Down On The Farm: A’s Farm’s 2012 Post-Season Organizational All-Star Team

By Bill Moriarity A's Farm Sep 24, 2012, 5:40am PDT

With the 2012 minor league season now complete, it’s time for our 25^th and final Down On The Farm report for the year. I’ll be dropping in on Athletics Nation on occasion this off-season and, of course, you can always keep tabs on all the A’s top prospects on my Athletics Farm blog in the meantime. But for the final installment of this series, I thought I’d share a recent post from my blog that’ll help give us all a little perspective on the A’s minor league system this year - A’s Farm’s 2012 Post-Season Organizational All-Star Team! So read on to find out who this year’s top minor league performers for the A’s really were…

With the minor league season now in the books, it’s the perfect time to take a step back and reflect on who the true standouts on the field really were in the A’s minor league system in 2012. Below you’ll find the primary starting players at each position for Triple-A Sacramento, Double-A Midland, High-A Stockton, Class-A Burlington, Class-A Short-Season Vermont and the Rookie League Short-Season AZL A’s in 2012.

Offensive starters were selected from the players who had the most games played at each position for each team, with notable players not leading in games played at a particular position listed in the designated hitter category. Starting pitchers were selected from hurlers who had at least 100 innings pitched for each of the full-season clubs and at least 30 innings pitched for the short-season clubs, while closers were selected from each team’s saves leader.

The asterisks denote players with combined statistics from multiple minor league teams within the A’s system, and players’ major league statistics were not included. Below the list of contenders, you’ll find A’s Farm’s selection of Organizational All-Stars at each position. The winners were determined based purely on this year’s performance, not on overall potential.

The two greatest causes for hope in the A’s system this year had to be shortstop Addison Russell and third baseman Miles Head. If they can both stick at their current positions, they could go a long ways towards erasing the memory of Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez and the black hole they left us with on the left side of the A’s infield for years – and yes, I still hold a grudge!

As you take a look at the list below, before you get your knickers in a twist because you don’t see your favorite prospect somewhere, just remember to keep a few things in mind – only players who were the primary starter at a particular position for each team are listed (therefore no Shane Peterson); for full-season teams, only starting pitchers with over 100 innings pitched for a particular team were considered (therefore no Dan Straily or A.J. Cole); and as for relievers, only each team’s saves leader is included.

And finally, remember we’re just evaluating on-field performance for the season, not overall prospect potential, so we’re not selecting the top prospect at each position, just the best on-field performer at each position for the year. It might not be entirely fair to include the short-season players with the full-season guys, but they did have at least 50 games to show what they could do and we did want to get everyone in the system included here from top to bottom. So take a good look at the candidates for yourself and feel free to chime in with your own thoughts and selections!

A’s 2012 Post-Season Organizational All-Star Team – The Contenders

CATCHER

Sacto - Derek Norris (9 HR / .271 AVG / .329 OBP / .477 SLG / .806 OPS)

Midland - Ryan Lipkin (4 HR / .193 AVG / .222 OBP / .297 SLG / .519 OPS) *

Stockton - Max Stassi (15 HR / .268 AVG / .331 OBP / .468 SLG / .799 OPS)

Burlington - Nick Rickles (6 HR / .220 AVG / .257 OBP / .328 SLG / .584 OPS)

Vermont – Bruce Maxwell (0 HR / .277 AVG / .356 OBP / .349 SLG / .705 OPS) *

AZL A’s – Phil Pohl (3 HR / .292 AVG / .381 OBP / .450 SLG / .831 OPS) *

FIRST BASE

Sacto – Daric Barton (8 HR / .255 AVG / .411 OBP / .425 SLG / .835 OPS)

Midland - Anthony Aliotti (10 HR / .292 AVG / .385 OBP / .426 SLG / .811 OPS)

Stockton - A.J. Kirby-Jones (21 HR / .248 AVG / .382 OBP / .461 SLG / .843 OPS)

