Mississippi Braves (67-44, Double-A South Champions)
MVP: Shea Langeliers — This might be the easiest decision I make all day. Langeliers was by far the best position player on this team slashing .258/.338/.498 with a .836 OPS and 22 home runs.
And keep in mind, as someone who covers the Double-A South for Prospects 1500, this is one of the hardest leagues to hit in.
Not only was he great at the plate, but he showed off that cannon of an arm from behind the plate. He threw out 30 (yes, THIRTY) base runners.
Honorable mention: Greyson Jenista (.216/.343/.465, .809 OPS, 19 HR)
Cy Young: Bryce Elder — As easy as picking the MVP at Mississippi was, picking the Cy Young was extremely difficult. There were a number of good candidates in Spencer Strider, Odalvi Javier, Hayden Deal, Matt Withrow, and Nolan Kingham.
But what Elder did in his 9 starts at Mississippi was truly remarkable going 7-1 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.00 WHIP across 56 innings with 60 strikeouts. It was an amazing first year of pro ball for him as he advanced all the way up to Triple-A where his numbers were even better!
Honorable mention: Strider (4.71 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 63 IP, 94 Ks)
Rome Braves (56-60)
MVP: Michael Harris II — There was a lot of hype on this kid — including from myself — that it almost seemed impossible for him to live up to that hype. But at just 20-years-old, he did more than enough to prove why he may be the best overall prospect in the Braves system.
He slashed .294/.362/.436 with a .798 OPS to go along with 55 runs scored, 110 hits, 26 doubles, 7 home runs, 64 RBI, and 27 stolen bases. The only thing holding him back is the lack of power, but there is plenty of reason to believe he’ll continue to grow into that power.
Honorable mention: Jesse Franklin — 244/.320/.533, .842 OPS, 24 HR, and 19 SB)
Cy Young: Alan Rangel — Again, like with Mississippi, there is a number of good options to choose from here, which bodes very well for the Braves’ future pitching staff. But I went with Rangel because he had a 3.57 ERA in 70.2 innings with 95 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.06.
The 24-year-old out of Mexico was really impressive and I’m interested to see how his career unfolds.
But Jared Shuster also had a good year there posting a 3.70 ERA in 58.1 innings with 73 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.06. Darius Vines was fantastic with a 3.24 ERA in 75 innings with 81 strikeouts and a 1.05 WHIP. Either of those could have been the Cy Young winner for Rome.
Elder didn’t qualify but almost nearly won the MVP at two levels (three, really). And Indigo Diaz didn’t have enough innings as a reliever, but he may have been the most dominant pitcher in the system this year striking out 54 batters in 27 innings with a 1.00 ERA and 0.67 WHIP.
Honorable mention: Shuster, Vines, and Diaz