Baseball America posted their list of the best tools in Triple-A on Wednesday morning, and two players from Indianapolis made the list. The players on these lists aren’t picked by Baseball America. They do a survey among the managers and coaches in the league and then post the results.
Tyler Glasnow made the list in two categories, being named the pitcher with the best breaking ball for his curve, and the best pitcher overall. Glasnow won both of these categories last year while in the Eastern League, which obviously had different managers/coaches doing the voting. The “best pitcher” category is actually listed a little different from last year, when it was called “best pitching prospect”, but it seems to be the same general idea.
Alen Hanson was named the best defensive second baseman. It is the second year in a row he was named the best defensive second baseman in the International League. He has a .988 fielding percentage this season and with the extreme defensive shifts Indianapolis has been using, his defense this year might actually be more impressive. For most right-handed hitters, they have three players to the left of second base. That means many of the plays he has made this season are actually plays you would normally see from a shortstop.
In recent weeks, they have cut back a little on the shifts, likely because they weren’t working. Many grounders that would have been routine grounders to second base last year, have bounced slowly through the right side this season. Part of that can be seen in Hanson’s Range Factor. He hasn’t lost a step in the field (if anything, he’s better), but he went from 5.12 plays per nine innings last year, down to 4.49 this season. That doesn’t take away from the fact that Hanson has had tougher plays/throws this season than your normal second baseman and he has handled the changes well.
