E-Twins' Arcia heads Appy All-Stars
The Cardinals, who own the league's best record at 40-20, can boast the league's best catcher in Cody Stanley, a top outfielder in Oscar Taveras, the top left-handed pitcher and overall pitcher in Ryan Copeland, the top relief pitcher in Hector Corpas and the top manager in Mike Shildt.
Taveras (.328) and Stanley (.319) rank second and third in batting average in the league, and the 18-year-old Dominican Taveras is also in the Appalachian League's top four in doubles (20), RBIs (41) and slugging (.536).
As good as Taveras has been, Elizabethton's Oswaldo Arcia has been the league's standout player, and he earned Player of the Year. Arcia is taking aim at the league's Triple Crown with a .390 average (62 points better than Taveras), 14 home runs (tied with Pulaski's Ramon Morla) and 47 RBIs (two ahead of Morla). The 19-year-old Venezuelan has led the Twins to a playoff bid as he's topped the league in nearly every offensive category.
Arcia's season has overshadowed Morla's, though the Mariner has been a big part of the likely East Division champions. The third baseman leads a contingent of four Pulaski players on the All-Star team. Jorge Agudelo is the top utility infielder and leads the league in triples with seven. Jose Rivero earned the nod as utility outfielder, despite spending the first 17 games of the season with Everett. Timothy Boyce was named the top right-handed pitcher.
Greeneville's Marcus Nidiffer (first base) and Chris Wallace (designated hitter), Bristol's Drew Lee (second base), Danville's Andrelton Simmons (shortstop) and Kingsport's Javier Rodriguez (outfielder) also made the team. Lee, a 12th-round pick by the White Sox in June's Draft, leads the league with 22 doubles. With 18 stolen bases, Simmons is second in the league behind Agudelo and his 24 thefts.
The three-man pitching staff has a heavily Cardinals feel with Copeland and Corpas. Copeland, the Cardinals' 32nd-round 2010 pick out of Illinois State, leads the league in ERA at 1.49 and is a perfect 7-0. The Panamanian Corpas leads the league with 15 saves in 22 relief appearances. He's struck out 25 and walked just three in 23 2/3 innings. The one non-Cardinal on the staff is Boyce, a first-year pro out of the University of Rhode Island. Boyce leads the league with nine wins and has an impressive 48-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 51 2/3 innings.
2010 Appalachian League Postseason All-Star Team | |||||
Position | Player | Team | |||
Catcher | Cody Stanley | Johnson City | |||
First Baseman | Marcus Nidiffer | Greeneville | |||
Second Baseman | Drew Lee | Bristol | |||
Third Baseman | Ramon Morla | Pulaski | |||
Shortstop | Andrelton Simmons | Danville | |||
Utility Infielder | Jorge Agudelo | Pulaski | |||
Outfielder | Oswaldo Arcia | Elizabethton | |||
Outfielder | Oscar Taveras | Johnson City | |||
Outfielder | Javier Rodriguez | Kingsport | |||
Utility Outfielder | Jose Rivero | Pulaski | |||
Designated Hitter | Chris Wallace | Greeneville | |||
Right-handed Pitcher | Tim Boyce | Pulaski | |||
Left-handed Pitcher | Ryan Copeland | Johnson City | |||
Relief Pitcher | Hector Corpas | Johnson City |
Player of the Year: Oswaldo Arcia, Elizabethton
Pitcher of the Year: Ryan Copeland, Johnson City
Manager of the Year: Mike Shildt, Johnson City
Trainer of the Year*: Colin Myers, Danville
* as announced by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society
Brendon Desrochers is an editor for MLB.com.