US PRO PLAYERS
OF THE WEEK

Welcome to our another of our features that is designed as an additional enhancement to our updated statistical information about Australian players who fly our flag in the US Professional Leagues. Time permitting, we hope to track the performances of players for the previous week (or five or six days) and to make our assessment for 'Flintoff & Dunn's US PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK'. We may then be able to expand this into a 'PRO PLAYER OF THE MONTH' to add to our 'PRO PLAYERS OF THE YEAR' that we have published at the end of previous seasons... Stand by!
Like everything we do, we certainly don't expect that everyone will agree with our assessments from week to week and we don't pretend to know every intimate event or situation that might affect a given player from time to time. Our assessment will be based purely on the statistics produced from the past week with no particular emphasis on at what level the performance has been achieved. 
In any case, we will be happy if this effort sparks interest and debate for Australia's baseball community and we will always be happy to hear what you think!

*** MANY Thanks to our statistical auditor PETER WOOD for supplying the reference data ***

  To view the latest Statistics for Australian Players in the US Professional Leagues

2006: To view 'Flintoff & Dunn's' PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
from the 2006 season,
click here
2007: To view 'Flintoff & Dunn's' PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
from the 2007 season,
click here

   

'Flintoff & Dunn's PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK' - 12 MAY 2008

Congratulations to this weeks selection of our F&D Pro Player of the Week.

I’m delighted to report for all of our loyal subscribers that we had plenty of players to consider for our Aussie PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK on this occasion. This, of course, means that we have had plenty of Australian professionals who are performing very well lately with the only downside being our difficulty in who to nominate for the top award and also for honourable mention.

We’ll start this week by briefly listing a few of those who narrowly missed special mention and who might have earned a nomination in other weeks. Relief pitchers PHIL STOCKMAN, ADAM BRIGHT and BRENDAN WISE each added two or three more scoreless outings to lower their respective ERA’s, while DANIEL BERG has returned strongly from a spell on the DL with a .308 average last week, including a home run.

Ahead of them this week for ‘Honourable Mention” are hitters LUKE HUGHES (.500 AVG), JOEL NAUGHTON (.875 SLG) and ADAM MORRISSEY (.750 SLG), along with SHANE LINDSAY who struck out nine in a brilliant seven inning scoreless winning start.

You might well ask who could possibly have topped these guys? This time we couldn’t split two pitchers for the top award due to the quite outstanding efforts of GRANT BALFOUR who racked up three saves from another four scoreless appearances over this past week and DREW NAYLOR (AGAIN!) who just shaded Lindsay with his nine inning complete game victory that produced just two hits and a 1/12 walk versus strike out ratio… WOW! The guys must be nudging for promotion and, in Balfour’s case; his scoreless season so far has reinforced his status as a player who should be a bona fide major league pitcher.

This week's nominations are:

 Grant BALFOUR  (AAA - Durham Bulls)
4G   0-0, 0.00ERA  5.0IP  2H  0ER  2BB  11K

Season:  0.00ERA

 Drew NAYLOR  (A - Lakewood BlueClaws)
1G   1-0, 1.00ERA  9.0IP  2H  1ER  1BB  12K

Season:  3-2, 2.04 ERA

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Shane LINDSAY (Rockies 'A+' Modesto Nuts) 1G  1-0, 0.00ERA  7.0ip  3h  0er 1bb  9K
Joel NAUGHTON (Phillies 'A' Lakewood BlueClaws) 4G  16AB  .375AVG  1R  6H  2D  2HR  .875SLG
Adam MORRISSEY (Angels 'AA' Arkansas Travellers) 620AB  .400AVG  3R  8H  4D  1HR  .750SLG
Luke HUGHES (Twins 'AA' New Britain Rock Cats) 3G  10AB  .500AVG  3R  5H  .500SLG
  'Flintoff & Dunn's PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK' - 5 MAY 2008

Congratulations to this weeks selection of our F&D Pro Player of the Week.

Before we get into the nominations this week, we felt that it was time to provide a special mention for a couple of Australia’s recent major league pitchers who are on the verge of making it back to ‘The Show’ with some very consistent form at ‘AAA’ level. While the specialist relievers will rarely have a large enough sample to feature in our PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK awards we will mention GRANT BALFOUR who is 1-0, 0.00ERA in six appearances and 10.0 innings with the Tampa Bay Rays’ ‘AAA’ Durham Bulls. Similarly, PHIL STOCKMAN who does get an “Honourable Mention” this week, but his season record of 1-0, 1.93ERA from ten games and 19.1 innings with Atlanta's ‘AAA’ Richmond Braves is also quite outstanding.

I’m afraid that we are going to disappoint those subscribers who’d prefer us to name just one award winner again this week with another three-way split… and, we’d challenge anyone to suggest that any of these guys should be excluded! If we had been forced to select one it would have to be TRENT OELTJEN for the third successive week with his .529 batting average that speaks for itself. However, we simply couldn’t leave out LUKE HUGHES with his .448 average and his .724 slugging percentage from quite a few more at bats. And, what about the week enjoyed by pitcher DREW NAYLOR who owned a 1-0, 1.80ERA record over two starts, with 17 strike outs from 15.0 innings? We think you should all agree that these lads are truly worthy nominations this week.

