Rookie ball. The lowest level of the minor leagues, where few fans watch and instruction and improvement may be more important than results. The leagues that are considered this level are the Appalachian League, Pioneer League, and then the Arizona and Gulf Coast Leagues. College players probably shouldn’t be assigned to the Arizona and Gulf Coast Leagues, but it’s common to go to the Appalachian and Pioneer Leagues.

Let’s take a look!

2014 Rookie Ball Hitter of the Year

Logan Moon Burlington 2014The rookie hitter of the year is Logan Moon (Winchester 2012), a 6th round draft pick in 2014 of the Kansas City Royals, who played in Burlington of the Appy League. Logan hit very well, finishing with rate stats 332/357/447 in 226 at-bats, along with 10 doubles, 5 triples, 2 home runs, and a 10/40 BB/K ratio. He also stole 16 bases.

Baseball America did not rank Logan among the top 20 in the league, but did say that Logan is a good runner, has a “plus” arm, and is smart and a leader. We’ll see how he does at the next level in 2015!

Others under consideration:

Team League G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB Avg. OBP SLG OPS
Jordan Edgerton Danville Appalachian 59 218 31 60 13 1 3 43 29 34 3 0.275 0.347 0.385 0.732
Logan Moon Burlington Appalachian 59 226 23 75 10 5 2 24 10 40 16 0.332 0.357 0.447 0.804
Garrett Boulware Billings Pioneer 44 158 20 42 11 1 2 22 17 33 0 0.266 0.361 0.386 0.747
Clint Freeman Dodgers Arizona 32 95 16 29 5 3 2 20 7 26 1 0.305 0.346 0.484 0.830
Edwin Medina Astros/Greeneville GC/Appalachian 50 148 31 38 6 1 0 9 33 35 28 0.257 0.397 0.311 0.708
Billy Fleming Yankees Gulf Coast 22 72 15 27 6 1 0 11 11 8 1 0.375 0.466 0.486 0.952

Boulware hit well while catching, never an easy task in the low minors… Edgerton started his pro career like a house afire, but slowed as the year went on… Medina stole 28 bases in only 50 games.

2014 Rookie Ball Pitcher of the Year

Our rookie level pitcher of the year is Trey Cochran-Gill (Harrisonburg 2012), who dominated for Pulaski of theTrey Cochran-Gill Pulaski Mariners 2014 Appalachian League. A 17th round pick of the Mariners in 2014, Trey went on to go 3-0, 0.35 in 18 games and 25 2/3 innings, along with only 14 hits allowed, 3 walks, and 33 strikeouts. His BB/9 is 1.1, his K/9 is 11.6, and his WHIP is a minuscule 0.66. What a pro debut! (By the way, Trey also threw 10 1/3 shutout innings in short-season A ball!)

Others to consider:

Team League W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER BB SO BB9 K9 WHIP
Max Povse Danville Appalachian 4 2 3.42 12 11 0 47.3 42 19 18 11 37 2.09 7.04 1.12
Trey Cochran-Gill Pulaski Appalachian 3 0 0.35 18 0 8 25.7 14 2 1 3 33 1.05 11.56 0.66
Mike Gomez White Sox Arizona 2 0 1.27 13 0 1 21.3 8 6 3 16 33 6.76 13.94 1.13
Kyle McGrath Padres Arizona 1 1 0.79 13 0 2 22.7 8 3 2 6 22 2.38 8.72 0.62

Povse, all 6-foot-8 of him, has huge upside in Atlanta’s system… Gomez, who stayed with Jerry Carter’s family in Luray, struck out 33 batters in only 21 1/3 innings… McGrath allowed only 14 baserunners in 22 2/3 innings.

This finishes up ATVL’s minor league awards!