CarL1 Frederick Keys

Wieters Named Baseball America Minor League Player Of The Year

Published on September 9, 2008 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Frederick Keys News Release


Frederick, MD - Former Frederick Keys catcher Matt Wieters has been named Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America for 2008. The switch-hitting catcher, who spent over half of the season with the Keys, combined to lead all Orioles farmhands in batting (.355), home runs (27) and runs batted in (91) in his inaugural professional season. Wieters batted .345 with 15 home runs and 40 RBI's in 69 games with Frederick.

In his first half with the Keys, the Orioles first round pick in the 2007 draft dazzled, hitting home runs in his first two professional at-bats on opening night against Lynchburg, April 4th. Wieters dominated the Hillcats, whose parent organization in Pittsburgh passed him up in the draft, by launching seven home runs in nine games against them.

In the Carolina League Wieters hit .391 as a right-handed hitter and batted better as a catcher (.361) than as a designated hitter (.281). He was the starting catcher in the 2008 Carolina/California League All-Star Game played in Myrtle Beach, SC, just hours from Wieters hometown of Goose Creek, SC. He would hit a home run in his final game with the Keys, June 26th against Kinston, before being promoted to Double-A Bowie.

Wieters joins players like Frank Thomas (1990), Tim Salmon (1992), Manny Ramirez (1993), Derek Jeter (1994), Josh Beckett (2001), Joe Mauer (2003) and Jay Bruce (2007) to have received the distinction of Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. Wieters is the first Orioles farmhand to ever earn the honor. Only Dwight Gooden (Lynchburg, 1983), Andruw Jones (Durham, 1996), and Jon Rauch (2000, Winston-Salem) have won the award in the same season in which they played in the Carolina League. All 25 players who have garnered the honor since it was first bestowed to Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Mike Marshall in 1981 have gone on to play in the big leagues.

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