Burlington – Max Muncy (4 HR / .275 AVG / .383 OBP / .432 SLG / .816 OPS)

Vermont – Jacob Tanis (2 HR / .261 AVG / .333 OBP / .336 SLG / .670 OPS)

AZL A’s – Matt Olson (9 HR / .282 AVG / .352 OBP / .521 SLG / .873 OPS) *

SECOND BASE

Sacto – Eric Sogard (5 HR / .331 AVG / .417 OBP / .484 SLG / .901 OPS)

Midland - Tyler Ladendorf (9 HR / .240 AVG / .324 OBP / .358 SLG / .682 OPS)

Stockton – Ryan Pineda (5 HR / .241 AVG / .325 OBP / .367 SLG / .692 OPS) *

Burlington - Chih Fang Pan (2 HR / .243 AVG / .300 OBP / .324 SLG / .625 OPS)

Vermont – Chris Bostick (3 HR / .251 AVG / .325 OBP / .369 SLG / .694 OPS)

AZL A’s – Melvin Mercedes (0 HR / .381 AVG / .440 OBP / .495 SLG / .935 OPS)

SHORTSTOP

Sacto – Brandon Hicks (18 HR / .244 AVG / .350 OBP / .506 SLG / .856 OPS)

Midland - Dusty Coleman (15 HR / .201 AVG / .284 OBP / .363 SLG / .647 OPS)

Stockton - Michael Gilmartin (9 HR / .256 AVG / .339 OBP / .360 SLG / .699 OPS)

Burlington - Sean Jamieson (11 HR / .244 AVG / .354 OBP / .389 SLG / .743 OPS)

Vermont – Wilfredo Solano (1 HR / .217 AVG / .263 OBP / .286 SLG / .549 OPS)

AZL A’s – Addison Russell (7 HR / .369 AVG / .432 OBP / .594 SLG / 1.027 OPS) *

THIRD BASE

Sacto - Stephen Parker (7 HR / .256 AVG / .327 OBP / .390 SLG / .717 OPS)

Midland – Miles Head (23 HR / .333 AVG / .391 OBP / .577 SLG / .968 OPS) *

Stockton – B.A. Vollmuth (14 HR / .261 AVG / .336 OBP / .405 SLG / .741 OPS) *

Burlington – Wade Kirkland (8 HR / .237 AVG / .306 OBP / .398 SLG / .705 OPS)

Vermont – Chad Lewis (3 HR / .219 AVG / .271 OBP / .289 SLG / .559 OPS) *

AZL A’s – Renato Nunez (4 HR / .325 AVG / .403 OBP / .550 SLG / .953 OPS)

LEFT FIELD

Sacto - Grant Green (15 HR / .296 AVG / .338 OBP / .458 SLG / .796 OPS)

Midland - Conner Crumbliss (10 HR / .257 AVG / .414 OBP / .391 SLG / .805 OPS)

Stockton – Josh Whitaker (20 HR / .259 AVG / .325 OBP / .472 SLG / .796 OPS)

Burlington - Royce Consigli (5 HR / .211 AVG / .292 OBP / .336 SLG / .628 OPS)

Vermont – Austin Booker (0 HR / .253 AVG / .337 OBP / .300 SLG / .637 OPS)

AZL A’s – Herschel Powell (0 HR / .306 AVG / .383 OBP / .315 SLG / .698 OPS)

CENTER FIELD

Sacto - Jermaine Mitchell (6 HR / .252 AVG / .345 OBP / .386 SLG / .731 OPS)

Midland - Michael Choice (10 HR / .287 AVG / .356 OBP / .423 SLG / .779 OPS)

Stockton – Chad Oberacker (15 HR / .267 AVG / .336 OBP / .443 SLG / .779 OPS) *

Burlington - Aaron Shipman (0 HR / .206 AVG / .319 OBP / .261 SLG / .580 OPS)

