Myers highlights Triple-A All-Stars

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Minor League Baseball™ and the Topps Company announced today that Topps/Minor League Player of the Year Wil Myers of the Omaha Storm Chasers and Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Adam Eaton of the Reno Aces are among the nine players selected to the Topps Triple-A® All-Star Team. Shortstop Jake Elmore, Eaton's teammate with Reno, was also named to the squad. The Albuquerque Isotopes also had two of their players selected by Topps, second baseman Alex Castellanos and outfielder Jerry Sands.

Anthony Rizzo (23) of Parkland, Fla., hit .342 with 23 home runs and 62 RBIs in 70 games before the Chicago Cubs called him up to the Majors. At the time of his promotion, the Iowa Cubs first baseman ranked first in Triple-A with a .696 slugging percentage and 43 extra-base hits, second in homers and sixth in batting average. The Cubs acquired Rizzo in a trade with San Diego in January.

Alex Castellanos (26) of Miami, Fla., led Triple-A with a 1.010 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), ranked second in slugging percentage (.590) and fourth in on-base percentage (.420). The Albuquerque Isotopes second baseman had 17 homers, 52 RBIs and ranked eighth in the classification with a .328 batting average. The Los Angeles Dodgers received Castellanos, a Topps Double-A® All-Star as an outfielder last year, in a July 2011 trade with St. Louis.

Jake Elmore (25) of Dothan, Ala., finished second in Triple-A in on-base percentage (.442) and tied for third best with his .344 batting average. The Reno Aces shortstop also had nine triples, good for eighth in the classification. The Arizona Diamondbacks took Elmore in the 34th round in 2008 out of Arizona State University.

Jedd Gyorko (24) of Morgantown, W.Va., hit .328 with 24 homers and 83 RBIs for the Tucson Padres. Gyorko, a Topps Class A® All-Star in 2011, finished fourth in Triple-A in OPS (.968) and slugging (.588). He tied for sixth in home runs and ranked eighth in batting average and RBIs. The San Diego Padres selected Gyorko in the second round in 2010 out of West Virginia University.

Travis d'Arnaud (23) of Long Beach, Calif., was hitting .333 with 16 homers and 52 RBIs in 67 games with the Las Vegas 51s when his season was ended due to a knee injury he suffered on June 25. The catcher was ranked among the top 10 Triple-A players in several categories at the time, including fifth in hits (93) and slugging percentage (.595), sixth in extra-base hits (39), eighth in batting average and 10th in RBIs. The Toronto Blue Jays acquired d'Arnaud in a December 2009 trade with Philadelphia.

Adam Eaton (23) of Springfield, Ohio, led Triple-A in batting average (.381), hits (186), doubles (46), runs (119) and on-base percentage (.456). The PCL MVP and Rookie of the Year ranked second in OPS (.995) and stolen bases (38). The Reno Aces outfielder was also among the best in extra-base hits (4th, 58) and slugging percentage (9th, .539). The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Eaton, a Topps Short Season-A™/Rookie® All-Star in 2010, in the 19th round in 2010 out of Miami (Ohio) University.

Wil Myers (21) of Thomasville, N.C., was named the winner of the 53rd annual J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year last month. After a promotion from Double-A in May, the Omaha Storm Chasers outfielder hit .304 with 24 home runs and 79 RBIs. Myers was among the classification leaders in homers (sixth), slugging (7th, .554) and in OPS (8th, .932). The Kansas City Royals picked Myers in the third round in 2009 out of high school.

Jerry Sands (25) of Clayton, N.C., paced the classification with 107 runs batted in and ranked fourth with 26 home runs. The Albuquerque Isotopes outfielder hit .296 and scored 84 runs, ninth best in Triple-A. The Los Angeles Dodgers chose Sands, a Topps Short Season-A/Rookie All-Star in 2009, in the 25th round in 2008 out of Catawba (N.C.) College.

Tyler Cloyd (25) of Papillion, Neb., led all qualifying Triple-A starting pitchers with a 2.35 earned run average and tied for the lowest average of walks plus hits allowed per inning (WHIP) of 1.01. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs right-hander went 12-1 in 22 starts with 93 strikeouts and only 38 walks in 142.0 innings. Cloyd, who was named the International League's Most Valuable Pitcher, had the second best batting average against among Triple-A starters, holding hitters to a .210 mark. The Philadelphia Phillies selected Cloyd in the 18th round in 2008.

(Statistics do not reflect players' performances in other leagues)

The best performances in all Minor League Baseball classifications are again being honored by the Topps Company of New York, N.Y., in conjunction with Minor League Baseball.

Next: Topps Double-A All-Stars