California League All-Stars Announced

The California League announced its postseason All-Star team earlier today:
Catcher: Koby Clemens, Lancaster JetHawks
First Base: Joe Dunigan, High Desert Mavericks
Second Base: Jason Van Kooten, Modesto Nuts
Third Base: Alex Liddi, High Desert Mavericks
Shortstop: Beamer Weems, Lake Elsinore Storm
Outfield: Thomas Neal, San Jose Giants
Outfield: Roger Kieschnick, San Jose Giants
Outfield: Jon Gaston, Lancaster JetHawks
Designated Hitter: Scott Van Slyke, Inland Empire 66ers

Starting Pitcher: Craig Clark, San Jose Giants
Starting Pitcher: Donald Hume, High Desert Mavericks
Starting Pitcher: Alexander Torres, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
Relief Pitcher: Craig Baker, Modesto Nuts

Most Valuable Player: Alex Liddi, High Desert Mavericks
Pitcher of the Year: Craig Clark, San Jose Giants
Rookie of the Year: Roger Kieschnick, San Jose Giants
Manager of the Year: Jim Horner, High Desert Mavericks
Athletic Trainer of the Year: Yukiya Oba, San Jose Giants

Liddi, Clemens, and Gaston were my three favorites for the MVP award. As an unabashed Alex Liddi follower since early July, I’m happy to see the Italian win.

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Minor League MVP Candidates, League-By-League

Just for the heck of it, I decided tonight to look at the stats for every league in the minors and see if I could come up with a candidate or two (no more than three) for the Most Valuable Player award.  (I’ll try to do the same for pitchers later this week.)

Some of these are no-brainers (*cough*Chris CarterTexasLeague*cough*), but most had at least a couple guys that should find themselves in the running for some awards.  In most cases, I tried to limit a player’s eligibility to the league they currently play in – Brian Dopirak and Michael Taylor, for example, are still in good shape in the Eastern League, but shouldn’t win any awards there after spending more than a month of the season in Triple A.

If I missed anyone obvious, or if you have a personal favorite, throw it out there. We’ll see how many of these (if any) we actually get right.

Triple A
International League
Andy Marte, Columbus: .963 OPS (1st), 18 HR (t-4th), 66 RBI (4th)
Shelley Duncan, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre: 25 HR (1st), 76 RBI (1st), 54 BB (t-1st), .899 OPS (5th)

Mexican League
Ruben Rivera, Campeche: 32 HR (1st), 90 RBI (t-4th), 1.130 OPS (2nd), 96 R (2nd)
Saul Soto, Monterrey: 28 HR (2nd), 93 RBI (2nd), 1.095 OPS (3rd)
Dionys Cesar, Vaqueros: .380 BA (1st), 40 SB (1st), 92 R (3rd)

Pacific Coast League
Randy Ruiz, Las Vegas: 25 HR (2nd), 106 RBI (1st), .320 BA (10th), .976 OPS (3rd), 81 R (5th), 148 H (1st), 43 2B (1st)

Double A
Eastern League
Carlos Santana, Akron: 20 HR (4th), 82 RBI (2nd), 71 BB (2nd), .943 OPS (4th), 73 R (2nd)
Ryan Strieby, Erie: .982 OPS (1st), 17 HR (4th), .305 BA (6th)

Southern League
Juan Francisco, Carolina: 22 HR (1st), 74 RBI (1st), .822 OPS (10th), 63 R (8th)
Todd Frazier, Carolina: 124 H (1st), 37 2B (1st), 13 HR (t-6th), 63 RBI (t-5th), .852 OPS (8th)

Texas League
Chris Carter, Midland: .336 BA (1st), 21 HR (1st), 90 RBI (2nd), 101 R (1st), 148 H (1st), 38 2B (1st), 73 BB (t-1st), .433 OBP (1st), .574 SLG (1st), 1.006 OPS (1st)

*Carter has to be a frontrunner not only for Texas League MVP, but Minor League Baseball’s Player of the Year. What an outstanding season thus far.

