It’s that time of year. The time when reporters, team officials and league officials get together over a three-course meal and some drinks and have a lengthy chat about the 2012 selections of the best players position by position. Ok, it doesn’t really go like that. But the ballot was recently sent to everyone to fill out. And since I’m taking the time out to make my selections, I figured why not share them with the rest of you?

Feel free to comment below if you agree/disagree and who you might select. And please note that all numbers used in this entry are through Wednesday, Sept. 19.

CATCHER: Emerson Frostad, Lancaster

This position is always tough since most teams have two catchers that split the duties behind the plate throughout the year. As a result, it seems like mostly everyone’s numbers are about the same. Still, when a catcher has a batting average close to .300 in the Atlantic League it’s hard not to choose him for this spot. Thus, Frostad’s .299 average, seven homers and 35 RBIs are enough to sway my vote. Camden’s Raul Padron deserves an honorable mention here since he’s tops in RBIs among catchers (43) and second in homers (10) and is batting .270. He would have been my other pick if not for Frostad.

FIRST BASE: Chris Nowak, York Revolution

This might have been the most obvious selection among the positions. And though I’m trying hard not to be a homer here, Nowak is still far and away the top first baseman in the league this year – lets just ignore the fact that he’s been playing third the last few weeks or so since Ramon Castro got booted from the team. Anyway, Nowak has MVP-candidate numbers and is the biggest force in the Revs’ lineup. He’s already set club records this year  in homers (34) and RBIs (104) despite a batting average of .279. He also has 25 doubles, 79 runs and nine stolen bases. It’s also pretty remarkable that nearly half (47.6 percent) of his 126 hits this year are for extra bases.

SECOND BASE: Andres Perez, York Revolution

If not for Nowak, we’d likely be talking about Andres Perez being the Revs’ best position player this season. No matter, he does MVP-like numbers, even though he might be on the fringe of players being considered for the award. Career-highs in batting average (.321), homers (23) and RBIs (85) – all of which rank near the top in the league – plus the fact he has made a ton of improvement throughout the year after making the switch from outfield to second base makes Perez an easy choice here.

 

SHORT STOP: Eddie Rogers, Bridgeport Bluefish

This is definitely one of the toughest selections of the bunch, coming down to Rogers and York’s Joe Thurston. I ultimately went with the Rogers for the mere fact he’s played in 128 games to Thurston’s 54 games. Thurston leads all short stops with a .311 batting average. Both Thurston and Rogers are tied in homers (8). And Rogers leads all short stops with 67 RBIs. Still, if you calculate out the number of RBIs Thurston would have had in 128 games, he would be on par with Rogers. If you do the same to Thurston’s homers, he would have double the amount of Rogers’ total. This is really a coin flip. But in the end I gotta give it to a guy who played more than double the amount of games Thurston has played in this season.

THIRD BASE: Bryant Nelson, Long Island

Some might think this is a “homer” pick because Nelson played for York last year – and had a couple big hits in the playoffs. But really this is another tough one. For me, it came down to Nelson, Lancaster’s Kody Kirkland and Sugar Land’s Ofilio Castro. Castro leads all third basemen with a .302 average but has just three homers, which is the least among players at that position. Castro (54 RBIs) and Kirkland (53 RBIs) are the same in runs batted in, while Nelson leads third basemen with 78 RBIs. Nelson also leads players at that position in runs scored (72), ahead of Castro (63) and Kirkland (51). Castro’s lack of power knocked him out of this race. Kirkland (.264) and Nelson (.267) are about the same in batting average, while Kirkland leads all third baseman with 17 homers to Nelson’s 13. Still, Nelson’s run production won me over. Plus, the veteran had a good glove at third this year.

DESIGNATED HITTER: Ryan Harvey, Lancaster

A lot of good choices here. You have Long Island’s Brandon Sing (.285, 24 HR, 70 RBIs), Southern Maryland’s Jesse Gutierrez (.307, 14 HR, 49 RBIs) and Sugar Land’s Josh Pressley (.275, 16 HR, 73 RBIs). Still, it’s hard not to pick Harvey (.311, 27 HR, 77 RBIs).

