SAL1 Hagerstown Suns

Suns Norris Snags Nationals Top Minor League Award

September 10, 2009 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Hagerstown Suns News Release


HAGERSTOWN, MD -- Derek Norris, who recently wrapped up an enormously successful season as the catcher and No. 3 hitter for the Hagerstown Suns, was named Minor League Player of the Year by the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

The 20-year old native of Goddard, Kansas led the South Atlantic League with a .413 on-base percentage in 2009, while placing second with 23 home runs and fourth in runs batted in, with 84.

Norris was the starting catcher for the North Division squad in the SAL All-Star Jamboree on June 23, and was selected as the Designated Hitter on the SAL post-season All-Star team, as well as the league's Most Outstanding Major League Prospect.

Among full-season Nationals farmhands, Norris led the way in home runs, on-base percentage, walks (90), and slugging percentage (.513). A fourth-round pick of the Nationals in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, Norris was the lone Nationals representative on the list of Minor League Baseball's Top 50 prospects, released by MiLB.com in late July.

A recent "Best Tools" survey of league managers, conducted by "Baseball America," declared Norris the Best Batting Prospect and Best Power Prospect in the SAL.

Norris will spend his autumn playing alongside other elite prospects for the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League, who begin their season October 13.

Tuesday's announcement was made by Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike Rizzo, alongside Vice President of Player Development Bob Boone. Bradley Myers, who spent the 2008 season in Hagerstown, was named the Nationals' Minor League Pitcher of the Year after going a combined 11-3 with a 1.72 earned-run average over 24 games with high-A Potomac and Double-A Harrisburg.

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