Braves Announce Minor League Players and Pitchers of the Year

by gondeee on Sep 18, 2008 3:15 PM EDT in Braves Minor League News

The Braves announced their 2008 minor league Players and Pitchers of the Year:

Level	Pitcher of the Year	Player of the Year
Overall	Tommy Hanson	Freddie Freeman
Richmond Braves (AAA)	Charlie Morton	Josh Anderson
Mississippi Braves (AA)	Todd Redmond	Matt Young
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A+)	Scott Diamond	Tyler Flowers
Rome Braves (A-)	Edgar Osuna	Jason Heyward
Danville Braves (R+)	David Francis	Jon Gilmore
GCL Braves (R-)	Zeke Spruill	Robert Brooks
Dominican Summer League	Edigson Mora	Alberto Odreman

Tommy Hanson is a no-brainer, but Freddie Freeman, while very deserving, is an interesting pick over Jason Heyward. Freeman was just as dominant, though he didn't get the promotion to the Beach; I wonder if Heyward would have gotten it had he hit a little better after his promotion (playoffs not withstanding). In thinking about the awards from last year I remember that it's as much of a sentimental choice as a "best stats" choice.

Matt Young is an interesting pick over, say, a guy like Jeff Francoeur who hit .538 at Mississippi this year.

David Francis beat out Casey Hodges at Danville after Casey fell apart in his final two starts of the season.

Here are last year's player and pitcher of the year for the Braves.

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Comments

Might want to fix that chart

Unless Freeman, Flowers et al. became pitchers and Hanson et al. are now position players.

by TradeAndruw on Sep 18, 2008 4:04 PM EDT reply actions

thanks… corrected

by gondeee on Sep 18, 2008 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

matt young over schafer? wow.

Following the Braves...one long hard drink at a time.

by bigjoe on Sep 18, 2008 4:08 PM EDT reply actions

Why wow? Matt was there all year and producing all year. Jordan missed a third of the season. Yes, he was very productive when he was there, but it’s hard to argue against a guy that set the table for the team the entire season.

by cbwilk on Sep 18, 2008 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting....

I don’t think they did the “overall” awards last year, but I could be wrong. I bet they created that this year to sort of honor the 2 extra guys who were really deserving but kind of tough to choose between their teammates. That sentence is very awkwardly worded, but you get the idea….

by secondbass on Sep 18, 2008 5:19 PM EDT reply actions

As far as I know, they’ve always had an overall minor league player of the year and pitcher of the year. As well as an award for the most community minded, or something like that.

by cbwilk on Sep 19, 2008 1:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Follow Gondee's link....

Last year they didn’t list one…..and there was nobody there last year at the Ted to accept such an award, and it wasn’t mentioned that day. The link to last year’s article doesn’t mention one either. I don’t know, maybe somewhere else they say something about it, but it’s nowhere I can find.
I kind of wondered all along if they were going to somehow sneak Heyward into the mix – I personally think Freeman was the choice from Rome, period. I know many disagree, but either way, both guys have somehow now got an award. And that’s fine by me because it means they’ll both be there Saturday!

by secondbass on Sep 19, 2008 5:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Wow for Young is right, but...

Kala K was Mississippi’s best bat this season.

by MatM on Sep 18, 2008 11:20 PM EDT reply actions

Young is the right choice.

KK certainly finished strong and deservedly won the championship MVP. Young was there all season. Nobody worked harder, and I agree he deserved the recognition.

by BraveTexan on Sep 24, 2008 3:55 PM EDT reply actions