OUTFIELD: Prentice Redman (Bridgeport), Blake Gailen (Lancaster), Fehlandt Lentini (Lancaster), and Adam Godwin (Lancaster)

You’re going to be doing something right by setting the Atlantic League’s all-time wins mark in a season. And thus it’s turning out that Lancaster is filling many of my selections throughout this ballot. Redman is an easy pick. Defensively, Bridgeport probably has the best outfield in the league, mainly thanks to the glove work from Redman and James Simmons. So Redman (276, 18 homers, 76 RBIs, 74 runs scored) is an easy choice here.. I wanted to throw in York’s Brandon Haveman for the simple point that he’s been a huge upgrade to York as the lead-off man after coming over in May. His numbers are just under those put up by Lancaster’s three outfielders but he just isn’t good enough defensively to get my vote. York’s Scott Grimes also deserves an honorable mention here. Though his numbers are underwhelming, he would easily get my Gold Glove vote if one existed in the league. Anyway, Godwin (.326, 2 HR, 44 RBIs, 88 runs),  Gailen (.330, 22 HRs, 86 RBIs) and Lentini (.326, 18 HRs, 90 RBIs) have just been too good this year to not be chosen here.

RELIEF: RHP Chris Mobley, Southern Maryland

Honestly this could go to a number of relievers. Lancaster and York have a good bullpen, as does Southern Maryland – at least the back end of it. And there are a number of very good set-up/closer type guys here, too. My homer pick would have been York’s Wade Korpi, simply because he’s been lights out in his spot starts this year and has a stellar ERA. But he hasn’t seen enough action to get the vote. Another homer pick could’ve been York set-up man R.J. Rodriguez, but there are too many occasions when he puts runners on base before getting the final out of the inning. So, Mobley (5-2, 1.57 ERA, 11 saves, 51 appearances) is deserving of this award.

CLOSER: LHP Tim Hamulack, Lancaster

A league-leading 32 saves. A 2.00 ERA. Fifty-one strikeouts to 14 walks in 45 innings. Is there any need to explain this choice? (No. No there’s not.)

Right-handed starter: Corey Thurman, York

Sometimes his efforts aren’t always the prettiest. Eight of his 26 starts this year he’s given up at least four earned runs. But he’s been consistenly good to dominant throughout the year, which is really what I’m looking for here. Lancaster’s Dwayne Pollock (league-leading 2.19 ERA) could be considered for this award, but he’s only been starting regularly since mid-June. Bridgeport’s Paul Oseguera and Lancaster’s John Halama are both left-handers, although both could be considered Pitchers of the Year candidates. So, when it comes to best and most consistent right-hander this year, it has to go to Thurman (14-3, 3.84 ERA). His wins broke his own club he set a year ago. His 147.2 innings pitched sits tenth in the league, but of those top ten pitchers in innings, only two (Lancaster’s John Halama and Somerset’s Roy Merritt) have an ERA better than Thurman’s. Did I also mention he held opponents scoreless in five of his starts this year?

Left-handed starter: Paul Oseguera, Bridgeport

This is an easy choice since it came down to Lancaster left-hander John Halama and Oseguera. I think Halama is the league’s Pitcher of the Year. So, Oseguera will get this award here. His 2.52 ERA is second in the league while his 146 strikeouts leads all pitchers. He’s also sixth in wins (12-6).

 

Note***The Atlantic League’s Board of Directors will choose the Manager of The Year, Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. Still, I figured I’ll just throw out my picks here anyway for what they’re worth.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Butch Hobson, Lancaster

How can you argue for another manager? Hobson is guiding a club to the league’s wins mark this year. Most of his team that he started the year with is still there. But the Barnstormers did lose six players to major league clubs since early June. When you have three guys leading the league in average and three other pitchers leading the league in wins and another leading the league in ERA, others start to take notice.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Nowak, York

Criticize me all you want as a “homer” pick but I’m strictly basing this on Nowak’s success this year. The guy has hit the most homers of anybody in the league since 2005. And he set a club record in RBIs, which he leads the league this season by a good measure. Sure, his .279 average might lose him some votes from others. But he’s clearly had the biggest impact of anyone on a team this year. Take Nowak’s bat out of the lineup, and I would bet Andres Perez wouldn’t be putting up as good of numbers he is without Nowak batting behind him. Lancaster has quite a few talented players, which is exactly why no one stands out as a clear cut POY candidate for the ‘Stormers. Take one guy out of that lineup, and they still have seven to eight other quality players, plus they’ll probably find someone else to fill in adequately. Lancaster’s Ryan Harvey (.311, 27 homers, 77 RBIs) trails Nowak in the home run lead and does have an impressive .311 batting average. But he only has 77 RBIs and doesn’t play the field enough to get this distinction. And Long Island has a couple guys who have put up good numbers this year, but this award can’t go to a player on a team that tanked the second half.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: John Halama, Lancaster

Tons of good candidates here. For me it came down to Halama and Bridgeport’s Paul Osequera (12-6, 2.51 ERA, league-leading 146 Ks). His 3.09 ERA is third in the league while his 13 wins is fifth and his 113 punch-outs sits tied in seventh. The former major leaguer also tossed two complete games this year, one of which was a shutout.

