FLORIDA STATE LEAGUE
MINOR LEAGUES BASEBALL
CLASS “A” ADVANCED
OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
08/12/2012
KYLE ROLLER, Tampa Yankees (New York Yankees)
(.375/.444/1.188, 4 G, 6-for-16, 2 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K)
Roller only played in four games this week, but he managed to pack a lot of punch into his 16 at-bats. The 24-year old first baseman went 5 for 12 with three homers, two triples and eight RBIs during a three game sweep of host Clearwater. Roller drove in or scored 12 of the Yankees 25 runs in the series and now ranks second in the league in both homers (18) and RBIs (78). With Roller hitting .303/.386/.588 since the All-Star break, Tampa owns a narrow one-game lead in the second-half North Division race.
08/06/2012
RICHARD LUCAS, St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets)
(.435/.480/.783, 6 G, 10-for-23, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 6 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 3 SB)
A fourth-round pick in 2007, Lucas is back in St. Lucie, where he played in 2010, after spending last season with Brooklyn in the New York-Penn League. He was an organizational All-Star with the Cyclones in 2012. This week the 23-year old clubbed two of his eight homers on the year and closed out the stretch by going 6-for-9 against Fort Myers over the weekend, missing the cycle by a triple on August 5th.
07/29/2012
ALEX DICKERSON, Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh Pirates)
(.462/.533/.846, 7 G, 12-for-26, 4 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 10 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 SB)
An outfielder and designated hitter at Indiana University. Dickerson is still working oh his defense since the Pirates moved him to first base. There’s been no question about his bat, though, as the 22-year old slugger leads the Florida State League with 77 RBIs in 100 games. A left-handed hitter who once toyed with switch-hitting due to his struggles against southpaw pitchers, Dickerson is hitting .311 against lefties this season. His biggest game this week was a 4-for-5, two-homer performance against Daytona on July 24th.
07/22/2012
EDGAR DURAN, Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)
(.444/.545/.944, 6 G, 8-for-18, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 SB)
Duran was having an average week before Clearwater traveled to Charlotte for a weekend series against the Stone Crabs. The Venezuelan born shortstop doubled on Thursday and went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs on July 20th, before blasting a pair of homers, just his second and third of the season, and driving in four runs on July 21st. The Stone Crabs were spared further Duran related damage only when rain washed out July 22nd series final.
07/16/2012
RAMON FLORES, Tampa Yankees (New York Yankees)
(.412/.412/.882, 5 G, 7-for-17, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 H, 4 RBI, 3 R, 5 K, 1 SB, 1 CS)
The Yankees outfielder had a pair of three-hit games last week, falling a hit shy of the cycle in each. The left-handed Flores is batting .351 in his last games, and that includes a hitless effort on July 14th. He’s hitting .360 in July after batting .340 in June for Tampa in his second stint in the Florida State League.
07/02/2012
JASON ROGERS, Brevard County Manatees (Milwaukee Brewers)
(.429/.600/.857, 7 G, 9-for-21, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 9 R, 9 BB, 5 K, 2 SB)
A mid-season All-Star in the Midwest League, where he hit .301/.394/.485 in 66 games for Wisconsin, Rogers has been even better in his first 10 days in the FSL. Brevard County’s new first baseman/corner outfielder/designated hitter drove in 10 runs in seven games this week and, with 11 walks, has posted a .571 on-base percentage in his first 10 Class-A Advanced games. Rogers capped the week with a pair of homers and five RBIs on July 1st as the Manatees routed host Clearwater, 10-3.
06/25/2012
KIRK SINGER, Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh Pirates)
(.474/.545/.789, 5-G, 9-for-19, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 CS)
Like California League winner Casey McElroy, fellow shortstop Singer was scuffling at Class A, posting a .282/305/321 line, before taking his new league by storm. The 22-year old Singer went deep in his first Florida State League game on June 18th and drove in at least one run in each of his first five games with the Marauders. With another blast at Charlotte on June 22nd, Singer has as many homers in five FSL games as he hit in 112 previous games for West Virginia and State College.
06/18/2012
ANTHONY HEWITT, Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)
(.375/.441/1.000, 4G, 6-for-16, 1 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 SB)
Hewitt’s first Class A Advanced season has featured long stretches of scuffling punctuated by outbursts of prodigious hitting. The 23-year old, whom the Phillies took with the 24th overall pick in the 2008 Draft, was hitting .161 through May 4th, before going 11-for-16 in his next four games to hit his average 108 points. Hewitt was just 5-for-33 (.151) in June before going 5-for-8 with three homers and eight RBIs in two games against Tampa Yankees on June 13th and June 14th. Unfortunately for the Phillies’ No. 19 prospect, his surge was interrupted by the FSL All-Star break. Hewitt and the Threshers will be back at it on June 18th.
06/11/2012
KEVIN AHRENS, Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays)
(.471/.500/.882, 5 G, 8-for-17, 1 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R, 2 BB, 5 K)
A first round pick (16th overall) in the 2007 Draft, Ahrens is in his fourth Florida State League season. After slugging a career high 14 long balls last year, the 23-year old third baseman went homerless in his first two months of the campaign before breaking the seal with a solo shot at Charlotte on June 3rd. Ahrens homered again on June 4th, and added a third blast in a 3-for-3 effort against Clearwater on June 9th. He capped his week by driving in a pair of runs on June 10th, as Dunedin clinched the first-half title in the FSL’s North Division.