Class A Advanced
California League
Alex Liddi, High Desert: .356 BA (1st), 1.044 OPS (1st), 21 HR (t-4th), 86 RBI (4th), 85 R (t-2nd)
Jon Gaston, Lancaster: 30 HR (1st), 81 RBI (6th), 1.015 OPS (4th), 15 3B (1st), 100 R (1st)
Koby Clemens, Lancaster: 96 RBI (1st), .343 BA (3rd), 1.023 OPS (2nd)

Carolina League
Cody Johnson, Myrtle Beach: 26 HR (1st), 76 RBI (2nd), .886 OPS (2nd)
Brandon Waring, Frederick: 20 HR (2nd), 74 RBI (3rd), .870 OPS (3rd)

Florida State League
Chris Parmelee, Fort Myers: 14 HR (1st), 64 RBI (1st), .814 OPS (4th)
Ben Revere, Fort Myers: .307 BA (3rd), 36 SB (4th), 60 R (3rd), .368 OBP (t-8th)

Class A
Midwest League
Kyle Russell, Great Lakes: 24 HR (1st), 79 RBI (t-1st), .915 OPS (2nd), 74 R (4th)

South Atlantic League
Derek Norris, Hagerstown: 23 HR (1st), 75 RBI (2nd), 69 R (3rd), .296 BA (10th), .955 OPS (3rd)

Class A Short-Season
New York-Penn League
Leandro Castro, Williamsport: .353 BA (1st), .973 OPS (1st), 37 R (t-1st),
Neil Medchill, Staten Island: 10 HR (1st), 30 RBI (t-5th), .925 OPS (5th), 33 R (4th)

Northwest League
Vincent Belnome, Eugene: 39 R (1st), 8 HR (t-2nd), 37 RBI (2nd), 37 BB (2nd), .952 OPS (4th)

Rookie
Appalachian League
Jose Altuve, Greeneville: 45 R (1st), 21 SB (1st), .324 BA (7th), .916 OPS (8th), 26 BB (1st)
Richard Racobaldo, Johnson City: 1.077 OPS (1st), 26 RBI (t-9th), .415 BA (1st)
Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg, Danville: .383 BA (2nd), 1.032 OPS (2nd), 7 HR (t-3rd), 39 RBI (2nd)

Arizona League
Cody Decker, Padres: 1.127 OPS (1st), .357 BA (3rd), 11 HR (1st), 46 RBI (1st)

Dominican Summer League
Reymond Nunez, Yankees 2: 10 HR (2nd), 57 RBI (1st), .947 OPS (4th)
Alexander Sanchez, Mets: .391 BA (1st), .982 OPS (2nd)

Gulf Coast League
Brett Newsome, Nationals: 1.020 OPS (1st), .304 BA (9th), 25 R (1st), 13 2B (t-3rd)
Layton Hiller, Braves: 6 HR (1st), 34 RBI (1st), .846 OPS (8th)
Marcell Ozuna, Marlins: .928 OPS (2nd), .344 BA (3rd), 24 R (t-2nd), 18 2B (1st), 4 HR (t-7th), 31 RBI (2nd)

Pioneer League
Jerry Sands, Ogden: 14 HR (1st), 39 RBI (4th), .350 BA (4th), 1.114 OPS (1st), 41 R (1st)

Venezuelan Summer League
Roan Salas, Rays: 15 HR (1st), 59 RBI (1st), 49 R (t-3rd), 75 H (t-5th), .338 BA (2nd), 1.063 OPS (1st)

Jamie McOwen Goes For #46

That’s right, I’m taking this up a notch.  Jamie McOwen, who joins Jay Bruce on the list of historical Bus Leagues mancrushes, is attempting to extend his hitting streak to 46 games tonight in Modesto.  Because I have nothing better to do on a Friday night, I will be listening in to the team’s radio feed and updating the situation after each of McOwen’s at-bats until he gets a hit.

We’ll see how long this lasts.  (Please don’t wait until the ninth inning.)

1st at-bat, 1st inning: With one out and Tyson Gillies on first, McOwen popped out to first. Just kidding – I have no idea what I was looking at. McOwen bunted into a force out with one out and Kuo Hui Lo on first base.

10:56 PM – McOwen is scheduled to lead off the top of the third for High Desert. The Mavericks trail Modesto, 2-0.

10:59 PM – McOwen walks on four pitches to lead off the inning.  With the count at 3-and-0, High Desert’s announcer remarked that one of the amazing things about the streak is McOwen’s refusal to chase bad pitches just to preserve the streak.

