Angels Minor-League All-Stars [Part 1]

Written by: Anita Y. Tsuchiya on 17th July 2009

Angels Minor-League All-Stars [Part 1] | read this item

July 17, 2009 — Most fans look forward to July as the chance to watch the MLB All-Stars, the best of best, competing on the same field, in a winner-takes-all contest. Taking a step back to look at the bigger picture, though, July could be considered “prospect showcase month.” Between the MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 1st to the 4pm ET MLB unrestricted trade deadline on July 31st, there’s a lot going on across all levels of minor-league baseball.

With the last of the mid-season All-Star Games completed, this seems a good opportunity to learn a bit more about our major leaguers of the future. Although not quite as well represented as last season, the Angels organization did have a number of ballplayers selected to play in these showcase contests. Today’s post covers our Angels Triple-A All-Stars.

While most of team spent their time resting and recreating, a couple of Salt Lake Bees traveled to Portland, OR, to participate in the Triple-A All-Star Game, which pitted the Pacific Coast League All-Stars versus the International League All-Stars. As with the big-league version, the winner of Triple-A All-Star Game is awarded the home-field designation for the Triple-A Bricktown Showdown Championship series, held each September in Oklahoma City.

Brandon Wood

Although he was selected to participate, Wood didn’t play in this year’s All-Star game. Wood was called up to the Angels on July 10th, along with Bobby Wilson, and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup at third base. Facing the Yankees, Wood showed his chops by drawing a walk during his first at-bat, on five pitches from starter Andy Pettitte. Later, he helped chase Pettitte in the fifth inning with a two-run homer. If you’ve been listening to the local radio broadcasts, you would have noticed Wood played first base for a few games while on the road. On Sunday, also against the Yankees, Wood made his MLB debut at first base—no hits, although he did sacrifice in a run in the fourth inning.

Of course, Wood has hardly lacked press coverage from the day he was drafted. Rather than retread the many fine articles already written on Wood’s career, I’d recommend the curious reader simply Google a few keywords and read to your hearts content.

One last thought arises that does seems worth mentioning. Yours truly is of course, well aware of the many seasons of grumbling over how the Angels have held him back at Triple-A. Until last summer, I honestly didn’t think he was quite ready. Now I do. He’s coming to the plate and thinking about “hitting the ball” instead of “hitting the long ball.” He’s using his natural quickness and keen eye to adjust his swing, instead of reacting to whatever shows up. It’s part of what coaches mean when they talk about having a plan.

It’s hard to remember, particularly in athletes having so much natural talent, the most important and slowest-to-develop performance factor sits between the ears. It’s a simple fact of human biology that the motor skills develop far earlier than the cognitive skills. In short, it takes time and experience to learn how to hit the ball for average and power, under all sorts of conditions. Wood is 24 years old.

Terry Evans

“When Evans hits in the lead-off position, good things happen, ” said broadcaster Steve Klauke during the last game prior to the All-Star break.

And indeed our 6’4″ lead-off/slugger has been enjoying one heck of a comeback season after missing most of last year due to a shoulder injury. In the aforementioned game, Evans went 2-3, with an RBI-scoring double and a walk, and stole his 19th and 20th bases.

Klauke noted that with 17 home runs thus far in the season, Evans could quite possibly join the 20-20 Club (20 home runs and 20 steals within the same season). That would be a Salt Lake franchise first. Evans is already a member of the Minor League 30-30 Club, one of only 13 players to do so. Even more impressive is the fact he achieved this record in 2006, the same year he was traded from the Cardinals to the Angels organization.

In addition to being selected to play for the All-Star Game, Evans was selected to participate in the Home Run Derby, held on Monday. He advanced to the second round, and eventually finished fourth among the eight contestants. He started the All-Star Game in center field, batting 5th, and went 0-2, 0 BB, 1 SO. The quiet, 27-year-old from Dublin, GA is a personal favorite of yours truly, and I featured him as my Lady’s Choice for May.

Jeremy Hill

Our all-star closer was acquired by the Angels via free agency this winter from Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican Leagues. Originally drafted as a catcher by Kansas City in 1996, he converted to pitching in 2000. He had some early success, including a short stay with the Royals during 2002. Otherwise, as noted in a Salt Lake Tribune article, his career has taken him to the far corners of baseball world, including Taiwan, Independent Leagues and Mexico before the 31-year-old landed a spring training invite with the Angels.

Hill earned a Double-A roster spot, and made just two appearances before getting the promotion to Salt Lake on April 16. While the promotion was largely in response to an epidemic of pitcher injuries at the parent club, Hill promptly started building his case for it to stick. He was lights out through May, with a stingy 1.46 ERA, and earned the closer spot with 13 saves by mid-June. He struggled in the latter half of June, racking up an 11.56 ERA over four particularly rough outings that included a blown save. Ouch, and then some. He fought back, earning four more saves through that rough stretch, and as we know, an spot on the PCL All-Star Team. Not bad for a man who was wondering last winter whether his 14-year baseball career might be over at last.

Hill is not a power thrower, although his fastball can touch the low 90s. His most effective pitching weapon is his ability to fool hitters and get them to swing at the wrong pitches. He’s got a short delivery, and doesn’t give batters much to see before the ball comes to the plate. Of course, as a late-inning relief man, his job is to get three outs as quickly as possible, and that includes keeping runners off the bases. His SO:BB for Marvelous May was 10:4 (2.5:1). Comparing the first half of June to the second half, his SO:BB ratio was 11:4 (not quite 3:1) and 4:4 (1:1) respectively. No one knows the ups-and-downs of a long season better than this well-traveled veteran, and he came fighting back during the first half of July, producing a 4.16 ERA over four appearances and bringing his season ERA down to 4.13.

As befitting the pitcher with the fourth most saves in the PCL (17 SV), Hill did not make his appearance in the All-Star Game until the start the 9th inning, faced two batters, 1 SO, 1 BB. He was followed by Jess Todd, who leads the PCL with 21 SV.

These Triple-A selections are ballplayers to watch in the upcoming weeks. Next up, our Angels Double-A Texas League All-Stars, which includes some very exciting youngsters…Your friend in baseball.

Topics: Angels prospect, Brandon Wood, Home Run Derby, Jeremy Hill, minor league baseball, Pacific Coast League, Salt Lake Bees, Terry Evans, Triple-A All-Star Game, Triple-A Baseball