Medals for the 2007 Minor League Season..........

Again with apologies to the Olympics and Keith Olbermann, here are our awards for the 2007 Minor League season.
Some categories are restricted to the South Atlantic and Carolina Leagues,while others are open to other leagues.
To win an award,you must have played/been at a game that we attended this past year.
Enjoy!

Best Prospect-SAL/Position Player-Non Suns

Gold:Bill Rowell-3B-Delmarva-Needs work on defense,if he wants to stay at 3rd
Silver:Adrian Cardenas-2B-Lakewood-Could wind up at SS too
Bronze:Ryan Royster-OF-Columbus
Honorable Mention-Desmond Jennings-OF-Columbus (Would have ranked higher,but he didn't play the night we saw Columbus.)

Best Prospect-Position Player-Suns

Gold:Chris Marrero-OF-The bat is going to play,question is it in the outfield?
Silver:Justin Maxwell-OF-Overcame a slow start to fly through the Washington system
Bronze:Mike Daniel-OF-I thought he outperformed Maxwell in Hagerstown.
Honorable Mention-Marcos Cabral-2B-Best of some slim pickings for this spot

Best Prospect-Pitcher-Non-Suns

Gold:Antonio Bastardo-Lakewood-Was dominant all year and in his game here as well.
Silver:Pedro Beato-Delmarva-Big righthander needs to be moved slowly
Bronze:Polin Trinidad-Lexington-Lanky power pitcher looks to be a good one
Honorable Mention;Alex Periard-West Virginia-Loved his Seaver-like mechanics
Mike McClendon-West Virginia-very poised
David Qualben-Lexington-Hard throwing Lefty

Best Prospect Pitcher-Suns

Gold-Cory Van Allen-Lefty fireballer wins easily.
Silver-Bradley Meyers-Overmatched the teams he faced while here.Plus I picked him in my Pirate Shadow draft.
Bronze:Jhonny Nunez-Still needs time to develop
Honorable Mention-Jeff Mandel-Erratic,but showed flashes of potential.

Best Signer/dealing with fans-Non Suns

Gold-Adrian Cardenas-Lakewood-This was the largest margin of victory in a category
Silver-Jared Hughes-Hickory-Terrific guy that would have been closer,if I had seen Hickory more.Watch for a win next year with Cardenas not being in a close league.
Bronze-Tie.Alex Periard and Mike Ramlow-West Virginia-both great young men.
Sometimes there is an dead heat in the Olympics,so I am calling one here.
Honorable Mention-Mike Crotta,Brad Clapp and Eric Krebs of Hickory-Too hard to separate these guys!
Nick Weglarz-Lake County-Not only a solid prospect,but signed much as you liked.

Best Signer/dealing with fans-Suns

Gold-Erik Arnesen-I know you expected him to win,but win was closer than you think.
Silver-Cory Van Allen-First player to give me a nickname and use it!
Bronze-Justin Maxwell-Noses out Mike Daniel due to his super signature
Honorable Mention-Mike Daniel-Almost won the Bronze
Chris Marrero-Great signer,but kinda quiet.

Biggest Aggravation-Autograph Division-SAL

Gold-Tom Herr -Hagerstown-Was miserable in Hagerstown and it showed.
Silver-Most of the Greenville Drive-Easily the worst signing team that I have seen here.
Bronze-Tom Herr-Hagerstown-bears repeating
Honorable Mention-Darren Ford-West Virginia-was mad about his SAL return and should have been,but that is the Brewers fault not the fans.

Biggest Aggravation-Autograph Division-Non SAL

Gold-Tie.Jordan Schafer and Eric Campbell-Myrtle Beach-Was never the right time to approach either of these guys.
Bronze-Einar Diaz-Lynchburg-Refused to sign before or after the game and only 1 card when he did sign by the exit gate.
Honorable Mention-Kala Ka'aihue-Myrtle Beach- and he is supposed to be the nicer of the two brothers!

Best fan Moments-

Gold-Koby Clemens-Lexington-Wiped out an obnoxious heckler verbally and taught me some new curse words!
Silver-Battlin' Bob-Asked Suns GM Will Smith to sign his Suns Plunger on the worst giveaway night of the season!
Bronze-Ron Davenport-Lynchburg-Told me two minutes before Jordan Schafer ignored everyone that we didn't want him because Schafer was the "Biggest d**k in the whole league".
Honorable Mention-Ryan and Jerry Browne-Hagerstown-
Browne "what do you guys do with these cards?"
Ryan-"I don't know what the rest of these guys do,but I put them all in a box,It is a collection".
Battlin' Bob-Booed every Suns employee in sight and even booed the Scoreboard Cowboy's mom later in the game.

Worst National Anthems.(next year I am noting names for this)

Gold-The guy who did the "Bobby Brown" style anthem in Frederick.
Reminded me of the rap National anthem on an old episode of Wings.
Silver-Older guy who blew the anthem three lines into the song in Hagerstown,asked for a restart,gave one big emphasis on "rockets red glare" and then gave the choke sign to the press box and threw in the towel.
Bronze-Ryan Starr of nonsense show American Idol at State College.
She could not even remember the words for the anthem,they had to put them on the scoreboard!
Plus,Duke Welker heckled her constantly for it.......
Honorable Mention-The young man that played the instrumental on the trumpet.
He did his best,but the anthem is a tough song to play on a trumpet for a 5th grader.

Best Suns Employee
Gold-Cindy Fitz-Always pleasant and friendly-pictured with Battlin Bob
Silver-Brandon ?-Sorry I don't have a last name,but he is the hardest worker that they have.


Best Autograph Ballpark

Gold:Hickory
Silver:Frederick
Bronze:Hagerstown
Honorable Mention;Lynchburg


Worst Autograph Ballpark
Gold:Altoona
Silver:Greensboro
Bronze;Asheville

I may do a sequel to this,if I think of enough missed items.
Back later with some usual ramblings

Photo Credits
Medals-Olympics
All others-Ryan Heimberger