Vermont – Brett Vertigan (1 HR / .266 AVG / .338 OBP / .375 SLG / .713 OPS)

AZL A’s – B.J. Boyd (1 HR / .301 AVG / .401 OBP / .434 SLG / .835 OPS)

RIGHT FIELD

Sacto - Michael Taylor (12 HR / .287 AVG / .405 OBP / .441 SLG / .846 OPS)

Midland - Jeremy Barfield (13 HR / .272 AVG / .322 OBP / .415 SLG / .737 OPS)

Stockton – Dusty Robinson (27 HR / .239 AVG / .310 OBP / .448 SLG / .758 OPS) *

Burlington - Bobby Crocker (6 HR / .268 AVG / .347 OBP / .369 SLG / .716 OPS)

Vermont – John Wooten (4 HR / .276 AVG / .316 OBP / .391 SLG / .706 OPS) *

AZL A’s – Vicmal De La Cruz (3 HR / .230 AVG / .291 OBP / .378 SLG / .668 OPS)

DESIGNATED HITTER

Sacto – Kila Ka’aihue (15 HR / .256 AVG / .367 OBP / .496 SLG / .863 OPS)

Midland – Josh Horton (9 HR / .280 AVG / .349 OBP / .414 SLG / .763 OPS) *

Stockton – Tony Thompson (11 HR / .276 AVG / .344 OBP / .442 SLG / .785 OPS)

Burlington - Douglas Landaeta (10 HR / .244 AVG / .283 OBP / .377 SLG / .660 OPS)

Vermont – Miguel Marte (3 HR / .230 AVG / .275 OBP / .331 SLG / .606 OPS)

AZL A’s – Daniel Robertson (5 HR / .241 AVG / .330 OBP / .400 SLG / .730 OPS) *

STARTING PITCHER

Sacto - Graham Godfrey (104 IP / 98 H / 38 ER / 26 BB / 60 K / 3.29 ERA / 1.19 WHIP)

Midland – Sonny Gray (152 IP / 158 H / 72 ER / 58 BB / 99 K / 4.26 ERA / 1.42 WHIP) *

Stockton – Josh Bowman (151 2/3 IP / 164 H / 62 ER / 35 BB / 130 K / 3.68 ERA / 1.31 WHIP) *

Burlington - Drew Granier (162 2/3 IP / 149 H / 58 ER / 53 BB / 167 K / 3.21 ERA / 1.24 WHIP)

Vermont – Andres Avila (66 IP / 68 H / 28 ER / 16 BB / 60 K / 3.82 ERA / 1.27 WHIP)

AZL A’s – Vince Voiro (37 1/3 IP / 35 H / 15 ER / 8 BB / 41 K / 3.62 ERA / 1.15 WHIP)

CLOSER

Sacto - Evan Scribner (35 2/3 IP / 26 H / 12 ER / 10 BB / 38 K / 3.03 ERA / 1.01 WHIP / 8 SV)

Midland - Jonathan Ortiz (62 1/3 IP / 58 H / 26 ER / 18 BB / 50 K / 3.75 ERA / 1.22 WHIP / 15 SV)

Stockton - Zach Thornton (53 2/3 IP / 57 H / 27 ER / 19 BB / 70 K / 4.53 ERA / 1.42 WHIP / 16 SV)

Burlington – Jonathan Joseph (93 2/3 IP / 93 H / 52 ER / 43 BB / 89 K / 5.00 ERA / 1.45 WHIP / 12 SV) *

Vermont – Austin House (28 1/3 IP / 15 H / 4 ER / 11 BB / 36 K / 1.27 ERA / 0.92 WHIP / 5 SV) *

AZL A’s – Dakota Bacus (30 IP / 12 H / 4 ER / 5 BB / 35 K / 1.20 ERA / 0.57 WHIP / 7 SV)

A’s 2012 Post-Season Organizational All-Star Team – The Winners