Midwest League 2006

The Best Players

Early in the season, the players are a mystery.

By May first, we've begun to sort out our guys, but the visitors are still pretty much an undifferentiated blur.

Finally, around mid-May, the statistics begin to make sense and we can begin to understand who's playing in the league.

So. Here's my annual survey of the league's best players.

These are strictly my opinions. The MWL All-Star team, which reflects the managers' opinions on a similar question, will be published a few days after this listing.

As long as I'm offering opinions:

• Best Player? Fort Wayne OF Nic Crosta.
• Best Pitcher? West Michigan's Ramon Garcia.

Disclaimer: 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.

Best Players for 2006

If I could pick a team of 25 Midwest League players (perhaps to play a Sally League All-Star team), this is the team I'd select:

	CATCHERS           Tm  Bats Pos  G  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB  AVG  OBP  SLG
	Anthony Recker     KC  R    C   29  94 13 32  5  0  3  15 10 26  0 .340 .410 .489
	Mark Reed          PEO L    C   29  84 17 29  4  0  2   7  7 23  7 .345 .409 .464

	INFIELDERS         Tm  Bats Pos  G  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB  AVG  OBP  SLG
	Kyle Blanks        FTW R    1B  35 123 20 41 14  0  4  21 18 25  1 .333 .434 .545
	Robinson Chirinos  PEO R    2B  39 141 22 37 14  0  3  16 16 25  7 .262 .358 .426
	Anthony Hatch      LAN L    3B  20  62 11 19  6  1  3  12  3  9  0 .306 .338 .581
	Paul Janish        DAY R    SS  26  98 19 39  6  0  5  18  7 10  0 .398 .435 .612
	Erik Lis           BEL L    1B  38 153 22 54 19  0  7  28 24 21  3 .353 .441 .614

	OUTFIELDERS        Tm  Bats Pos  G  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB  AVG  OBP  SLG
	Nicholas Crosta    FTW R    OF  26  89 19 34 10  1  4  24 18 26  1 .382 .482 .652
	Cameron Maybin     WM  R    OF  27 100 15 33  7  4  1  19 12 30  6 .330 .409 .510
	Cory Patton        LAN L    OF  41 154 26 46 15  1  6  34 16 31  3 .299 .360 .526
	Jordan Renz        CR  R    OF  39 148 25 42 14  2 10  38 12 48  2 .284 .345 .608
	Justin Upton       SB  R    OF  29 109 17 35  7  0  2  19 15 20  6 .321 .409 .440
	
	DESIGNATED HITTER  Tm  Bats Pos  G  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB  AVG  OBP  SLG
	Randy Roth         QC  R    DH  43 172 26 51 10  2 11  34 11 25  8 .297 .353 .570

	
	PITCHERS           Tm  Th W L  ERA  G GS CG SHO SV IP    H  R ER BB SO
	Nicholas Adenhart  CR  R  7 0 1.56  9  9  0   0  0 57.2 41 14 10 12 60
	Mitch Atkins       PEO R  3 0 2.34  8  8  0   0  0 42.1 31 12 11 15 45
	Edward Campusano   PEO L  0 0 0.86 18  0  0   0 14 21.0 11  3  2  7 31
	Johnny Cueto       DAY R  4 1 2.93  8  8  2   2  0 40.0 23 13 13  6 52
	Wade Davis         SWM R  3 1 0.94  9  9  0   0  0 48.0 25  6  5 25 63
	Greg Dupas         SWM R  2 1 1.21 19  0  0   0 12 22.1 15  7  3  7 20
	Ramon Garcia       WM  L  6 1 1.05  9  9  2   2  0 60.0 34  7  7  8 47
	Jared Lansford     KC  R  3 1 1.17  4  4  1   1  0 23.0  8  5  3 11 12
	Stephen Marek      CR  R  4 1 2.33  9  9  0   0  0 54.0 45 15 14 13 46
	Orlando Perdomo    WM  R  0 0 1.42 20  8  0   0 12 19.0 12  3  3  4 23
	Steven Sharpe      KC  R  1 0 1.69 17  0  0   0  8 21.1  7  4  4  7 27
	Michael Wlodarczyk SWM L  5 1 0.82  9  9  0   0  0 55.0 33 10  5 16 48

Notes

Paul Janisch has been promoted, and likely some of these others will be gone by mid-season.

Of course there's room for disagreement. That's what makes this fun.

• These are my May 25 opinions, and are subject to change. I won't post updated opinions on this page, but may post them elsewhere on the site.
• Stats shown are through May 25, 2006.