Reflections 1: A Season to Remember
September 14, 2008 — It’s a tough transition for yours truly as the minor league season winds to a close. After getting used to watching or listening every day, I always end up going through some DTs when baseball up-close-and-personal ends so abruptly. This is the time of year when I “cheat” a little and watch some Major League games. It fills up the hole in my evening schedule, and it’s fun watching the guys who’ve been called up.
It’s been quite a year for the Angels’ farm system. All the affiliates, save Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga, qualified for post-season playoff berths. In addition, all contributed ballplayers (and a couple managers) to the various All-Star/All-League Teams. Take a gander at this star-studded tally:
| Play-Off Results |
| Salt Lake Bees (Pacific Coast League): Pacific North Division Champions |
| Arkansas Travelers (Texas League): League Champions |
| Cedar Rapids Kernels (Midwest League): Western Division Semifinal Winners |
| Orem Owlz (Pioneer League): League Championship Runner-Ups |
| Tempe Angels (Arizona League): 1st-Half Winners |
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| End-of-Season All-League Teams | |
| Pacific Coast League Matt Brown, Brandon Wood, Shane Loux, Jason Bulger |
Pitcher of the Year: Shane Loux |
| Texas League Ben Johnson |
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| California League Sean O’Sullivan, Mark Trumbo |
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| Pioneer League Jayson Miller, Will Smith, Roberto Lopez, Luis Jimenez, Angel Castillo Honorable Mention: Jose Perez, Ivan Contreras, Donato Giovantto, Tom Kotchman (manager) |
Pitcher of the Year: Jayson Miller League MVP: Roberto Lopez |
| Arizona League Tyrone Boykin (manager) |
Manager of the Year: Tyrone Boykin |
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| USA Futures Team |
| Kevin Jepsen |
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| Midseason All-Star Teams |
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| Pacific Coast League Matt Brown, Jason Bulger |
PCL All-Star MVP: Matt Brown |
| Texas League Bobby Mosebach, Dan Denham, Kevin Jepsen, Ben Johnson |
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| California League Peter Bourjos |
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| Midwest League Trevor Reckling, Michael Anton, Efren Navarro |
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The best and brightest achievement of the 2008 has to be Kevin Jepsen and Matt Brown being selected to play for Team USA Baseball and their winning of the Bronze Medal at the Beijing Olympics.
I’d like to take a moment to show a little extra love for Matt Brown, who’s had a season for the ages. In addition to the accolades noted above, there’s first cycle of the PCL season, PCL Batter of the Week and Angels Minor League Player of the Month. And my favorite corner infielder was a big part of the Bees’ record-setting, 23-and-2 April.
In Beijing, Team USA faced some truly odd IBAF rules—such as 10-run mercy forfeits, extra-inning tiebreakers and umpiring via translator. In the high-stakes, winner-takes-all tournament format, top prospects LaPorta and Fowler, and seasoned veterans Hessman and Gall didn’t fold exactly. But they didn’t live up to their highly publicized billing either.
Matt, on the other hand, put up offensive numbers that topped his teammates in several categories: .281 BA (4th highest), 32 AB (5th highest) and leading in RBI, SLG%, TB (tied) and BB. In short, he got dropped into the pressure-cooker and didn’t even singe an eyelash. Well, except maybe a few belonging to opposing pitchers. 
Seeing Matt for the first time since Beijing, I noticed a new gleam in his eye. A glimpse, perhaps, of the coming-of-age for a promising young ballplayer. Ask any coach dedicated to developmental athletics; these are the moments we live for.
Remember to have fun up there in Anaheim, Brownie! Bye for now!
End of Part 1
Check back tomorrow for Part 2!
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