TinCaps named Class-A Team of the Year

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Fort Wayne TinCaps were named the 2009 Class-A Team of the Year and OF Jaff Decker was named the Class-A Player of the Year in Baseball America’s recently-released Minor League All-Star report. Decker was also listed as a First Team All-Minor League Baseball outfielder.

Fort Wayne won 101 games between the regular season and playoffs, the most for any team in Minor League Baseball this season. The TinCaps finished their season with a flourish, winning the franchise’s first-ever Midwest League championship

“Our team met and exceeded every expectation this season,” TinCaps president Mike Nutter said. “These awards show that our players were some of the best not only in the Midwest League, but in all of Minor League Baseball.”

Decker, 19, was the youngest player on Baseball America’s First Team. He hit .299 with 16 home runs and 64 RBIs for the TinCaps. Braves farmhand Jason Heyward and Rays minor-leaguer Desmond Jennings, two of the top outfield prospects in the minor leagues, joined Decker on the First Team.

INF James Darnell made the Second Team All-Minor Leagues. The 22-year-old opened the season with the TinCaps and helped Fort Wayne to a first-half division championship before a mid-season promotion to Advanced-A Lake Elsinore. In all, Darnell hit .311 with 20 home runs and 80 RBIs between two levels.

Pitchers Simon Castro and Brad Brach were named along with Decker to the Class-A All-Star Team, which covers both the Midwest League and the South Atlantic League.

Castro, 21, fired Fort Wayne’s first-ever no-hitter on August 18th against the Dayton Dragons; he finished with a 10-6 record and a 3.33 ERA.

Brach, a 23-year-old closer, went 3-3 with 33 saves and a 1.27 ERA in the regular season. He racked up three more saves in the TinCaps’ run through the Midwest League playoffs.

Other Padres’ farmhands on the All-Star Teams included 3B Edinson Rincon, who made the Short-A All-Star club by hitting .300 with 7 homers and 47 RBIs for the Eugene Emeralds. OF Rymer Liriano made the Rookie-level All-Star Team after hitting .350 with 8 homers and 44 RBIs for the Padres’ Arizona Rookie League team.