DOWNTOWN — Less than two full seasons ago, outfielder Daryl Jones was a one-time, blue-chip football prospect struggling to hit .200 at Low-A baseball for the second consecutive summer. He didn’t waver from his choice to slog through the minors over catching passes for a major college. He believed like the Cardinals’ coaches and Cardinals’ front office believed – he had all the tools for baseball. Things just had to click.
Well, apparently, they clicked.
The Cardinals named Jones their organization player of the year Saturday, and the franchise tabbed obvious choice Jess Todd as the pitcher of the year. It is the earliest in recent memory that the team has announced the winners of the minor-league awards, as just a few years ago they would wait until the start of the next year’s spring training to do so. (Cynics asserted that was because they didn’t want to award a player they were about to trade; the club always refuted that opinion, sometimes loudly.)
Both Jones (MiLB.com) and Todd (MiLB.com) will receive their awards at the annual Baseball Writers Dinner, which will be held Jan. 19, 2009.
Todd is the no-brainer after pitching at three levels — topping out at the Triple-A rotation — and being an All-Star at two of them. Jones is somewhat of a surprise pick. The 21-year-old outfielder edged a group of candidates, led by David Freese, a third baseman. Freese, a Lafayette High grad, was acquired in the Jim Edmonds deal with San Diego. He idled at Class A for the Padres, made the leap to Triple-A for the Cardinals and hit 26 home runs with 91 RBIs. He played, according to coaches and managers, a superb third base.
Freese won the organization’s “best position player” award from Baseball America.
Jones, out of the Houston area and pals with the Astros’ Michael Bourn, had numbers and history going for him. Drafted by the Cardinals with the 110th overal pick in 2005, Jones hit .316 with 12 home runs and 24 stolen bases at two levels. The Cardinals opted at the beginning of the season to give Jones a sink-or-swim promotion — shoving him out of Low-A, where he hit .217 last season, to High-A Palm Beach. He hit .326 there, stole 18 bases, earned an All-Star Game invite from the Florida State League and was named one of the area’s most eligible bachelors.
Todd, 22, went a combined 8-6 with a 2.88 ERA and a .213 batting average against. He started the Double-A All-Star Game at Springfield, and there is every expectation he’ll get major-league exposure in spring training next February. Todd was the Cardinals’ second-round selection in 2007 out of Arkansas.
Lefty Nick Additon was also considered for the award after an 11-5, 2.23 season, mostly spent at Low-A Quad Cities.
“Daryl and Jess distinguised themselves at multiple levels to earn this honor,” said Cardinals vice president of player develope Jeff Luhnow in a statement. ”These two young men reflect the quality of our system and organization both on and off the field.”
Spoke with Luhnow tonight – check tomorrow’s paper for some of that interivew — and he likened Jones to the Cardinals “of the ’80s on that turf with his ability to steal bases and make things happen with his speed.”
More about the awards in the paper tomorrow.
The Cardinals’ organizational awards have not been the indicators of future major-league contributors for the Cardinals. Here are the list of previous winners.
POSITION: 1995 Mike Gulan, 3B; 1996 Dmitri Young, INF; 1997 Brent Butler, INF; 1998 Pablo Ozuna, INF; 1999 Adam Kennedy, INF; 2000 Albert Pujols, INF; 2001 Coco Crisp, OF; 2002 John Gall, 1B; 2003 John Gall, 1B; 2004 Reid Gorecki, OF; 2005 Travis Hanson, 3B; 2006 Colby Rasmus, OF; 2007 Colby Rasmus, OF.
PITCHERS: 1995 Mike Busby, RHP; 1996 Britt Reames, RHP; 1997 Cliff Politte, RHP; 1998 Rick Ankiel, LHP; 1999 Rick Ankiel, LHP; 2000 Bud Smith, LHP; 2001 Jimmy Journell, RHP; 2002 Tyler Johnson, LHP; 2003 Dan Haren, RHP; 2004 Anthony Reyes, RHP; 2005 Mark Worrell, RHP; 2006 Blake Hawksworth, RHP; 2007 P.J. Walters, RHP.
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