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TL1 Midland RockHounds

Christenson, Chapman Claim Top Texas League Honors

August 31, 2016 - Texas League (TL1)
Midland RockHounds News Release


Christenson, Chapman claim top Texas League honors Aug 31st 2016, 19:00, by Bob Hards

Ryan Christenson, Matt Chapman, Franklin Barreto and Beau Taylor (from left to right) were all honored by the Texas League on Wednesday. Christenson was named the 2016 Texas League Manager of the Year and Chapman was named the 2016 Texas League Player of the Year. Barreto was named as a postseason All-Star as a utility infielder and Taylor was named as the league's All-Star catcher.

Tuesday night on the diamond, the RockHounds made franchise history by clinching a third consecutive trip to the Texas League playoffs.

Today, the club added another entry into the 45-year history of professional baseball in West Texas.

Ryan Christenson has been named 2016 Texas League Manager of the Year and Matt Chapman is the league's Player of the Year.

The honors, along with the unveiling of the Texas League Postseason All-Star Team, were made today by league president Tom Kayser.

Franklin Barreto and Beau Taylor join Chapman as 2016 Texas League All-Star selections. Taylor was named the league's all-star catcher and Barreto (who plays both shortstop and second base) the utility selection. Chapman, in addition to being named Player of the Year, is the league's all-star third baseman.

Christenson, after guiding the RockHounds to the 2015 Texas League championship, is in his second season with the club. Entering tonight's game, Christenson has a 157-116 record as the club's manager, which currently ranks as the best multi-season managerial winning percentage (.575) in the franchise's 45-year history.

Now in his fourth season as a minor league manager in the Oakland Athletics organization, and with the 'Hounds now having clinched their second straight second half title in the Texas League South, each of his four clubs has advanced to the postseason.

After a 33-37 first half, the 'Hounds are now 41-22 (by 6.5 games the league's best second half record) and 74-59 overall, second-best in the league for the season. In two seasons, Christenson's clubs are a combined 89-44 in the second half (including the playoffs, the 2015 'Hounds finished 40-14 in their last 54 games).

Christenson was originally selected by Oakland in the 10th round of the 1995 draft out of Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) and spent parts of six seasons (1998-2003) in the Major Leagues (452 games). He spent the majority of his career (351 games) with the Athletics and began his managerial career with Oakland's Single-A club, the Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League, in 2013.

Chapman, who was promoted to Triple-A Nashville on August 16, was the Texas League's top power hitter at the time of his call-up, hitting 29 home runs with 83 runs batted in. He was on pace, almost certainly, to become the first player in Security Bank Ballpark history to hit 30 home runs, and his power was spread virtually evenly between home and road (14 on the road and 15 at "Rocky Town"). Equally impressive was Chapman's work at third base and, while there are fewer stats in the equation, he proved himself, without a doubt, to be one of the finest third basemen in the franchise's 45 seasons.

Chapman's legacy with the franchise also includes the 2014 championship club. When Jefry Marte (now in the Major Leagues with the Los Angeles Angels) was injured, Chapman joined the 'Hounds (from Beloit) on the last day of the regular season and went on to be named the Texas League Playoff MVP.

Barreto, as it turns out, played his final game with the RockHounds last night, and was key in the pennant-clinching win. Barreto now joins Matt Chapman at Triple-A Nashville and earned the promotion with a sensational second half performance. After hitting .236 in the first half of the year, Barreto hit .337 in the second half, with hits in 16 of his last 17 games (.353) and batting .348 in his final 44 games with the RockHounds. The remarkable performance in the season's second half boosted Oakland's top prospect into the Texas League's top 10 hitters (tied for sixth at .281).

By driving in three runs and stealing a base in the 'Hounds' 11-3 win over San Antonio, Barreto also finishes his Double-A season with three personal "milestones," hitting 10 home runs, stealing 30 bases and driving in 50 runs.

Taylor, who has spent parts of five seasons with the RockHounds (and was a member of both the 2014 and 2015 Texas League championship clubs), has had a breakthrough season. Always an outstanding defensive catcher, Taylor has had the finest season of his career at the plate, entering tonight's game as the league's third-leading hitter (.285) while leading the league in on-base percentage at .387. He has put together those numbers while playing in more games behind the plate (80) than any other catcher in the league and ranks second in the Texas League, throwing out 36 percent of opposing base runners.

The 'Hounds, the Franchise & the Texas League

Matt Chapman is the seventh player in franchise history to be named Texas League Player of the Year (five in the RockHounds/Oakland A's era). He joins: Karl Pagel (Cubs, 1977), Jeff Manto (Angels, 1988) and RockHounds Adam Piatt (1999), Andre Ethier (2005), Chris Carter (2009) & Chad Pinder (2015).

Ryan Christenson becomes the fifth manager in the club's 45-year history to be named the league's Manager of the Year, joining Jim Saul (Cubs, 1977), Don Long (Angels, 1991) and RockHounds managers Von Hayes (2005) and Darren Bush (2009).

This is the third time in franchise history (each in the last 12 seasons), that the RockHounds have garnered both the Manager and Player of the Year awards. Hayes & Ethier captured the honors in 2005 and Bush and Carter followed in 2009. In both of those seasons, the RockHounds went on to win the Texas League championship (2005 being the first outright title in franchise history), with the Player of the Year called up before the playoffs began.

No club in the modern era has won three consecutive Texas League championships, the last being the Fort Worth Panthers, who won or shared six straight titles from 1920 through 1925. The Waco Navigators also (and somewhat ironically) won three straight exactly a century ago (1914, 1915 and 1916).

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