Florida Instructional League Notebook
But if you had said the winner would be outfielder Jordan Brown, you might have gotten some pretty strange looks. Especially from Brown, himself, since he was hitting .228 with nine RBIs at the time.
"I would have been elated, but I would have asked them if they were on drugs or something, to tell you the truth," said Brown, who is participating in the Cleveland Indians' Instructional League in Winter Haven, Fla. "I mean, let's face it, I wasn't having the greatest season."
But when the season drew to a close, it was Brown who received the award, with a .290 average (third in the league), 15 home runs and a league-best 87 RBIs. He finished among the top five with 71 runs scored and 137 hits, and had two streaks of reaching base safely in 25 games.
As a surprising side note, despite the Indians' presence in the playoffs for the sixth year in a row, Brown became the first Kinston player to win the MVP award since 2001, when catcher Victor Martinez received the honor.
Brown did not have a lot of time to rest on his laurels. Following the Indians' three-game sweep of the Frederick Keys in the Carolina League Championship Series, Brown enjoyed a week's vacation back home in Arizona before returning to Florida.
A 2005 fourth-round pick out of the University of Arizona, the converted first baseman has a lot he wants to develop in these few weeks.
"I need to work on my outfield skills, my routes in the field," said Brown. "I can always get better on my discipline at the plate and I can get in better shape."
Brown's pro career got off to a rocky start in 2005 when he broke his hamate bone just 19 games into the season at Short-Season Mahoning Valley. That also short-circuited the start of his position transition.
In an effort to make up for lost time, Brown struggled in the early going by trying too hard.
"I wasn't used to failure and it snowballed," he said. "One bad at-bat led to another."
While there was no specific moment when he pulled it together, Brown turned things around before they reached the point of no return.
"I had been in denial, saying I was lining out, that if balls would fall in I'd be hitting .300, and I finally stopped lying to myself," said Brown, who proceeded to hit over .300 in three of the next four months. "I realized I wasn't OK. I wasn't having quality at-bats."
Brown began taking extra early work with hitting coach Jim Rickon, working on his mental approach and, as he explained, buying into the Indians' "selective-aggressive" baseball notion.
Brown batted .330 in May, .308 in July and in August, he hit .347 with five home runs and a league-best 26 RBIs to earn Carolina League Player of the Month honors at the same time his MVP award was announced.
Baltimore Orioles
In the last few years, the United States has restricted the number of visas used by Minor League players and this, in turn, has impacted the number of foreign-born players stateside during the regular season. During Instructional League, however, less restrictive papers are needed, offering teams the opportunity to bring those players here for evaluation and slightly higher-level competition.
"In the last few years, we've started bringing more Dominican and Venezuelan players here that we think have a chance to be good prospects," explained David Stockstill, the Orioles' director of Minor League operations. "It's not the traditional 'Take your few best people and try to win as many games as you can.' It's more for longer-range prospects."
The Orioles, with 61 players in camp and 33 of them foreign-born, split into two "teams," with the pair alternating day by day in terms of playing official Instructional League games and focusing on individual instruction. For the most part, the teams are split between foreign players and Americans, most of whom are recent draft picks.
"A lot more of the drafted players have individual instruction based on getting them to the next level next year," Stockstill said, "whereas for a lot of the younger Latin players, it's individual instruction and evaluation."
One Dominican-born player who is definitely being groomed for the next level, though, is closer prospect Luis Lebron. The 21-year-old right-hander led the Short-Season New York-Penn League with 20 saves for the Aberdeen IronBirds, posting a 1.17 ERA. He struck out 48 and walked 15 in 30 2/3 innings, limiting opponents to a .163 average. That's quite a turnaround from 2005 when, despite striking out 45 batters in 25 innings for Bluefield of the Appalachian League, he posted an 11.16 ERA.
"Of all the players that improved during the year, he improved the most," said Stockstill. "He began to get control of his fastball. He's always had an outstanding slider, but he would overthrow his fastball. When he started getting control of that, it made the slider that much better and he was virtually unhittable the last few weeks of the season."
There was little question last spring that Bishop Eustace Prep (N.J.) standout shortstop Billy Rowell would be taken in the first round of the draft. The only real question was whether the lucky team to get the power-hitting lefty would keep him at short or move him to third base right away.
The Orioles answered that question pretty quickly. They selected the 17-year-old with the ninth overall pick and shifted him to third base.
"I know he's been a shortstop all his life, but we feel that third base is his future position," said Stockstill, adding that the Orioles were very happy with Rowell's defensive development at the hot corner in his time at Bluefield and Aberdeen this summer.
Rowell, who just turned 18 this month, batted .329 with two home runs, 26 RBIs and 15 doubles at Bluefield. He hit at a .375 clip in August before moving up to Aberdeen for the last week-plus. With the IronBirds, he batted .326 in 11 games.
"He has potential impact power from the left side and a lot of hitting instincts that were like Nick Markakis when we first got him," Stockstill said, invoking the name of the club's first-round pick from 2003 who was arguably the top offensive rookie in the American League this season. "And that's about as high a compliment as I can pay anyone."
With the Orioles' instructional leaguers in Sarasota, Rowell is working on his new position as well as improving on hitting to all fields.
Minnesota Twins
After getting their pro debuts under their belts between stints in both the Gulf Coast and Midwest Leagues, the Minnesota Twins' top two picks from this year's draft are back in Fort Myers for instructional league action.
Outfielders Chris Parmelee (first round, 20th overall) and Joe Benson (second round, 64th overall) both made good first impressions on the Minnesota staff.
Parmelee, drafted out of Chino Hills High School in California, is a right fielder who was touted for his power and didn't disappoint in the early going.
Just 18, he hit eight homers in his first 31 games in the Gulf Coast League, opening a lot of eyes. Hitting No. 8 on Aug. 3, with nearly a month left in the campaign, his power display drew comparisons to that of Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, the last player to reach double digits in home runs for the GCL Twins.
"He got those eight homers so fast when we sent him down there it made your head spin," marveled Twins farm director Jim Rantz. "He's got a live bat, I can tell you that. The ball jumps off his bat."
Though Parmelee hit a power slump in his last two weeks in Florida before moving to Beloit for the end of the season, he still finished with a .279 average, eight homers and 32 RBIs, ranking third in the league in both of the latter categories and second in slugging (.532).
Benson, a center fielder who also saw time behind the plate as a senior at Joliet Catholic High School in Illinois, is a rawer talent with tremendous speed. Lured away from Purdue, where he had been offered a full ride to play football, he may need a little more tweaking than Parmelee, but his upside is impressive. He batted .260 with five homers, five triples, 28 RBIs and nine steals and was second in the league with 21 extra-base hits.
"He's aggressive in every phase of his game, but he still needs to be refined," Rantz said of Benson. "He can really run and is a heck of a competitor who plays hard."
One Twins player saw an abrupt end to his Instructional League stint. Outfielder Brandon Roberts, who had been acquired from Cincinnati in a midseason trade, broke his foot during a baserunning drill within the first 15 minutes of the first day of action. Roberts, who stole 50 bases this season, is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Along with their own 38 players, the Twins were hosting five pitchers and a catcher from the Kia Tigers of the Korean League.
Lisa Winston is a reporter for MLB.com.