06/04/2012
OSWALDO ARCIA, Ft. Myers Miracle (Minnesota Twins)
(.571/.640/1.048, 6 G, 12-for-21, 1 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 CS)
The Venezuelan born Arcia is in his fourth Minor League season and his second with the Miracle, despite having just turned 21-years old in May. The Twins’ No. 4 prospect, Arcia has stepped up his game, raising his batting average 67 points and on-base percentage 88 points above his FSL stint last year. He had hits in each of his six games this week, including a pair of four-hit performances and went deep on both June 2nd and June 3rd, against Daytona. Arcia ranks fourth in the league in hitting and second in both slugging and OPS.
05/29/2012
GABE JACOBO, Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays)
(.429/.452/.821, 7 G, 12-for-28, 5 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R, 2 BB, 5 K)
Jacobo’s presence in the FSL may not be entirely fair, he spent last season in the Double-A Texas League but he won’t be there long at this rate. The first baseman, who the Blue Jays acquired in the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 Draft last December, closed out his week with five consecutive multi-hit games. Jacobo doubled in each of those contests and has reached base in all 22 of his games with Dunedin this season. Had he the at-bats to qualify, the 25-year old would rank fourth in the league in hitting.
05/22/2010
CARLOS ALONSO, Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)
(.545/.583/.909, 6 G, 12-for-22, 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 3K)
After going 0-for- 4 at Dunedin on May 14th, Alonso’s batting average stood at .282. By May 20th, it was .360, thanks to five straight multi-hit games in which he went 12-for-18 with two homers and 10 RBIs. The 24-year old, University of Delaware product played two games in left field, two at second base, one at shortstop and one at third base, but none of the stresses of fielding different positions seem to have affected his hitting. Alonso’s three homers this year (in 27 games) are already a career high.
05/14/2012
LANCE RAY, Ft. Myers Miracle (Minnesota Twins)
(.421/.542/.789, 6 G, 8- for- 19, 2 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 6 R, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 SB)
After hitting just .192 in April, Ray has at last one hit in nine of his 10 games this month and has scored in six of seven. An eighth-round pick out of the University of Kentucky in 2010, Ray’s 16 homers for Beloit were fourth most in the Twins organization last season. The 22-year old delivered his fourth blast of the year on May 9th, a first inning grand slam at first place Dunedin and added two doubles and a single on May 10th to help the Miracle split a four game set with the Blue Jays.
05/07/2012
NICK CASTELLANOS, Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit Tigers)
(.464/.531/.643, 7G, 13-for-28, 2 BB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 SB)
The Florida State League seems unlikely to feature Nick Castellanos for long, as it has been wholly unable to contain him in the first month of the season. A first-round pick in 2010, the 20-year old Castellanos is MLB.com’s No 46 prospect and currently leads the Minor Leagues with a .404 batting average. He has hits in 27 of his 29 games and multiple hits in 14 of them, including a 4-for-5 performance against first-place Dunedin on April 27th. Castellanos went 8-for-13 against the Blue Jays in three games on May 1st, May 2nd and May 3rd, to help him win Player of the Week honors.
04/30/2012
JAKE MARISNICK, Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays)
(.423/.444/.846, 11-for-26, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R, 1 BB, 1 SB)
Marisnick, MLB.com’s No. 58 prospect, began the week mired in an 0-for-13 slump. His extra work with Dunedin hitting coach, Ralph Dickerson began to pay off on April 24th, as the 21-year old slugger clubbed in his first long ball of the year at Tampa. Marisnick followed with four straight multi-hit games, adding two more homers and a double while plating six runs. The 2009 third-round pick’s third blast in five days helped the Jays top the Yankees, 6-1, on April 28th, and open up a 5-1/2 game lead over Lakeland in the FSL North.
04/23/2012
CHRISTIAN YEICH, Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins)
(.500/,615/,1.100, 10-for-20, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 7 R, 6 BB, 4 K, 1 SB)
Yelich, the Marlins top prospect, missed the end of Spring Training and the first week of the season with a bruised right elbow. He’s shown no signs of rust since joining the Hammerheads on April 15th, going 12-for-24 with two homers, two triples, two double, seven walks and nine runs scored in seven games. The 20-year old outfielder has collected multiple hits in five of his seven outings and completed a variance on the cycle on April 21st, delivering a single, double, triple and solo homer in seven at bats as Jupiter split a doubleheader against visiting Charlotte.
04/16/2012
ANGEL MORALES, Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota Twins)
(.415/.457/.561, 10 G, 17-for-41, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R, 4 BB, 1 K, 3 SB, 1 CS)
Morales’ third season with the Miracle is off to a flying start with hits in nine of 10 games and multiple hits in five of them. The 22-year old outfielder out of Puerto Rico, a third-round Draft pick in 2007, had three hits on Opening Day and fell a triple shy of the cycle in a four-hit, three-RBI performance against Bradenton on April 14th. Morales, is leading the Florida State League with 17 hits in his first 10 games.