11:11 PM – McOwen is now leading the league in hitting – his average stands at .354 after tonight’s 0-for-1.  Alex Liddi has gone 0-for-2 with two strikeouts to lower his mark to .353.  What does this mean in the grand scheme of things?  Ab-solutely nothing.

11:14 PM – Modesto pitcher Connor Graham has eight strikeouts through four innings.  He has allowed just two hits, both first inning singles.

11:28 PM – Graham comes out early.  I was only half-listening, but I believe they said he was coming back from an injury and being held to a strict pitch count.  He went five scoreless, allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out nine.  High Desert’s Tyson Gillies led off the sixth with a single.

11:33 PM – McOwen grounds into a 6-4-3 double play.  He is now 0-for-3 with a walk.  He will have at least one more chance to extend the streak.

12:21 PM – McOwen is due up second in the ninth against Craig Baker and his 21 saves.

12:23 PM – McOwen goes down on strikes.  Unless High Desert ties it up (Kuo Hui Lo is on first with one out in a 2-0 ballgame) the hit streak is all done.

12:25 PM – Alex Liddi strikes out for the third time in four at-bats and it’s official: Jamie McOwen’s 45-game hitting streak is done, finished.  The little * that denotes an active streak can be removed.

Andrew says I jinxed him.  I say nay.  With the media attention that dude was getting over the last week or two, there’s no way Karma looked at the hero worship being laid on him by a small minor league blog and said,  “We can’t have that.”  Karma isn’t that petty…I don’t think.  If she is, well, sorry Jamie.

Oh well, we’ll just have to find something else interesting to latch onto.  Hey, Baker has 22 straight saves for Modesto.  Hmm…

The Minor Links

Jamie McOwen has the night off and I just added a few new minor league blogs to my reader, so you get a short links post.  Don’t everybody thank me at once.

The longest hitting streaks for each minor league (Baseball America)

Possible outcomes for the baseball-soccer showdown in Portland (Jack Bog’s Blog)

Dinesh is pitching well, but wants to see the team win a few more games (The Million Dollar Arm Blog)

Alex Liddi wants to be the first Italian major leaguer since 1962.  He’s currently leading the California League in all three Triple Crown categories – seems like a good start (MLB.com)

Jamie McOwen Is A Machine; Hitting Streak At 43 Games

Jamie McOwen started tonight’s game against Visalia 0-for-2 before hammering a homerun to right field leading off the fifth inning. The roundtripper extended his hitting streak to 43 games, tying Brandon Watson for the longest streak since 1961.

One more game will tie him with Pete Rose for the tenth longest professional hitting streak all-time and the longest minor league streak since 1954. McOwen should beware, however, the dangers of the number 43: four streaks, including Watson’s 2007 mark and Howie Bedell’s 1961 run, ended at 43 games.

High Desert third baseman Alex Liddi homered the inning before McOwen, his twentieth of the year.

Jamie McOwen Extends Hitting Streak To 42 Games, Teammate Alex Liddi On Pace For Triple Crown

Jamie McOwen extended his hitting streak to 42 games today with an RBI single in the fifth inning of an 8-0 win over Visalia.  He is hitting .352 for the season and .500 over his last ten games.

As good as McOwen has been, his teammate, third baseman Alex Liddi, has been even better.  Liddi currently leads the California League in runs, hit, doubles, homeruns, runs batted in, batting average, slugging percentage, total bases, and OPS.  According to one source, only two players have ever won the Triple Crown in the California League: San Bernadino’s Ruben Gonzalez (27 HR, 101 RBI, .308 BA) in 1989 and Reno’s Jose Vidal (40 HR, 162 RBI, .340 BA) in 1963.

Liddi, a 20-year-old native of San Remo, Italy, is hitting .384 with 15 homeruns and 43 RBI in home games this season.

Unfortunately for the Mavericks, the historic accomplishments of its members aren’t bringing fans to the ballpark.  One day after packing more than 4,800 people into the seats, McOwen’s quest for a 42-game hitting streak was carried out in front of just 888 people.  The season average stands at just over 1,700.

Come on, good people of Adelanto!  Get out there to the ballpark and witness history!