2004 Yankees' Minor League Player of The Year

Take a look with the PinstripesPlus.com writers to see who the better minor league players were in the 2004 season. This list is not about who the better prospect is or who will be the better major leaguer. This list is based only on what they did in the 2004 season. Each writer lists their top five and then expands on their selections (and other notes) below. (Free Preview of Premium Content)

Based on our scoring system of 5 points for a first place vote, 4 points for a second place vote (and so on), Andy Phillips was our unanimous choice for the 2004 PinstripesPlus.com Yankees Minor League Player of the Year award, collecting 10 points. LHP Brad Halsey finished in a close second with 8 points, while Tampa's Steven White tallied 5 points four fourth place and Mitch Jones finished in the top five overall with four points. See how the writers voted below and be sure to read our Hitter of the Year and Pitcher of the Year articles for more information on these players.

Frankie Piliere	Michael Greene
Andy Phillips	Andy Phillips
Brad Halsey	Brad Halsey
Steven White	Mitch Jones
Tyler Clippard	Steven White
Mitch Jones	Colter Bean

Frankie Piliere

These rankings were by no means easy because comparing pitchers and hitters at very different levels of play is never that simple. But, if you want to talk about mastery of the highest level of the minor leagues, you have to go with numbers one and two on this list. Andy Phillips was one of the best hitters in the International league this year and Halsey was one of the best pitchers. Both showed that they have outgrown the minors and it is time to move on. What more is there to prove. To me, that is the only way to determine the top two players of the year.

As for the others on this list, I had to go with some lower level guys not because I wanted to but because there wasn't any guys I could actually say had better seasons. Mitch Jones just had to be on her somewhere so number five is his spot. I just couldn't bring myself to but a guy that batted less than .250 in the top three players of the year list. Steven White and Tyler Clippard just had tremendous seasons on the mound that couldn't be ignored.

Michael Greene

Forget that Andy Phillips' overall numbers were just stellar across the board, Phillips gets my vote as "PinstripesPlus.com Yankees Minor League Player of the Year" simply because he was one of the organization's best clutch hitters all season long. He was an easy choice for the top spot. I flip-flopped back and forth for my number two selection, finally settling on LHP Brad Halsey. Halsey, like Phillips, had a phenomenal year at the highest minor league level and that's what made my final decision. Don't let Halsey's struggles at the Major League level cloud the fact he was dominant at AAA in 2004.

Sure OF Mitch Jones hit .246 this season, but people have to remember that Jones was pretty much all the Thunder had this season. Void of hitting and pitching, the Thunder relied heavily on Jones' bat and was their most consistent run producer all year. The final two spots in the voting were given to pitchers as both Steven White and Colter Bean pitched tremendous baseball in 2004. White pitched sub-3 ERA stints for the Battle Creek Yankees and the Tampa Yankees while Colter Bean was baffling hitters out of the Columbus Clippers' bullpen all year.

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