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A lot of news came out of the Atlantic League last week. Among the top highlight is seeing outfielder Lew Ford reached the majors with the O’s on Sunday after starting the year in Long Island. There were also quite a few milestones set.

As far as transactions go, there were a total of 15 players involved across seven teams in the league. One player got picked up by a big league club. Six players signed on with Atlantic League clubs, three of which are former major leaguers. Two trades were made. And six players were released.

First, here are the newsworthy items:

 

Ford returns to the bigs: The Baltimore Orioles called up outfielder Lew Ford to its big league roster on Sunday. (Check out a small feature from MLB.com on his call-up here, and a lengthy feature on Ford by Baltimore Sun reporter Everett Cook here). Although Ford went 0-for-3 at the plate with a walk Sunday, he made a nice defensive play in the second inning when he fielded a Yoenis Cespedes single and gunned him down at second base when Cespedes tried to stretch the hit into a double. Ford became the 13th former Duck to return to the big leagues after playing with Long Island. The Orioles picked up Ford from Long Island in mid-May after he put up a .333 batting average, four homers and 14 RBIs in 19 games. Ford, who turns 36 in two weeks, had been hitting well at Class AAA Norfolk (.331 average, 11 HRs, 40 RBIs in 62 games). He hit fifth and played left field Sunday for the O’s.

Patriots make history: With a 6-5 win over Sugar Land in the first game of a double-header on Tuesday, the Somerset Patriots earned the 1,000th win in franchise history. All 1,000 wins have come under the leadership of Somerset skipper Sparky Lyle.

Long-time Patriots player Jeff Nettles made history later in the week when he got his 1,000th Atlantic League hit July 27 at TD Bank Ballpark against Southern Maryland. Nettles, who is now in his ninth season in a Patriots uniform, recorded his first hit for Somerset on May 7, 2003.

 

Nelson reaches milestone: Ducks third baseman Bryant Nelson earned the 2,000th hit of his minor league career July 27 in Long Island’s 3-2 loss to the Bridgeport Bluefish. Nelson, who has also played for Atlantic League clubs Bridgeport, Camden, Lancaster and York, recorded the milestone hit in his 1,838th career game. For the season, the former major leaguer is carrying a .262 batting average with nine homers and 51 RBIs in 81 games for the Ducks. Nelson’s only action in the majors came in 2002, when he played in 25 games for the Boston Red Sox.

Now on the transactions…

 

BRIDGEPORT BLUEFISH: Signed OF Joey Gathright and RHP Brad Thompson, released INF Elliott Ayala and P Chris Hayes

Though Gathright has 452 games of big league experience under his belt, it was still a little surprising when the Cincinnati Reds picked him up off the Bridgeport roster on May 24. At the time, the 30-year-old was batting just .240 for the Bluefish with two homers, 13 RBIs, 20 runs scored and nine stolen bases in 23 games. The Reds had assigned Gathright to Class AAA Louisville, where he batted .299 with nine runs scored and 16 RBIs over the course of 40 games. The Reds released the left-handed batter on July 11.

Thompson, 30, is also a former big leaguer and will join the Bluefish for his Atlantic League debut. He comes to Bridgeport after playing earlier this season at Class AA New Britain (Twins), where he posted a 10.29 ERA in three relief appearances and one start. The Twins released the righty on June 1. He has a career 4.46 ERA in 201 games (32 starts) at the big league level from 2005 to 2010. The Las Vegas native made it back to the majors for the sixth time in his career in 2010, pitching in 16 games for the Kansas City Royals. He missed all of the 2011 season because of Tommy John surgery. A 16th-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2002,, Thompson made his major league debut for the Cards’ in 2005. One of his career highlights is helping the St. Louis Cardinals capture the World Series in 2006, when he posted a 3.34 ERA in 43 games that season.

The Bluefish made a couple roster moves to make room for Gathright and Thompson. The Bluefish released infielder Elliott Ayala and traded pitcher Chris Hayes to the Long Island Ducks to complete the Wynn Pelzer acquisition from May 24. Hayes made four starts and two relief appearances for Bridgeport this season, accumulating an 0-3 record and 9.15 ERA.

