Braves outfield prospect Ronald Acuna earned Minor League Player of the Year honors from Baseball America on Friday, before which BA’s Matt Eddy noted that the 19-year-old had one of the finest offensive seasons ever put together by a teenager. Acuna, who climbed from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A in 2017, combined for a .325/.374/.522 batting line and a 155 OPS+ in 612 plate appearances. Only seven other teenage players – all household names in Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez (twice), Jason Heyward, Gregg Jefferies, Justin Upton and Mike Trout – bettered Acuna’s OPS+ in an individual season, Eddy notes. Based on Acuna’s Double-A and Triple-A production, Eddy writes that he stacks up closely with where A-Rod, Sheffield, Jones, Jefferies, Heyward, Trout, Melvin Upton, Justin Upton, Adrian Beltre and Delmon Young were at similar stages of their minor league careers. For the most part, that’s special company.
A bit more from the NL…
- Cubs catcher Willson Conteras has been out with a hamstring strain since Aug. 9, but manager Joe Maddon suggested Saturday that he’s closing in on a return. “It’s not impossible [he could be activated on Sunday], but I don’t know that it’s going to happen,” Maddon said, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “It’s just a matter of when you talk to him, ’How are you seeing the ball? What do you feel like at the plate? How does the leg feel?'” Although Conteras has been among the majors’ best catchers this year, the first-place Cubs have managed to increase their lead in the NL Central during his absence from 1.5 games to three. Among the reasons: Fellow backstops Alex Avila and Rene Rivera, both of whom joined the Cubs as recent acquisitions, have filled in with aplomb offensively.
- Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced Saturday that the team has shut down right-hander Randall Delgado and added that he could miss the rest of the season, according to Kellan Olsen of Arizona Sports 98.7. Delgado hasn’t pitched for the D-backs since July 15 on account of elbow issues. He underwent an MRI this week that showed a flexor strain, and the club will send him to famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion. Flexor strains sometimes portend Tommy John surgery, of course, and having to undergo the procedure at this point would likely keep Delgado out until the 2019 campaign. The swingman was having a nice year before the injury cropped up, as he pitched to a 3.59 ERA with 8.62 K/9 against 2.01 BB/9 across 62 2/3 innings (26 appearances, five starts).
Gregg Jefferies is a household name?
He isnt but that doesn’t mean any random mlb outfielder like aaron altherr is better than acuns which someone has actually told me here once
tbf, Altherr had like a .900 OPS this year, while Acuna started the year in A ball… Acuna will probably be better some day, but right now, its apples to oranges.
Not denying its a proven player. but would you trade him for acuna? Yup
value doesn’t equal goodness
Exactly the first thing I thought
Lol I was going to comment the same thing.
Jeffries was a great hitter in the early to mid-90s who had two monster year for the Cards before injuries slowed his production. And he was a household name as a prospect in his day.
minor league player of the century.
Andruw jones won baseball America Minot league player of the year twice as well
The “twice” qualifier is about how many times they bettered his OPS+ in a single season, not about how many times they won the award.
But in this case bravesfan was correct that Andruw Jones did win the Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year Award twice even if it wasn’t said in the article. Andruw Jones won that award in both 1995 and 1996.
Just because it wasn’t mentioned in the article doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I’m not saying it didn’t happen, it’s just irrelevant to the article. He said “Andruw Jones won the award twice too”, implying that it had been mentioned in the article that someone else won the award twice.
I didn’t read it that way. I read it as though he was simply stating a fact that the article didn’t acknowledge. I guess it’s all how you read it.
Yeah I too took his comment as offering additional information for those who were willing to receive it.
Yeah he was just saying how awesome Jones was. Was merely adding it to the accolades/achievements mentioned in the article.
Willson ContReras, not “Conteras”.
They didn’t want to include Acuña in a package for A’s Sony Gray for a reason, right?
Contreras just activated. Put him in left field Avila at catcher and schwarber at left out
That’s what I said but idiot Cub fans roasted me