San Jose Giants win MiLBY for Top Class-A team

HE'S GOT SKILLS: San Jose Giants manager Andy Skeels led his team to its second MiLBY award in three years.

Led by fellow 2011 MiLBY winner Gary Brown, the San Jose Giants were named the minors’ top Class-A Advanced team Tuesday.

San Jose finished the year 90-50, one of just two teams in all of the minors to reach the 90-win mark (the Double-A San Antonio Missions finished at 94-46).

Brown led the way for San Jose with a .336 batting average (good for third-best in the Cal League), 115 runs scored (2nd), 188 hits (1st) 13 triples (1st), 290 total bases (2nd) and 53 steals (2nd). He also smacked 14 home runs, drove in 80 runs and was one of nine different San Jose Giants to hit 10 or more homers this past season.

Even though Brown’s impressive accomplishments at the plate earned him Cal League Rookie of the Year honors, the club was equally paced by its superb pitching staff, which led the hitter-friendly Cal League with a 3.70 team ERA, 14 shutouts and 48 saves. Giants’ pitching coach Brian Cooper was named Cal League Coach of the Year back in August.

Right-handers Craig Westcott (13-4, 3.42 ERA, 1.210 WHIP, 2.64 SO/BB ratio) and Chris Heston (12-4, 3.16 ERA, 1.219 WHIP, 3.28 SO/BB ratio) and southpaw Kelvin Marte (12-6, 3.47 ERA, 1.388 WHIP, 1.79 SO/BB ratio) all made at least 24 starts. Zack Wheeler, who was traded to the Mets for Carlos Beltran on July 28, went 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA for San Jose in 2011.

Other contributors to the San Jose Giants’ successful regular season campaign include Hector Sanchez (.302/.338/.533, 11 HR, 58 RBI in 52 games), 19-year old Tommy Joseph (.270/.317/.471, 22 HR, 95 RBI in 127 games), and Alex Burg (.298/.369/.550, 14 HR, 45 RBI in 72 games). (You can check out all of the San Jose Giants team stats here.)

The Giants were managed by Andy Skeels, who led San Jose to a MiLBY in 2009 when his Giants finished 93-47. In five minor league seasons, Skeels has a 367-252 record (.593).