Toolshed: Midseason MiLBY awards

It's All-Star Week, not only in the Majors but also for both Triple-A circuits and the Eastern League as well, making this as good a time as any to look back on the first half of the Minor League season. What better way to celebrate the midpoint than with some midseason awards in the style of our annual MiLBY awards.

Top Offensive Player

Astros SS Alex Bregman, Double-A Corpus Christi/Triple-A Fresno

This was probably the easiest selection. The Astros' top prospect is the only full-season Minor Leaguer with an OPS above 1.000 at 1.019 through 70 games in the Texas and Pacific Coast Leagues. So it's no surprise he's also the only full-season Minor Leaguer to rank in the top 10 in OBP (.416, eighth) and slugging (.603, third). For what it's worth, his 19 homers are also tied for eighth-most among the same group. Bregman also leads full-season Minor Leaguers with a 183 wRC+ per FanGraphs, which takes things like league and park factors into account when boiling down the stat wherein 100 is considered average. No one else who has played at Class A or above has a wRC+ higher than 174. (Edit: Since the writing of this post, Christin Stewart's wRC+ is up to 182 for Lakeland. Still below Bregman's 183, however.) As far as hitters go, this season belongs to Bregman. Everyone else so far has been playing for second place.

Top Starting Pitcher

Dodgers RHP Brock Stewart, Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga/Double-A Tulsa/Triple-A Oklahoma City

A sixth-round pick in 2014 who posted a 4.46 ERA last season, Stewart was not on any prospective Pitcher of the Year short lists when the 2016 campaign began back in April, but he's been dominant at every Minor League stop since Opening Day. His 0.84 WHIP is best among qualified Minor League full-season hurlers while his 2.09 FIP ranks second. Pair that with a 1.66 ERA, 10.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 and 7.0 K/BB in 15 starts (92 innings) across three different levels, and it's difficult to make the case against the 24-year-old right-hander. He's already been rewarded with a Major League start on June 29, so let's call this a very thin layer of icing on the cake that has been his 2016 season.

Top Relief Pitcher

Tigers RHP Joe Jimenez, Class A Advanced Lakeland/Double-A Erie

With a fastball in the high 90's and a plus slider, the Tigers' No. 8 prospect is widely considered the top reliever prospect in baseball, but that's not what earns him this spot. It's the fact that his 1.10 FIP and 45.1 strikeout percentage are best among Minor League relievers with at least 30 innings. He's also a perfect 17-for-17 in save opportunities and sports an 0.83 ERA and 0.73 WHIP with no homers allowed in his 32 appearances (32 2/3 innings) between the Florida State and Eastern Leagues. D-backs right-hander Jimmie Sherfy earns a very honorable mention for going 19-for-19 in save chances across the top three levels of the Arizona system while posting a 0.49 ERA, a 0.73 WHIP and a 43.8 strikeout percentage in 37 innings, though he's hurt by a higher FIP (2.25) and walk rate (10.2 percent vs. 9.0 for Jimenez).

Top Breakout Prospect

Cubs OF Eloy Jimenez, Class A South Bend

Jimenez had a legitimate case for Futures Game MVP on Sunday after going deep and making the defensive play of the exhibition by going over the wall in foul territory to make a great grab, but he'll have to settle for this spot. Signed for $2.8 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, the outfielder was ranked as the No. 10 prospect in the Cubs system by MLB.com entering his first full season and has put himself on the pathway to stardom by hitting .332 with 40 extra-base hits and an .899 OPS in 80 games for Class A South Bend. The 19-year-old is showing the ability to hit for a high average and the kind of power that every organization wants in its corner outfielders. He's already popped into the Top 50 on Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America's updated prospect lists, and a similar jump from outside the Top 100 should be coming when MLB.com updates its rankings later this month. (Begin sarcasm) That's good because the Cubs could definitely use another young promising position player in their ranks (end sarcasm).

Best Team

Double-A Reading Fightin Phils (PHI), Eastern League

As of this writing, there are eight teams in the Minor Leagues with a winning percentage above .700. Seven of them play in short-season leagues. The other is Reading, which has gone 63-27 through the first half of the Eastern League season. The Fightin Phils would lead Double-A Corpus Christi, which has the second-best winning percentage among full-season clubs at .648, by five games if they played on the same circuit. Reading's biggest advantage is on offense -- it leads the Eastern League with 538 runs (no other team has more than 414) and 120 homers (no others have more than 88), although its home park helps with some of that. The Fightins' biggest contributors are Minor League home run leaders Rhys Hoskins (25) and Dylan Cozens (24) while Top-100 prospects J.P. Crawford, Jorge Alfaro and Roman Quinn have also played key roles in the first half. It's the right mix of results and player development. Speaking of which...

Best Farm System

Cleveland Indians

You could make the case for the Mariners (.590 winning percentage) or Phillies (.558) here as they rank first and second respectively in terms of combined affiliate records, but we're jumping to No. 5 with the Indians (.541) because of the way prospects in the Cleveland system have developed in 2016. Francisco Mejia has a case for breakout prospect of the year with the way he's hit, specifically during his ongoing 33-game hitting streak across Class A Lake County and Class A Advanced Lynchburg. Akron outfielders Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier still look like farm system cornerstones. Bobby Bradley and Justus Sheffield have been solid for Lynchburg, the best team in the Carolina League. Mike Clevinger has parlayed a 2.72 ERA at Triple-A Columbus into four Major League appearances. Triston McKenzie is looking like the real deal with one earned run allowed in 27 2/3 innings at Class A Short Season Mahoning Valley. Brady Aiken is healthy and pitching. The list goes on. There are certainly more talented farm systems in the game than Cleveland's, but in terms of development and performance on the field, the Tribe has few rivals through the first half of 2016.

Game of the Year

Staten Island-Brooklyn marathon, June 17

If the 7,011 fans in the MCU Field stands were excited baseball had returned to Coney Island for Opening Day in the New York-Penn League, they sure got a lot of it over 20 innings with 156 batters coming to the plate (41 of which struck out) to see 553 pitches from 16 different pitchers in what eventually became a 3-2 Staten Island victory. The two New York City sides scored a pair of runs each through the first four innings before a stretch of 15 straight scoreless frames that ended with a sacrifice fly by Yankees center fielder Ricardo Ferreira in the top of the 20th. With the Cyclones failing to score in the bottom half of the frame, the game came to a close after five hours and 39 minutes. Brooklyn infielder Dionis Paulino suffered the loss after being called into service as the 10th Cyclones pitcher (and second position player) to take the hill. He walked the bases loaded before Ferreira got to play hero. You'd think the two sides would have been sick of each other, but they went extra innings again the following night -- this time with Staten Island no-hitting Brooklyn over 10 frames in a 2-1 win.

Best Performance

Wooten leads Gwinnett no-hitter in spot start, June 30

Rob Wooten was a career Minor League reliever when the Braves signed him to a Minors contract last offseason, having made only one start in his previous 279 career appearances in the Brewers system. But a rotation pickle had Triple-A Gwinnett press Wooten into starting service on June 30, and he answered the call wonderfully. The 30-year-old right-hander didn't allow a hit or a walk while striking out eight in six innings as the G-Braves eventually no-hit Louisville in a 3-0 win on the road. Wooten threw 61 pitches on the night, 45 of which were for strikes, and admitted himself that he was surprised he lasted six frames having not gone longer than 4 1/3 innings in his previous 22 outings out of the bullpen before that. Gwinnett has perhaps unsurprisingly kept Wooten in a starting role since he got the no-no rolling. He is 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA over three starts, compared to 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 22 relief appearances.