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Minor League All-Star Team
J.R. House
House, 20, was an unknown quantity as a baseball player coming out of high school because he was more of a football star. But his limited baseball experience hasn’t shown up so far in his professional career, as he looks like a potentially dominant offensive catcher in the Mike Piazza mold. His numbers, which include a South Atlantic League-leading .348 average, are even more impressive considering he missed about a month of action with mononucleosis. Jason Hart
Midland is serving as a great springboard for Athletics prospects to leap into prominence. Last year it was third baseman Adam Piatt, and this year it’s Hart, 23. He was the Northwest League MVP in 1998 and had a good season at Class A Modesto last year, hitting .305-19-123, but he was even better this year, leading the minors with 79 extra-base hits and ranking among the leaders in most offensive categories. Keith Ginter
Like many of the players on this year’s all-star team, Ginter, 24, was a relative unknown coming into the season. That was appropriate considering he hadn’t done anything special since coming out of Texas Tech in 1998. That all changed this season, when he was the Texas League batting champion and on-base percentage leader in an amazing debut for the Round Rock franchise. Joe Crede
A glance at Crede’s career statistics would show he repeated a level this year after also spending 1999 at Birmingham. But bone spurs in his left foot made that a lost season, and he showed what he was really made of this season. Crede is still just 22, and he removed any doubts this year that he’s the White Sox’ third baseman of the future, finishing the season as one of the top prospects in the talent-laden Southern League. Jose Ortiz
Ortiz actually played more games at second base this season but he was officially the Pacific Coast League’s all-star shortstop, so we’ll use him there. No matter which position he played, he was among the best hitters in the minor leagues, batting more than 70 points better than his career average coming into the season and winning the Triple-A league’s MVP award. Ortiz, 23, is in his sixth season of pro ball but is still young and has played his way into the Athletics’ plans. Kevin Mench
Like many players coming out of smaller college programs, Mench, 22, had to prove himself after the Rangers drafted him out of Delaware, where he won back-to-back player of the year awards in the America East Conference. He has done that, batting .357 in his debut last season and putting up huge numbers this year, especially considering he was in the Florida State League. His FSL MVP award will win over more doubters than those college awards. Chad Mottola
Mottola’s days as a hot prospect are behind him, as he was a first-round pick of the Reds in 1992 and got just 79 big league at-bats before Cincinnati traded him away in 1998. Cast in the role of minor league journeyman, Mottola, 28, earned a September callup from the Blue Jays with a rare 30-30 season at Syracuse. His performances this year and last year in the White Sox organization are by far the best of his career. Juan Silvestre
At 22 and in his sixth professional season, Silvestre’s prospect status is still a bit of a question, and questions will remain because Lancaster plays in such a hitter’s park. But his numbers are undeniable, as Silvestre challenged for the triple crown in the California League and ended up leading the league in home runs and RBIs. Alex Cabrera
Speaking of questions, people have to wonder where this sort of performance came from with Cabrera, 28. After six nowhere seasons in the Cubs organization, he was released in 1996 and played in Mexico and Taiwan before the Diamondbacks gave him another chance. Like Erubiel Durazo last year, Cabrera shot through the system and put together a full season’s worth of numbers in just 290 at-bats. He hit 20 homers at El Paso in June alone. Roy Oswalt
After a middling season in low Class A in 1999, no one was sure whether Oswalt, 23, could handle the Florida State League. He proved more than capable, earning a promotion to the Texas League after just eight starts. He was even better in Double-A, finishing with the second-best overall ERA in the minors this season and fourth in the minors in strikeouts before departing for Sydney to pitch for Team USA. Christian Parra
