2011 Minor League Player of the Year Poll

It was mentioned in an earlier post that there would be both MiLB Player & Pitcher Awards, as well as an addendum of a Short-Season category (hence, no Sano, Lindsey, etc.)

Point being, if he surpasses rookie eligibility at some point in 2011, it shouldn’t matter how much time he spent in the minors. It may seem unfair, but there is some advantage to spending more time in the minors for this particular award.

It’s also quite subjective (as is this type of award, I suppose) to say that Lawrie was clearly the best player in the minors…I’d guess that many folks would disagree with that statement.

And let’s not declare Lawrie a MLB star just yet. Lots of guys light it up after they are first called up - see Jefferies, Gregg (1988) vs. Zimmerman, Ryan (2005) - both were heralded as can’t miss prospects - one is panning out as a star, the other did not…and Jefferies was actually much more heralded than Zmmerman. I like Lawrie’s chances to succeed, but he hasn’t established himself just yet. I want to see how he handles his first prolonged slump and his first full-season in MLB.

If Mesoraco, or any of these guys were as good they wouldn’t have rookie eligibility left either would they?

That’s overly simplistic. Some organizations move players quickly through the minors. Some single step guys all the way up the ladder, regardless of how well they’re doing. Some guys are blocked positionally for a season until a contract expires or someone gets traded.

Just saying not all situations are equal, and to treat them as such is a little intellectually dishonest.

Of course we are all entitled to our own opinion, but here’s the root of what I was getting at above, re: the term star …

“Jefferies was a real good major league hitter for quite a while Man.”

I never said he wasn’t a solid MLB regular, he just wasn’t a star player, even if he was elected as an A-S twice…but he had just as good of a debut for NYM in 1988 as Lawrie is this year. On the flip side, Robin Ventura was horrible in his first year in CHW, and he was (eventually) arguably a star in MLB. Determining stardom after even a full season in MLB is not easy to do, even more so after only 100-150 ABs.

My disagreement was in your saying that Lawrie was already a MLB star, based on what he’s done in TOR so far. My point above was that Jefferies was one of the first modern uber-prospects, tore it up in MLB in 1988, and then flopped by the standards built up for him, and the same thing could happen to Lawrie, even if he does become a solid MLB player (a la Jefferies).

Again, I don’t necessarily think that will happen, I just think you might be jumping the gun on declaring Lawrie as anything other than having a good debut.

I think I’d side with you as well but the way Brett Lawrie performed (when considering his age especially) is tough to overlook. That being said, Paul Goldschmidt’s AA campaign was awesome and he’s a legitimate prospect as well.

i don’t know why those two were omitted while Mike Trout ‘plays on’, but those 3 would be my most likely picks. Having not considered them (or Anthony Rizzo) due to the rules of this exercise, I went with Bryce Harper.