew Rosin of Bus Leagues, Joshua Kummins of Boston Sports U18 and Craig Forde of the Boston Globe. I also voted. Here is a recap of the winners so far:
Indy League RP of the Year: Tom Boleska
Indy League SP of the Year: Jeff Duda
Indy League Player of the Year: Chris Nowak
Short-Season RP of the Year: Nick Sawyer
I have to apologize for a mistake on the ballot for today. Going through the leagues picking out the players to include, I completely missed Twins’ pitcher J.O. Berrios. I could make excuses for why I missed him, but the fact is he wasn’t on there which was a mistake. He was quite clearly one of the best pitchers in the short-season leagues this year and had a chance of winning had I been more diligent.
Short-Season Starter of the Year
FIRST
RHP Taylor Guerrieri, 19, Hudson Valley (Tampa Bay A-)
12 GS, 1-2, 1.04 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 52 IP, 35 H, 5 BB, 45 K
17 points (2 first place votes)
Hudson Valley pitching coach Kyle Snyder referred to his talented crop of young arms as “Intelligent kids who go about their business the right way every single day.” Maybe none more so than the 19-year-old Guerrieri who lived up to his hype. And five walks over 52 innings is just stupid! -Craig
It took a while for him to finally make his pro debut, but Guerrieri certainly met expectations. I expect to see him on top 100 prospect lists this off-season as he gets ready to head to full-season ball. -Scott
SECOND
RHP Javier Avendano, 21, Vancouver (Toronto A-)
14 GS, 8-1, 1.27 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 78 IP, 53 H, 25 BB, 91 K
16 points (1 first place vote)
Great year. -Andrew
The minor league rule 5 draft hardly ever garners any attention, but that’s how Toronto acquired Avendano from the St. Louis organization before the 2012 season. His great year was a driving force behind Vancouver winning their second straight Northwest League title. -Scott
THIRD
RHP Hansel Robles, 21, Brooklyn (Mets A-)
12 GS, 6-1, 1.11 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 72.2 IP, 47 H, 10 BB, 66 K
11 points (1 first place vote, 1 second place vote)
The New York-Penn League was loaded with pitching talent this season and the Brooklyn Cyclones were proof of that. Robles, like Guerrieri, managed to outshine his fellow gun slingers, although not by too much. -Craig
Seriously. Insanely good year in Park Slope. -Andrew
FOURTH
RHP C.J. Edwards, 20, Arizona Rangers/Spokane (Texas R/A-)
13 GS, 5-3, 1.48 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 67 IP, 32 H, 25 BB, 85 K
11 points (1 first place vote)
Made the leap to Low-A and continued on, striking 85 and laying down a 0.85 WHIP in 67 innings…very smooth. -Craig
Edwards was quite the find for Texas as a 48th rounder from the 2011 draft. After he didn’t allow a single run in 20 complex league innings in Arizona, he was promoted to the Northwest League and really didn’t skip a beat. Add him to the list of impressive Rangers arms. -Scott
FIFTH
RHP Gabriel Ynoa, 19, Brooklyn (Mets A-)
13 GS, 5-2, 2.23 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 76.2 IP, 61 H, 10 BB, 64 K
10 points (1 second place vote, 2 third place votes)
Not too far behind Robles was young Gabriel Ynoa who once again brings forth that always beautiful sub—1.00 WHIP. -Craig
Brooklyn had a ridiculous amount of pitching. -Andrew
SIXTH
RHP Taylor Cole, 22, Vancouver (Toronto A-)
11 GS, 6-0, 0.81 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 66.1 IP, 36 H, 17 BB, 57 K
10 points (1 second place vote, 1 third place vote)
Sure, he’s a little old for the level, especially since he was repeating it, but you have to appreciate the improvement he made over 2011. Also, am I the only one who sees that a player in the minors is from Vegas and wonders if he secretly grumbles to himself about the fact that Bryce Harper is already in the major leagues? I probably am. -Brian
Along with Avendano, Cole was a huge part of Vancouver’s 2012 championship. After his struggles in the Northwest League last year, he did a great job throwing more strikes and keeping batters off the basepaths. -Scott
SEVENTH
RHP Luis Mateo, 22, Brooklyn (Mets A-)
12 GS, 4-5, 2.45 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 73.1 IP, 57 H, 9 BB, 85 K
6 points (1 first place vote)
Why not include all of the Cyclones hurlers…they deserve it. -Craig
Simply, the best statistical short season pitcher of 2012. -Andrew
EIGHTH
RHP Silfredo Garcia, 20, GCL Cardinals/Johnson City (St. Louis R/R+)
11 GS, 6-2, 2.44 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 66.1 IP, 50 H, 4 BB, 72 K
4 points
In his first year playing stateside ball, Garcia mowed down the Gulf Coast League before continuing his momentum with Batavia. With only four walks in 66.1 innings, he showed some of the best control in the minors in 2012. -Scott
NINTH
LHP Alexander Claudio, 20, Arizona Rangers (Texas R)
14 G (3 GS) 4-0, 1.79 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 45.1 IP, 36 H, 5 BB, 54 K
3 points
TENTH
LHP Sam Selman, 21, Idaho Falls (Kansas City R+)
12 GS, 5-4, 2.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 60.1 IP, 45 H, 22 BB, 89 K
2 points
A killer lefty in Idaho. -Andrew
T-ELEVENTH
RHP Miguel Almonte, 19, Arizona Royals (Kansas City R)
6 G (2 GS) 2-1, 2.33 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 27 IP, 22 H, 5 BB, 28 K
0 points
T-ELEVENTH
LHP Luis Merejo, 17, GCL Braves (Atlanta R)
8 GS, 0-5, 4.61 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 41 IP, 38 H, 9 BB, 53 K
0 points
Please join us tomorrow for the short-season Player of the Year.
