Friday, June 10, 2016

The VFBC Brewers 2016 Minor League All-Star Team!

It's been a very exciting year in the Brewers minor league system this year. After last year's prospect refresh, the system is loaded with talent at all levels and has had some pretty amazing performances. Not only has it been a great year for Brewers prospects so far, but some of the best players haven't started playing or have only played very little because they are playing in rookie leagues, have only been on teams for a very short period of time or have been injured for a majority of the year. So here it is!

Catcher: Manny Pina, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
.349/.388/.566, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 22 R
Pina has had an amazing year at Colorado Springs. The 29-year-old catcher is pretty old for the level, his potential in the majors is most likely as a back up, but that doesn't make his contributions any less impressive or important at the AAA level.

First Base: Garrett Cooper, Biloxi Shuckers
.304/.365/.418, 0 HR, 17 XBH, 28 RBI, 13 R
Cooper has split his time among several positions but has spend a good chunk of his games at first for the Shuckers. Another prospect that's a little old for his level, his development was slowed in the past by injuries and 25 isn't THAT old for hitting prospects. The only disappointing thing about Cooper is his lack of power over the fence, but he's still had big contributions for the team overall ranking in the top 5 on the team in RBI and OPS.

Second Base: Blake Allemand, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
.321/.387/.440, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 17 R
Allemand was drafted last year and has some decent potential as a major league utility player. After a disappointing start to the year at Brevard County (along with basically ever hitter at Brevard County), Allemand was moved to Wisconsin in need for depth and has had great success. I thought about going with Nate Orf here, but Allemand has been significantly more valuable to the T-Rats than Orf has been to the Shuckers or Sky Sox.

Third Base: Garin Cecchini, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
.280/.346/.404, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 24 R
Garin was an offseason acquisition by David Stearns and a former top prospect. The 25-year-old has had a very good year at AAA after a slightly slow start. While having a good year at a park that really helps its hitters, he's also the only organizational third baseman having a good season. I was tempted to put Wisconsin third baseman Jake Gatewood here, he's had a decent season in the power department but has more than his fair share of strikeouts and errors.

Shortstop: Orlando Arcia, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
.298/.335/.408, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 34 R, 9 SB
There is a lot to like in the organization at shortstop, but there's no doubt Arcia is the best one. Even with Angel Ortega having a great year at Brevard County, he doesn't have nearly the OPS Arcia has. The organization's top prospect has been having a very good season and if Jonathan Villar wasn't playing out of his mind right now, would be breaking down the door to get onto the Brewers' roster.

Outfielders:
Brett Phillips, Biloxi Shuckers
.253/.338/.461, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 31 R
A lot of outfielders have been having decent seasons but even after a stint on the DL, Phillips leads most of the offensive categories on a very good Biloxi team. Phillips has even kept up with the power boost he saw last year that helped propel him into top 100 prospect status -- although he was helped by a three homer game. He continues to be very exciting and a huge grab in the Carlos Gomez/Mike Fiers trade.

Keon Broxton, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
.269/.365/.521, 7 HR, 18 RBI, 21 R, 16 SB
Broxton was acquired in the offseason from the Pirates and has bounced between AAA and the bigs. While his performance at the major league level has been very disappointing, Broxton has absolutely destroyed AAA pitching. Even though he has half the games of most the other players eligible, he's had insane levels of success that make it very hard to deny putting him here.

Elvis Rubio, Brevard County Manatees
.282/.327/.408, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 8 R
Rubio has had a pretty solid year between two levels this year. In fact, he's one of the few players finding offensive success in Brevard County. It also helps that there is a really big drop off in performance in the OF after Rubio. He's one of a growing number of intriguing international prospects in the Brewers' farm system.

Starting Pitchers:
Josh Hader, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
2-1, 0.95 ERA, 57 IP, 73 K, 19 BB
If you've been paying attention this year, you know Hader has had huge success at Biloxi. The only complain is that he isn't going that long into some of his starts due to control issues. Either way, he's on the leader board for minor league baseball, not AA, minor league baseball in a lot of key pitching categories. Hader is probably the Brewers' minor league player of the first half.

Marcos Diplan, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
5-1, 1.89 ERA, 47.2 IP, 64 K, 24 BB
Marcos was acquired in the Yovani Gallardo trade, had an ok year in rookie ball last year, and is now having a fantastic season at A-ball. The most impressive is Diplan's strikeout rate, higher than it's ever been in his career. Another important detail, Diplan is only 19.

Jon Perrin, Brevard County Manatees
1-5, 2.66 ERA, 71 IP, 77 K, 7 BB
Perrin has had some struggles with the Manatees, but has still had a good year, especially once you combine his stats with the first part of his year at Wisconsin. Perrin has been a nice surprise and has some big league potential for the future. He was a 27th round draft pick last year and is moving very quickly through the minors.

Jordan Yamamoto, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
3-2, 2.25 ERA, 52 IP, 53 K, 10 BB
Yamamoto has been a very pleasant surprise for the year. He's struggled up until this point in his pro career but is starting to put it all together. Not only has he been able to limit runs, he's been striking players out and limiting walks.

Drake Owenby, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
2-1, 2.91 ERA, 43.1 IP, 38 K, 12 BB
Another Wisconsin pitcher and 2015 draft pick, Owenby has been having a good amount of success. Being a college pitcher and getting to pitch against high schoolers help but it's still been a good year for Owenby.

Stats come via Baseball Reference. If you have any players you think should be on the list, let us know on Twitter or in the comments!
-Brad

2 comments:

idgafkurt said...

C: Jacob Nottingham - he's been on fire after his terrible April and is a legit prospect.

SP: Brandon Woodruff - Struggled in his first AA outings but has settled in and was dominate at Brevard.

SP: Freddy Peralta - Just turned 20; 55 K's in 43 innings w/ a very respectable 1.18 WHIP

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