Diamondbacks announce minor league player of the year

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced a number of minor league awards on Thursday, including announcing their Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year.

It shouldn't be a surprise who won Player of the Year for his minor league system, but rather just the player who broke through to the D-Backs and continued to hit well while filling an important position behind the plate.

That player is catcher Adrian Del Castillo, who spent his entire time in the minor leagues this year with the Reno Aces.

Del Castillo was named MVP of the Pacific Coast League, named to the All-MiLB team, a Triple-A All-Star among numerous other honors that year, so he truly had an outstanding and groundbreaking year. GM Mike Hazen even confirmed that every team he spoke to inquired about Del Castillo at the MLB trade deadline.

He hit .312 with an OPS of 1.002 with 36 doubles, 3 triples, 26 home runs, 75 RBI, 55 walks and
90 runs in 105 games, most of them behind the plate.

In the minors, Del Castillo ranked first in slugging percentage (.603), OPS and top ten in numerous other categories.

In the majors, Del Castillo hit .313 with an OPS of .893 with 5 doubles, 4 home runs, 19 RBI, 7 walks, 1 stolen base and 12 runs scored. That was over 25 games.

Meanwhile, it's also no surprise that the team was named Pitcher of the Year, as this is the pitcher who established himself as a top-five prospect for the D-Backs and three levels from Double-A to the majors rose by pitching in crucial games for Arizona.

That pitcher is right-handed starter Yilber Diaz. Diaz went 6-9 across Triple-A and Double-A, but posted a 3.80 ERA over 104.1 innings with opponents hitting just .221, despite both the stadiums and leagues being extremely hitter-friendly.

He showcased his impressive command and elite strikeout skills by allowing just 47 walks and recording 140 strikeouts. That averaged 12.08 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. He struck out 13 batters in one game.

In seven games and four starts with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he went 1-1 with a 3.81 ERA and 19 strikeouts. That was over 28.1 innings.

Both players will develop into important parts of the Diamondbacks squad in the coming years.