Castellanos Named Tigers Top Farmhand
The Detroit Tigers recently handed out some Minor League hardware, with the Whitecaps’ Nick Castellanos being awarded Minor League Player of the Year, and Lakeland’s Drew Smyly awarded Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Both players are from last seasons draft and just completed their first pro seasons.
Castellanos was the top draft pick last season, and is the Tigers top position prospect. He had a slow start adjusting to the Midwest League, but his bat started to heat up with the weather in May. The nine-teen year old ended the 2011 campaign batting .312 with 36 doubles, seven home runs, and 76 RBI’s in West Michigan.
Smyly was Detroit’s second round selection from last years draft out of the University of Arkansas. His award is very impressive, considering the Tigers have prospects like Jacob Turner and Andy Oliver in the mix. He started the season with the Lakeland Flying Tigers, going 7-3 with a 2.58 ERA and 77 strikeouts before being promoted to Double A Erie in July. With the Seawolves, he was 4-3, but pitched himself to a miniscule 1.18 ERA in seven starts and one relief appearance.
Good luck to these players as they move up the latter in the Tigers organization.
Top photo courtesy of the West Michigan Whitecaps
Bottom photo property of M.I.B.
Minoring In Baseball 
I’m going to be rooting for this guy so that Lily treasures this picture for years to come!
–Jeff
Are you a fan of Triple-A baseball? How would you evaluate Russ Canzler as a player?
The Rays Rant- http://yossif.mlblogs.com/
Good luck indeed and good for Castellanos. Sometimes a slow start just means a talented player is taking time to soak in all the details and really learn the game on a new level. Hey, way to go for your Tigers so far. I am rooting for them to win tonight and move on to the ALCS.
— Kristen
Jeff-thanks, I think she’ll love it when he makes ‘the show’. It will be nice for ‘show and tell’ at school!
RR-I haven’t had a chance to see him play, unfortunetly. I’ll look him up, though, and maybe find some film of him on youtube.
Kristen-thanks, Kristen, I’ll be watching the Tigers tonight probably with a few beers to calm me down. I don’t handle big games well!
–Mike
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