Midwest League 1997

The Best Players

This page lists the best 1997 players in the Midwest League. These are the selections I would have made in late May....

Think of this as my "All-Star" team: As of May 24, these were the Midwest League's best players at each position. (You may wish to compare this list to the League's midseason All-Star selections, or with the post-season All-Stars.)

Pos    Pitcher            Tm  W L  ERA  G Sv   IP  H  R ER BB SO 
LHP   *Hoff, Steve        CLI 6 0 2.45  9  0 55.0 52 17 15 12 57
RHP    Stark, Dennis      WSC 4 2 1.54  8  0 41.0 18 11  7 13 51
LHRP  *Fitzgerald, Brian  WSC 2 0 2.63 14  5 24.0 21  8  7  8 29
RHRP   Cordero, Francisco WMI 2 1 0.00 15  8 19.1 12  3  0  5 29


Pos    Player             Tm    BA  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
C     *Robertson, Ryan    KNC .266 124 25 33  9  0  4  24 28 24  0
1B    *Fick, Robert       WMI .390 146 34 57 25  1  9  34 24 18  1
2B    *McClure, Brian     CLI .290 138 38 40  8  4  2  26 42 24  4
3B     Pellow, Kit        LAN .305 174 34 53 11  1 10  39 17 53  1
SS     Butler, Brent      PEO .314 156 27 49 15  0  5  32 19 15  4
OF    *Conti, Jason       SB  .343 172 40 59 10  5  0   9 22 27 16
OF     Ingram, Darron     BUR .262 187 25 49 10  4  9  38 10 70  1
OF     Miranda, Tony      LAN .329 143 34 47 18  3  2  28 29 31  4

DH     Horne, Tyrone      KNC .265 151 28 40  8  0  8  30 30 28 10

MVP    Fick, Robert       WMI .390 146 34 57 25  1  9  34 24 18  1

A few notes are in order, of course:

• Batting Order? How 'bout:
  • Conti
  • Butler
  • Fick
  • Pellow
  • Ingram
  • Horne
  • McClure
  • Robertson
  • Miranda
• This isn't a complete team; it's the best player at each position. You'd need to add six or seven pitchers and some position players before you put the team on the field. For an All-Star Game, you need to split the team and double (or dilute) everything....
• Another thing this isn't is a list of prospects. It's a list of players having excellent seasons; most of them are "prospects," but that wasn't a consideration.
• Some of this is simple; Robert Fick is the obviously-best first baseman, and Brent Butler's the best shortstop. I'm less certain about Tony Miranda (Dernell Stenson might be better, for instance) or Dennis Stark (there are a bunch of very good righty starters, but not one standout).
• No credit whatever was given for defensive brilliance, nor was there any penalty for defensive incompetence. It's not that I'm not interested; I just don't have enough information.
• Obviously, this is just my opinion.