Minor Notes: Minor League season comes to an end as Lowell falls in final

Here are Thursday's minor league notes:

• In a sad day for all followers of SoxProspects.com, the minor league season has officially come to a close with Lowell's elimination in the New York-Penn League final. Lowell had tied the series at a game apiece on Monday evening, but they fell in a back and forth contest despite a strong showing from Yusniel Padron-Artilles. 

• Although the minor league season has ended, the coverage has not stopped as award season is now upon all of us here at SoxProspects.com. The All-Star selections for the systems pitchers, were headlined by Thaddeus Ward and Bryan Mata. While Mata has been a top performer in the Red Sox system for some time now, Ward burst onto the scene in 2019 and has subsequently shot up the SoxProspects.com rankings in order to earn his first All-Star selection. 

• The selections for position player All-Stars contained several familiar faces as the likes of Bobby Dalbec, Jarren Duran, Gilberto Jimenez, and Triston Casas were all honored. It was a promising year for Red Sox position players, as several of the systems top ranked hitters took positive steps forward and others (i.e. Duran) reached a whole new level altogether. 

• The first section of the 2019 SoxProspects.com Awards covered areas outside of the minor league scope, as the Homegrown Player of they Year, Former Prospect of the Year, and Graduate of the Year were decided. Two upsets occurred this cycle as Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers unseated Mookie Betts as co-Homegrown Players of the Year, and Yoan Moncada took home the Ex-Prospect of the Year Award for the first time. competition wasn't quite as tight for the graduate of the year award, as Michael Chavis's breakout season made him far and away the most deserving candidate. 

• Part two of the SoxProspects.com awards covered the Rookie of the Year, Breakout Player of the Year, and the Comeback Player of the Year. It comes as no surprise that Lowell was well represented on this list, as Chris Murphy and Gilberto Jimenez took home Rookie and Breakout Player of the Year respectively. For Murphy a dream start to his professional career put him on the map of the Red Sox system, while Jimenez justified all of the pre-season with his on field production. The 2019 Comeback Player of the Year was none other than Daniel McGrath, who surprised fans with the most dominant season of his extensive professional career.

• The final and most prestigious award will be announced on Friday, as we wait to see who has been selected as the SoxProspects.com pitcher and position player of the year.  

• Newly minted SoxProspects.com All-Star Gilberto Jimenez didn't have an explosive post-season, but he played a pivotal role Lowell's deep playoff run and earned a mention from Baseball America for his efforts. Jimenez had the winning hit in Lowell's series saving contest Monday night, a two RBI single that gave Lowell a lead they would not surrender.

• Jimenez was far and away Lowell's best hitter in 2019, and was one of several highly rated prospects that made the 2019 Spinners' roster special. Carmine Frongillo of the Lowell Sun reflected on the 2019 season, and the strong performances on both sides of the ball that nearly brought home the crown for the Spinners. Frongillo especially noted Jimenez (who won the New York-Penn League batting crown), as well as Yusniel Padron-Artilles who led the league in strikeouts with 84 in 64 innings.

Photo Credit: Gilberto Jimenez by Kelly O'Connor

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