While getting rid of Hayes makes sense, the Ayala move is kind of a head-scratcher considering he had been batting an impressive .339 in 31 games this season and was also on a 10-game hitting streak at the time of his release, during which he was batting .486.

CAMDEN RIVERSHARKS: Signed UTL Delwyn Young, released C Scott Knazek

A former big leaguer with two different ballclubs, Young comes to the Atlantic League for the first time in his career after spending all of last season at Class AAA Lehigh Valley (Phillies), where he hit .244 with 11 homers and drove in 51 runs over 126 games. He also scored 51 times. The 30-year-old Los Angeles native last played in the bigs in 2010 when he saw action in 110 games for the Pirates. He has 344 games in the big leagues, spanning 2006-2010, with a career .258 average along with 17 home runs and 81 runs batted in. It’s unclear if he played anywhere earlier this year.

Knazek had returned to the Atlantic League for the first time since 2008 after spending the last three years between the independent Can-Am League and American Association. A former prospect of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Knazek last year batted .252 with six homers and 45 RBIs in 76 games for Pittsfield (Can-Am League). He had a .198 batting average with one homer and seven RBIs in 26 games for Camden this season.

LANCASTER BARNSTORMERS: Acquired SS Danny Gonzalez from York to complete previous trade

The Gonzalez deal completes a trade earlier this season when Lancaster sent infielder Joe Spiers to York for a player to be named later in early April. Gonzalez, 30, batted just .249 in 75 games for the Revs this season. It’s a dropoff from the .289 average the Puerto Rican native had with the Road Warriors in 2011. A former prospect of the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, Gonzalez returns to a place where he played in part of the 2006 season and all of the 2007 and 2008 seasons. In 2006, he started off the year with Lancaster batting .319 in 69 games before getting picked up by the Chicago Cubs. He later returned to the Barnstormers at the end of that season and helped Lancaster capture its first Atlantic League championship. He had a .299 batting average in 110 games for the Barnstormers in 2008.

LONG ISLAND DUCKS: Signed INF Joash Brodin, traded INF Wilbert Ortiz to Wichita (American Association) for future considerations

Brodin, 25, is a Texas native who is just three years removed from playing at NCAA Division I College of Charleston. He has three years of pro experience in the independent Frontier League. In 2011, he had a .300 batting average with with 14 homers and 66 RBIs in 92 games for River City. The switch-hitting infielder began this season with the Frontier League’s London Rippers, where he batted .370 with 11 home runs, 54 RBI, 18 doubles and 10 stolen bases in 59 games. He earned the Frontier League All-Star Game MVP earlier this month by collecting two singles, a double and a homer in the game. Brodin’s services are available after the Rippers ceased operations last week for various reasons to become the fourth pro baseball team in London, Ontario to go belly up. (However, it should be noted the Frontier League turned the London Rippers into their version of the Road Warriors, complete with the same logo used in the Atlantic League).

Ortiz batted .245 with two homers and 14 RBIs in 29 games for the Ducks.

SOMERSET PATRIOTS: Washington Nationals signed OF Jonny Tucker, P Doug Arguello picked up by Brother Elephants (Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League)

Tucker had 76 hits, 11 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 29 RBI, and 16 stolen bases in 82 games this season for the Patriots. The Nationals assigned Tucker the 29-year-old outfielder to Class AA Harrisburg, where he played 75 games last season. He is the third Patriots player to be signed by a major league club this year, joining right-handed pitchers Mike MacDonald (Boston Red Sox) and Mike Solbach (Colorado Rockies). All three players were picked up in the month of July.

Arguello went 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 93.2 innings of work for Somerset (16 starts, one relief appearance). He had a team-high 74 strikeouts and held opponents to a .197 batting average.

SOUTHERN MARYLAND BLUE CRABS: Signed P Joe Gannon

The Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year in 2008, Gannon returns to the Atlantic League for the seventh time in his career. The Blue Crabs brought Gannon on board to fill the void left by starter Dan Reichert, who the club recently placed on the disabled list. A former Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox prospect, the 37-year-old Gannon went 3-3 with a 4.72 ERA in five starts and 19 relief appearances for Southern Maryland in 2011.

