Pair of Red Sox, Phillies headline Prospect Team of the Year

Since the Minor League regular season began in April, we’ve picked a MLBPipeline.com Prospect Team of the Week. Now that the playoffs have begun, it’s time to anoint our Prospect Team of the Year.

Before we get to that, it’s time for some quick PTOW housekeeping. Only one player, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, earned recognition four times. Eleven different prospects were honored three times each: Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi, Giants left-hander Ty Blach, Dodgers second baseman Willie Calhoun, Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman, Rangers/Braves second baseman Travis Demeritte, Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, Indians second baseman Tyler Krieger, Rockies catcher Tom Murphy, Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, Mets lefty Thomas Szapucki and Blue Jays first baseman Rowdy Tellez.

Krieger helped the Indians lead all organizations with 14 PTOW mentions. The Rockies (13), Dodgers (13), Astros (11), Cubs (11) and Athletics (10) also reached double figures. Every organization had at least one mention, though the Angels, Mariners and Marlins had just one each.

As for the Prospect Team of the Year, big league performance was included but the players had to spend roughly half the year in the Minors (70 games for position players, 15 starts or 30 relief appearances for pitchers) to be considered. The PTOY was selected by the MLBPipeline staff.

C: Gary Sanchez (Yankees’ No. 5 prospect) Minors: 71 G, .282/.339/.468, 39 R, 21 2B, 1 3B, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 21 BB, 45 SO, 7 SB Majors: 30 G, .336/.410/.689, 20 R, 9 2B, 11 HR, 21 RBI, 14 BB, 29 SO, 1 SB

We could have gone with the Indians’ Francisco Mejia, who set a modern Minor League record with a 50-game hitting streak, but Sanchez set a Major League mark by needing just 23 games to hit his first 11 homers. The power is for real, and so is his well above-average arm strength. A highly touted prospect since signing for $3 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2009, he’s still polishing his receiving but has made nice strides with his defense and his maturity in the last two years.

1B: Rhys Hoskins (Phillies’ No. 13 prospect) Minors: 135 G, .281/.377/.566, 95 R, 26 2B, 1 3B, 38 HR, 116 RBI, 71 BB, 125 K, 8 SB

A relatively unheralded fifth-round pick in 2014, Hoskins hit 17 homers in his first full pro season and more than doubled that total in his second. He ranked second in the Minors in homers and third in RBIs, and placed second in the Double-A Eastern League in both of those categories as well as in slugging, runs, extra-base hits (65), total bases (282) and walks.

2B: Yoan Moncada (Red Sox’s No. 1 prospect) Minors: 106 G, .294/.407/.511, 94 R, 119 H, 31 2B, 6 3B, 15 HR, 62 RBI, 72 BB, 124 SO, 45 SB Majors: 5 G, .235/.278/.294, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 10 SO

The lone repeater from the 2015 Prospect Team of the Year, Moncada has lived up to the “Robinson Cano with more speed” hype since signing for a record $31.5 million bonus (and a matching tax penalty for the Red Sox exceeding their bonus pool) in March 2015. He got better at each level as he rose through the …

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