The Pittsburgh Pirates have named Max Moroff and Yeudy Garcia their Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. Both players had big breakout seasons at different levels. Moroff hit for a .293/.374/.409 line in 612 plate appearances with Altoona, while Garcia had a 2.10 ERA in 124.1 inning for Altoona.
The Pirates seemed to be taking into consideration outside factors other than just the numbers, as evident by comments from Pirates’ Farm Director Larry Broadway on each player.
“Max had a great year for Altoona and was a big part of the club’s postseason berth this year,” Broadway said about Moroff. “His consistency in both production on both sides of the ball, and his ability to post every day are what earned this award for him.”
“Yeudy did a great job this year,” Broadway said about Garcia. “The numbers speak for themselves, but perhaps the most impressive thing was that he is in his first season in the U.S., and playing baseball under the lights for the first time. Most of us take for granted how difficult that transition would taking care of business from day one.”
We completed our Player and Pitcher of the Year discussions today, and Moroff and Garcia weren’t finalists for the awards. Both were recognized as having great seasons, and they were recognized as being the breakout hitter and pitcher of the year. However, our picks (which will be released tomorrow) will be totally different.