YORK REVOLUTION: Signed LHP Ryan Feierabend, traded SS Danny Gonzalez to Lancaster, released LHP Victor Garate, RHP Omar Javier and LHP James Houser

The Revs were busy re-tooling their roster again this week. Of all the moves made, the biggest acquisition is the return of Feierabend. The lefty went 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA in seven starts earlier this season for York before the Cincinati Reds picked him up and assigned him to Class AAA Louisville. He struggled with Louisville, though, going 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in seven starts before Cincinnati cut ties with him on July 21. The former big leaguer made eight starts for the Seattle Mariners in the second half of the 2008 season but missed all of the 2009 season because of Tommy John surgery. In his comeback from surgery in 2010, Feierabend went 4-7 with a 5.30 ERA in 17 starts for the Mariners’ Class AAA Tacoma team. In 2011, Feierabend went 10-8 with a 5.39 ERA for the Phillies’ Class AAA Lehigh Valley team.

The Gonzalez deal completes a trade earlier this season when Lancaster sent infielder Joe Spiers to York for a player to be named later in early April. Gonzalez, 30, batted just .249 in 75 games for the Revs this season.

Garate came to York two weeks ago shortly after being released from the Brewers. He had a 7.78 ERA in 29 relief appearances for the Brewers’ Class AAA Nashville club. In his only appearance for York, Garate surrendered two runs – one earned on four hits in 1.2 innings against Bridgeport on July 23.

In nine starts and 13 relief appearances, Javier had a 1-6 record and 5.67 ERA. Making his return to the game this season after missing the 2011 season because of open heart surgery, Houser went 2-1 with a 5.51 ERA in two starts and 31 relief appearances for the Revs. The former major leaguer is expected to sign with the Camden Riversharks.

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During the winter time when York Revolution manager Andy Etchebarren was putting together his 2011 team, he wanted Bryant Nelson to be one of his centerpieces.

“He was gonna be a part of the club that I could build around,” Etchebarren said Wednesday evening before the Revs took on the Barnstormers in Lancaster.

A career .286 hitter in the minor leagues, Nelson put up solid numbers for Lancaster last season, batting .288 with 22 homers and 91 RBIs in 135 games.

Etchebarren acquired Nelson, a former major leaguer, from Lancaster over the off-season. But he and Nelson couldn’t come to financial terms of a deal.

As a result, the 5-foot, 10-inch, 205-pound infielder/outfielder opted to play overseas in Italy.

“I kept him on my list of players. Since we still owned his rights when he got done in Italy, I gave him a call,” Etchbarren said. “I told him I couldn’t pay him as much as I was offering him back in the off-season. And he said ‘OK.’”

The 37-year-old Nelson joined York in Lancaster on Tuesday. He has gone 2-for-8 at the plate with an RBI through Wednesday.

Nelson said he performed well in Italy this summer, batting .340 and leading that league in RBIs.

Having played in the Atlantic League for the majority of the past five seasons, Nelson is still in search of his first Atlantic League championship, something he’s looking forward to trying to get with the Revs this season.

“I’ve been in this league almost five years. I’ve been back and forth to Mexico and everywhere. Last year was my first full season but I’ve never won a championship. I wanted to give myself the best chance to win,” Nelson said.

Major league experience: Nelson reached the majors in 2002 with the Boston Red Sox. But it didn’t help him being a utility man for an American League club.

“I never played. I was the utility guy. And when you’re a utility guy in the American League you never play because they have a (designated hitter). So, I didn’t really play that much,” Nelson said.

Nelson batted just .265 with two RBIs in 25 games with the Red Sox that year.

Looking for a change, the Arkansas native decided to go play overseas in Japan. But he ended up only playing in a third of the season in 2003, suffering a season-ending injury to his bicep when trying to field a ball during a game in May.

Nelson returned to the states in 2004 and had an all-star season at Class AAA Charlotte (White Sox), batting .287 with 22 homers and 83 RBIs.

“And the next year it was a sub-par and I don’t know what happened after that,” he said. “But at least I’m having fun and playing hard.”

Such is the attitude for Nelson in whatever he faces. Staying positive is a trait he says he gets from his mom.

“There’s no need to be down. It only makes it worse. So, just be happy where you are. God put you in those places for a reason. All of those places I’ve been. So, I know it’s all for a reason,” he said.

Playing time: When Nelson arrived in York, Etchebarren had said he planned on using Nelson in the outfield, infield and at designated hitter, playing him four-to-five days a week to give other position players some rest.

But with a recent injury to outfielder Chris Walker (ankle), Nelson will likely see everyday action in the outfield until Walker can return (the early prognosis for Walker is about ten days, which would be somewhere around Aug. 27).

“This guy can do a lot of things for us. And he hits for power,” Etchebarren had said Wednesday.

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