With all of the touted pitching prospects in the Braves organization, it was the nondrafted free agent who made the most noise this season. Parra, 22, was part of a no-hitter and went more than two months without a loss at one point. He led the Carolina League in wins and was within 0.02 in ERA and five strikeouts of winning the pitching triple crown. He threw 23 straight scoreless innings, including back-to-back shutouts, to end the season. Jon Rauch
Our Minor League Player of the Year should become the tallest player in major league history, at 6-foot-11, as early as next season. Rauch, 22, dominated Carolina League hitters and was even more dominant after a promotion to the Southern League, just adding to a White Sox stable of young pitching that is among the best in baseball. Like Oswalt, he pitched for Team USA in the Olympics and dominated there as well. Bud Smith
Smith’s stature and lack of a dominant pitch assure he’ll have to prove himself at every level, but he’s done an outstanding job of that so far. With the Cardinals’ pitching in good shape right now, Smith, 20, is likely to return to Triple-A to start next season, but if he continues to put up numbers like he did this year, when he went 17-2 and tossed two no-hitters, they’ll have to give him a shot. Greg Wooten
Wooten, 26, was a third-round pick of the Mariners in 1995, but injuries and poor performance dimmed his prospect status to the point he was an afterthought in the organization. His season at New Haven was a good way to change that. After being named the Eastern League’s pitcher of the year, he pitched two complete games in the playoffs to lead the Ravens to a league title. Maximo Regalado
In six seasons in the Dodgers organization, including three in the Dominican Summer League, Regalado had exactly one save and a 4.72 ERA in an undistinguished career in which he had mostly started. He became the closer at Vero Beach this year and rejuvenated his career, as he was able to make good use of a dominant fastball and earn his first time in Double-A. First Team
Pos., Player, Team AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
C J.R. House, Hickory .348 420 78 146 29 1 23 90 46 91 1
1B Jason Hart, Midland/Sacramento .324 564 102 183 45 3 31 125 70 119 4
2B Keith Ginter, Round Rock .333 462 108 154 30 3 26 92 82 127 24
3B Joe Crede, Birmingham .306 533 84 163 35 0 21 94 56 111 3
SS Jose Ortiz, Sacramento .351 518 107 182 34 5 24 108 47 64 22
OF Kevin Mench, Charlotte (FSL) .334 491 118 164 39 9 27 121 78 72 19
OF Chad Mottola, Syracuse .309 505 85 156 25 3 33 102 37 99 30
OF Juan Silvestre, Lancaster .304 506 104 154 15 3 30 137 60 126 9
DH Alex Cabrera, Tucson/El Paso .355 290 74 103 24 3 39 94 30 71 3
W L ERA G GS CG SV IP H BB SO
SP Roy Oswalt, rhp, Kissimmee/Round Rock 15 7 2.21 27 26 2 0 175 158 33 188
SP Christian Parra, rhp, Myrtle Beach 17 4 2.28 26 25 2 0 158 98 56 163
SP Jon Rauch, rhp, Winston-Salem/Birm. 16 4 2.66 26 26 3 0 166 138 49 187
SP Bud Smith, lhp, Arkansas/Memphis 17 2 2.26 27 26 3 0 163 133 42 136
SP Greg Wooten, rhp, New Haven 17 3 2.31 26 26 6 0 179 166 15 115
RP Maximo Regalado, rhp, Vero/San Antonio 1 2 1.83 56 0 0 30 54 37 23 72
Second Team
Pos., Player, Team AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
C Mike Kinkade, Bing./Bowie/Rochester .358 344 70 123 25 3 13 72 38 46 18
1B Travis Hafner, Charlotte (FSL) .346 436 90 151 34 1 22 109 67 86 0
2B Willie Bloomquist, Lancaster/Tacoma .313 447 80 140 24 7 3 74 44 55 27
3B Albert Pujols, Peoria/Potomac/Memp. .314 490 74 154 41 7 19 96 46 47 4
SS Alex Cintron, El Paso .301 522 83 157 30 6 4 59 29 56 9
OF Brian Cole, St. Lucie/Binghamton .301 551 104 166 35 7 19 86 42 79 69
OF Austin Kearns, Dayton .306 484 110 148 37 2 27 104 90 93 18
OF Juan Pierre, Carolina/Colo. Springs .331 456 66 151 16 5 0 33 33 26 47
DH Ozzie Timmons, Durham .300 506 100 152 32 1 29 104 73 105 5
W L ERA G GS CG SV IP H BB SO
SP Mark Buehrle, lhp, Birmingham 8 4 2.28 16 16 1 0 119 95 17 68
SP Calvin Chipperfield, rhp, West Mich. 12 3 2.13 24 22 3 0 144 95 65 151
SP Jon Garland, rhp, Charlotte (IL) 9 2 2.13 17 17 2 0 110 103 33 73
SP Tim Redding, rhp, Kissimmee/Round Rock 14 5 2.79 29 29 0 0 181 139 79 192
SP Chin-hui Tsao, rhp, Asheville 11 8 2.73 24 24 0 0 145 119 40 187
RP J.J. Trujillo, rhp, Fort Wayne 3 4 1.33 63 0 0 42 75 39 25 85
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