Midwest League 1999

The Best Players

This page lists the best 1999 players in the Midwest League, single-A minor league baseball in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. These are the selections I would have made in late May....

You may wish to compare this list with the official mid-season and/or post-season All-Star selections.

Think of this as my "All-Star" team: As of May 25, these were the Midwest League's best players at each position.

Name              Bats Pos  Tm  AB    R   H  2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO  SB   BA  OBA  SLG
Jason Hill         R     C  CED 126  22  42   7  0   3   24  16  19   0 .333 .423 .460
Jon Schaeffer      R     C  QC  117  30  35  12  1   4   19  27  21   0 .299 .441 .521

Name              Bats Pos  Tm  AB    R   H  2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO  SB   BA  OBA  SLG
Travis Dawkins     R    SS  ROC 188  24  43   4  3   4   20  20  24  22 .229 .301 .346
Ariel Delgado      L    1B  CED 112  21  34  15  1   2   21  11  18   5 .304 .375 .509
Jaime Goudie       R    2B  CLI 107  18  35   5  1   1   14   7  14   8 .327 .365 .421
Scott Kirby        R    3B  BEL 159  33  50  12  1   8   31  36  34   2 .314 .440 .553
Aaron McNeal       R    1B  MIC 175  31  53   8  1  15   47   8  32   0 .303 .333 .617
Tyler Turnquist    R    3B  MIC 147  34  52   7  3   3   22  18  21   2 .354 .422 .503
Jack Wilson        R    SS  PEO 160  32  53  15  2   3   24  12  18   7 .331 .382 .506

Name              Bats Pos  Tm  AB    R   H  2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO  SB   BA  OBA  SLG
Eric Battersby     R    OF  BUR 149  20  44   9  1   7   33  29  32   4 .295 .403 .510
Josh Loggins       R    OF  FTW 166  26  55  13  3   4   26  23  29   9 .331 .518 .420
Tydus Meadows      R    OF  LAN 156  28  48  18  3   7   35  15  29   3 .308 .373 .596
Colin Porter       L    OF  MIC 134  29  44  12  3   4   22  17  30   7 .328 .403 .552
Justin Ross        L    OF  CED 135  34  43  11  0   2   15  38  22   8 .319 .471 .444

Name              Bats Pos  Tm  AB    R   H  2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO  SB   BA  OBA  SLG
Derek Nicholson    L    DH  MIC 117  25  42   5  3   2   22  17  12   0 .359 .440 .504

Name                Tm   Th  W  L  ERA   G GS CG ShO Sv    IP   H  R ER BB Ks  OpBA
Tim Birdsong        CLI   R  2  0 2.82   8  8  0   0  0  51.0  40 20 16 13 33  .215
Chris Bloomer       SBD   R  0  0 1.99  16  0  0   0  8  22.2  11  6  5  5 24  .143
Renney Duarte       CED   R  4  1 1.41  12  4  2   2  0  44.2  39  7  7  8 37  .238
Kirk Griffin        PEO   R  2  2 1.96  19  0  0   0  3  23.0  10  7  5  7 19  .132
Brent Hoard         QC    L  3  2 2.44   9  9  0   0  0  48.0  36 15 13 17 37  .205
Chris Mears         WIS   R  7  1 1.86   9  9  0   0  0  58.0  48 19 12 12 51  .223
Phil Merrell        CLI   R  4  1 1.65   7  7  2   2  0  43.2  21 11  8 14 39  .143
David Noyce         KNC   L  4  0 2.34   9  9  1   1  0  57.2  45 17 15 18 49  .212
Doug Sessions       MIC   R  0  0 0.69  12  0  0   0  5  13.0   6  1  1  1 18  .146
Dave Therneau       ROC   R  8  1 2.53  10 10  1   1  0  64.0  52 21 18 23 66  .219

A few notes are in order, of course:

• At this point, Scott Kirby of Beloit appears to be the league's best player.
• This isn't a list of prospects. It's a list of players having excellent seasons; most of them are "prospects," but that wasn't a consideration.
• Batting Order
  • Ross (CR, OF)
  • Porter (MIC, OF)
  • Kirby (BEL, 3B)
  • McNeal (MIC, 1B)
  • Turnquist (MIC, DH)
  • Schaeffer (QC, C)
  • Loggins (FTW, OF)
  • Wilson (PEO, SS)
  • Goudie (CLI, 2B)
• Rotation
  • Therneau (ROC)
  • Merrell (CLI)
  • Mears (WIS)
  • Birdsong (CLI)
  • Duarte (CED)
• Short Relief
  • Sessions (MIC, closer)
  • Bloomer (SBD)
  • Griffin (PEO)
• Stats shown are through May 25, 1999.
• Some of this is simple: Jack Wilson (PEO - how do they always have the best shortstop?) is clearly the best shortstop, and Aaron McNeal's (MIC) the best first baseman. Some slots are more difficult: Lansing's Tony Schrager's pretty comparable to Jaime Goudie (CLI), but we don't need two second basemen. And there's lots of room for debate on the pitching staff; I really like Doug Bridges (CR) and Johan Santana (MIC), and I'm sure there are folks who think I should put Brandon Puffer (CLN) on this staff.
• No credit whatever is given for defensive brilliance, and there is only a slight penalty for defensive incompetence. It's not that I'm not interested; I just don't have enough information.
• It's a hitter's year this summer, an interesting contrast to last summer's remarkable Year of the Pitching Phenom. Although there are some good baserunners in 1999's MWL, none seem to be dominating players.
• Obviously, this is just my opinion.