September 2, 2011
Minor league notebook: Halladay trade pays off for Jays
by Roger Brown/
When the Toronto Blue Jays traded Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009, they received some pretty good young players in return.
The package the Phillies sent to Toronto included pitcher Kyle Drabek and catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who was recently named the Eastern League's Most Valuable Player.
In 107 games with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats – Toronto's Double-A affiliate – d'Arnaud was batting .317 (126 for 398) with 19 home runs, 71 RBI and 70 runs scored. He also led all active Eastern League players in slugging percentage (.545) and OPS (.923).
d'Arnaud, 22, was the starting catcher for the Eastern Division in the 2011 Eastern League All-Star Game. Baseball America recently named him the “Best Defensive Catcher” in the Eastern League.
The Phillies selected d'Arnaud with the 37th overall pick in the 2007 draft. He was shipped to the Blue Jays with Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor in exchange for Halladay in December 2009. Toronto then sent Taylor to Oakland for first baseman Brett Wallace.
Drabek was named the Eastern League's Pitcher of the Year last season.
Baseball America has d'Arnaud ranked as the No. 5 prospect in Toronto's minor league organization. He became the second New Hampshire player to win the Eastern League MVP award, joining outfielder Adam Lind, who was the league's MVP in 2008.
Fasano named top manager
New Hampshire picked up another top award when Sal Fasano was named the Eastern League's Manager of the Year.
Fasano, 40, is in his first season with New Hampshire and guided the Fisher Cats to a league-best 71-60 record through 131 games. Fasano became the sixth manager in franchise history when he was hired last November. He managed the Lansing Lugnuts – Toronto's Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League – in 2010.
Fasano spent part of 11 seasons in Major League Baseball. Kansas City drafted Fasano in the 37th round of the 1993 draft. He made his Major League debut with Kansas City in 1996. He hit 47 home runs and drove in 140 runs during his 427-game major league career.
Top Dog
Portland Sea Dogs outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker was selected as the Eastern League Player of the Week for the period of Aug. 22 through Aug. 28. Hazelbaker batted .444 (12 for 27) with one double, three home runs, seven RBI, three runs scored, one walk, four stolen bases and a .815 slugging percentage in seven games during the week.
Hazelbaker, 24, reached base in all seven contests and had three multiple-hit games. He began the current week ranked fifth in the league with a team-high 34 stolen bases and was batting .268 with 59 runs scored in 83 games with the Sea Dogs this season.
The Red Sox selected Hazelbaker in the fourth round of the 2009 draft after he hit .429 with 77 runs scored and 29 stolen bases during his junior season at Ball State University.
Strong-arm tactics
Vermont's Seth Frankoff was selected as the New York-Penn League's Pitcher of the Week after he allowed three hits in 6.1 innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters during a 5-0 victory over Hudson Valley on Aug. 23. Frankoff did not walk a batter.
Frankoff followed up that performance by throwing a seven-inning complete game to help Vermont defeat the Connecticut Tigers 4-0 on Monday. He held Connecticut to one hit in the victory.
Frankoff struck out seven and faced one batter over the minimum. He raised his record to 5-3.
Frankoff has surrendered one home run in 79 innings this season.
