The 2009 minor league season is over and congratulations are due to the Midland RockHounds, who won the Texas League crown by defeating the NW Arkansas Naturals 3 games to 1. The Sacramento River Cats were not so fortunate, getting swept by the Memphis Redbirds in 3 games. All in all it was a fairly successful year for the farm system, as several prospects that were under a lot of scrutiny had good seasons while 3 of the 4 full season teams posted winning records. (Heck, even the Stockton Ports managed to rebound in the 2nd half and go 36-34 to finish with a 61-79 overall record.)
I plan on doing a full summary of the farm system a little later on. For today I’m going to update what key players did in the play-offs. Minorleaguesplits.com is the only website that I know of that keeps track of play-off performance as part of the yearly tally but even they only show the numbers as part of the whole body of work. So if you ever wonder why the numbers from their website are different from what you will see at MiLB.com it’s on account of the play-off performance. The season totals listed below include the play-off numbers.
AAA Postseason: 8-27, 1 D, 4 HR, 4 BB, 8 K (296/387/778)
AA-AAA Total: 567 AB, 44 D, 2 T, 32 HR, 89 BB, 137 K (330/423/584) .389 BABIP
MLE: 597 AB, 34 D, 1T, 25 HR, 62 BB, 151 K (258/330/444) .306 BABIP
Carter was the breakout performer in the organization and the A’s have tried him in the outfield in addition to 1B in an effort to find somewhere, anywhere to play his bat.
AAA Postseason: 8-27, 1 T, 2 HR, 2 BB, 3K (296/345/593)
AA-AAA Total: 550 AB, 26 D, 1 T, 21 HR, 47 BB, 115 K (293/365/458) .338 BABIP
MLE: 568 AB, 21 D, 1 T, 16 HR, 34 BB, 125 K (250/305/375) .295 BABIP
TotalZone gives Wallace an average defensive score at 3B but as you can see, his strike zone judgment needs a bit more improvement and his power numbers could tick up some as well. I haven’t seen anything that says Wallace will play Winter Ball, but my guess is he’ll spend time at the A’s facility in
AAA Postseason: 10-27, 3 D, 4 BB, 4K (370/452/481)
AA-AAA Total: 530 AB, 44 D, 4 T, 4 HR, 57 BB, 75 K (304/369/425) .348 BABIP
MLE: 548 AB, 36 D, 2 T, 3 HR, 40 BB, 82 K (246/295/336) .285 BABIP
I think
AA Postseason: 12.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 19 K (1.49 ERA)
A-AA Total: 155.2 IP, 125 H, 64 ER, 56 BB, 132 K (3.71 ERA, 1.17 WHIP)
Ross was absolutely dominant in the postseason for the RockHounds and he probably has the best stuff of any SP currently pitching in the A’s farm system. (Note the phrasing before you comment!) Consistency is an issue for Ross, but a year from now the A’s might be trying to find room for his power arm.
And once again, thank you for your support.