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copyright ©2000-2003 MLN Sports Group LLC. All rights reserved. See our privacy policy.
With the 2003 season in the record books, MLN brings you our top players in each league, and our overall pick for Minor League Player of the Year.
How We Make Our Picks
Players are selected by our editorial staff and selected journalists who cover the minor league baseball beat for MLN.
The players chosen are not necessarily the MVPs of their league. That is an award judged by different criterion.
To be the MLN Player of the Year in baseball, the athlete must make it both on the numbers and the intangibles.
The numbers are easy: Was the player one of the top players statistically in their league,
or in the leagues in which they played this season? Players don't have to be the leader in batting or pitching on straight batting average or ERA. Sometimes other intangibles (Stolen bases, on-base percentage, etc.) influence the statistical side of our selection process. Age and number of years in the minor leagues are also hard numbers that weigh into POY deliberations.
The intangibles about a player usually help our editors cast the deciding votes, and cause the most debate amongst our readers.
(We thank the many of you who thought we were crazy to name Jose Reyes as our POY for 2002. You'll note that his end-of-season uniform says Mets this year, and that his numbers in AAA justified our confidence in him.).
What are intangibles? Everything from a five-year minor league vet suddenly coming alive, to the interesting tale of a young man who didn't pick up a baseball until about four years ago. Considerations of how far players in an organization are likely to move next season, whether there is space on the major league club for them to play, whether they're good deal material in off-season trades, or if free agency of a veteran major league player will open an opportunity for a rookie are all factors that we include in our deliberations.
Players who have moved through the system and are already major leaguers are removed from consideration. We're looking for minor league talent that has yet to "arrive."
Combined our goal is to find the players most likely to be major impact major leaguers. Not all will make it by next year. We also don't assume that a AAA player of the Year has the lock on overall player of the year. Some players moving through the system will rocket out of the Class-A or Class-AA leagues next year and go into the majors.
This year there was a paucity of pitching that impressed us. The "divisional" play of the PCL meant that a lot of promising talent ended up with gift ERAs because they saw a lot of the same subsets of batters over and over again. There are some outstanding pitchers in the minors. The ones that we honor here did something in their league and division to outshine the others. We place some higher expectations on ERA and saves from pitchers higher in the system. On, and yes, we do look at the numbers for middle releivers without the prejudice of not being a starter or a closer.
The Envelope Please...
Who were this year's top players? Who is this year's 2003 MLN Player of the Year™?
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