Lady’s Choice: Triple-A Player Pick for May

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

Lady's Choice: Triple-A Player Pick for May | read this item

A retro look at my Lady’s Choice for May, a companion piece to Angels Minor-League All-Stars [Part 1] . . .

Terry Evans | Salt Lake Bees, 2009 June 01, 2009 — This month’s pick is Terry Evans, originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 47th round (No. 1,409 overall) in 2001. Midseason of 2006, the Angels acquired Evans in exchange for Jeff Weaver, who went on to win a World Series ring with the Redbirds that year. Jewelry aside, hindsight omniscience makes the Angels front office look pretty smart. (Love this quote from the former Angels G.M.) Evans was immediately assigned to the Arkansas Travelers, where he proceeded to tear up the Texas League—in the box and on the basepaths—finishing the season by becoming only the 13th ballplayer to join the Minor-League 30-30 Club. Post-season, in the Arizona Fall League, Evans slugged and ran his way onto the AFL Rising Stars Showcase team. Certainly he’d made the right impression with the new organization, and was added to the 40-man roster in November.

In 2007, Evans was promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake and proceeded to produce more of the same. It didn’t take long for the front office to notice his steady progress. Michael Terry Evans was called up to the big leagues in early June as a fill-in for the injured Garrett Anderson, providing a rather memorable Father’s Day present for Michael, Sr. During his first MLB start, the younger Evans got his first MLB hit, “a towering two-run homer over the left-field wall.” Click here to watch the video clip. Evans stayed long enough to appear in eight MLB games, and was returned to Salt Lake just in time to be selected to the 2007 PCL All-Star Team.

The future looked bright in 2008. Evans started the season with a .316 BA as part of the Amazing April in which the Bees made minor-league history with a win-loss record of 23-2. Then came the fateful game against Fresno, April 26. Late in the game, Evans slid hard into 2B trying to break up a double play and tweaked his shoulder. Evans went on the DL and spent most of the season rehabbing in extended spring training, not returning to Salt Lake until nearly the close of the season.

His playing time at spring training camp in 2009 was somewhat limited while the Angels’ development staff took a long look at 25-year-old outfield prospect Chris Pettit, who likewise had missed a good part of his 2008 season, due to a broken foot. Assigned to Salt Lake, Evans struggled at the plate to begin the season. Thankfully, his other tools remained intact. Possessor of one of the best outfield eyes and guns in the PCL, Evans throwing arm showed no lingering effects from last season’s injury. And he flashed speed, 12 for 13 in stolen bases thus far in the season.

Evans was hardly alone in his inability to solve the round-ball-hit-square puzzle. As the freezing nights of April warmed up into the promise of May, and with the usual leadoff hitters struggling, Manager Bobby Mitchell tried something new for the batting order. On May 14th, he wrote Evans in the #1 spot. It clicked, and Evans produced a phenomenal 25 hits in 57 at-bats, .439 BA during the “leadoff experiment,” which ended on May 26. Moved to 3rd in the batting order, Evans’ bat stayed hot through the rest of the month.

The last 10 days of May were nothing less than sweet, slugging heaven. On May 21st, facing former Bees Giancarlo Alvarado, the third pitch of the game was the charm and Evans launched a solo homer over the left field wall. May 23rd, Evans hit his eighth homerun of the season against rehabbing MLB pitcher Jason Schmidt in Albuquerque. The following evening, May 24th, he got dinger #9 for the season, his third in four days, and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. The next night, May 25th, homerun #10, fourth in five days, streak to 11 games. May 26th, one hit, streak to 12 games. May 27th, no homers, although Evans went 3-4, scored the only Bees runs and extended his streak to 13 games.

Evans went 0-4 on May 28th, ending the hitting streak at 13 games. On May 3oth, during game #1 of a double-header, Evans went 1-3, a triple, and stole a base, bringing his season total to 12 SB, second highest on the Bees and tied for eighth in the PCL. In the second game, Evans went 2-4; both hits were run-scoring, game-tying doubles that helped the Bees stay within striking distance of Reno for the dramatic walk-off grand slam by Adam Pavkovich. Summarizing the month of May: .330 BA, 27 R, 38 H, 11 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 13 BB, 33 SO, 8 SB.

Still, it’s only June. And my fave outfielder gets tantalized a bit too often by those late-breaking, outside pitches. As the old saying goes, it’s a long season and anything can happen. Nonetheless, yours truly is hoping to for a break-through year for #24, B-R/T-R…Your friend in baseball.

Terry Evans, Spring Training 2009

Topics: Angels prospect, Arizona Fall League, Arkansas Travelers, Jeff Weaver, Lady's Choice, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, minor league baseball, Pacific Coast League, Salt Lake Bees, St. Louis Cardinals, Terry Evans, Texas League, Triple-A Baseball