However, there were also some very good performances that we will acknowledge among our “Honourable Mentions” as a number of Australian players are enjoying very promising starts to the 2008 professional season in the USA, not to mention our SIX major league performers so far this year! Evergreen ADAM MORRISSEY keeps reminding people in professional ranks that he carries a dangerous bat, while NSW pitcher MATT WILLIAMS had one of his best weeks as a professional. Victorian star DANIEL BERG is making steady progress after returning from the DL recently, while JOEL NAUGHTON had almost identical numbers to Berg. Well done to all of those mentioned!

This week's nominations are:

 Trent OELTJEN  (AAA - Tucson Sidewinders)
4G   17AB  .529AVG   6R  9H  3D  3RBI

Season:  .341 AVG

 Luke HUGHES  (AA - New Britain Rock Cats)
6G   29AB  .448AVG   11R  13H  1D  2T  1HR  5RBI

Season:  .378 AVG

 Drew NAYLOR  (A - Lakewood BlueClaws)
2G   1-0, 1.80ERA  15.0IP  10H  3ER  4BB  17K

Season:  2-2, 2.25 ERA

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Phil STOCKMAN (Braves 'AAA' Richmond Braves) 3G  0-0, 0.00ERA  5.2ip  2bb  3K
Adam MORRISSEY (Angels 'AA' Arkansas Travellers) 622AB  .409AVG  5R  9H  1D  2HR  4RBI
Matt WILLIAMS (Twins 'A' Beloit Snappers) 2G  1-0, 0.00ERA  4.1ip  0bb  5K
Daniel BERG (Twins 'A+' Fort Myers Miracle) 3G  9AB  .333AVG  3R  3H  1D  3RBI
Joel NAUGHTON (Phillies 'A' Lakewood BlueClaws) 3G  9AB  .333AVG  1R  3H  2D  3RBI
  'Flintoff & Dunn's PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK' - 28 APRIL 2008

Congratulations to this weeks selection of our F&D Pro Player of the Week.

We should start by CONGRATULATING Victorian infielder BRAD HARMAN for becoming the 26th Australian to reach the US major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies during this past week... good on you Brad!

This occasion has reminded us about one of the unfortunate realities associated with trying to select a PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK when we once again have multiple contenders among the pitchers, but these have only been able to appear in one start during the selection period. We just have to accept that these types of selections may be quite unfair to starting pitchers in particular and simply try to do our best. 

However, in order to provide some recognition for starting pitchers, we have included our best performer in the main nomination, along with a couple of hitters that we simply could not split. It may not please everyone that we refuse to narrow down this award to one player, but we will make no apology for seeking to acknowledge Australian baseballers who deserve special recognition... we just don't think that the number of "joint winners" is an issue!

This week we could not split hitters TRENT OELTJEN (.467) and JOEL NAUGHTON (.462), while we also felt that starting pitcher SHANE LINDSAY (1-0, 0.00ERA from 6.0IP with 9 strike outs) was outstanding. Our extra congratulations to Trent Oeltjen for sharing the award in successive weeks and he should be close to cracking the big leagues!

Mainly due to his marvellous strike out ratio, we picked Lindsay ahead of other pitchers that deserve special mention; DREW NAYLOR (1-0, 0.00ERA from 6.0IP with 6 strike outs), DAVID WELCH (1-0, 1.29ERA from 7.0IP) and SCOTT MITCHINSON (1-0, 1.50ERA from 6.0IP). Our other "Honourable Mention" goes to another one of last week's winners; LUKE HUGHES who batted .375 with 9-24 plus four home runs and eight RBI's... he would have won again most weeks!!

This week's nominations are:

 Shane LINDSAY  (A+ - Modesto Nuts)
1G   1-0, 0.00ERA  6.0IP  1H  0ER  3BB  9K

Season:  3.50 ERA

 Trent OELTJEN  (AAA - Tucson Sidewinders)
4G   15AB  .467AVG  3R  7H  1D  2RBI

Season:  .297 AVG

 Joel NAUGHTON  (A - Lakewood BlueClaws)
4G   13AB  .462AVG  1R  6H  1D  2RBI

Season:  .291 AVG

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Luke HUGHES (Twins 'AA' New Britain Rock Cats) 524AB  .375AVG  4R  9H  1D  4HR  8RBI
Drew NAYLOR (Phillies 'AA' Lakewood BlueClaws) 1G  1-0, 0.00ERA  6.0IP  2BB  6K
David WELCH (Brewers 'AA' Huntsville Stars) 1G  1-0, 1.29ERA  7.0ip  1bb  3K
Scott MITCHINSON (Athletics 'A' Kane County Cougars) 1G  1-0, 1.50ERA  6.0ip  0bb  2K
  'Flintoff & Dunn's PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK' - 22 APRIL 2008

Congratulations to this weeks selection of our F&D Pro Player of the Week.

Firstly, our apologies that our PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK has been a little late on this occasion.

Before we start, we must commiserate with our first winner of the season PETER MOYLAN who is facing season ending "Tommy John surgery" on his elbow. We certainly hope that we didn't "jinx" Pete and that we have not started a disturbing trend for Australian players in 2008. 

This week we refuse to split TRENT OELTJEN (Arizona Diamondbacks 'AAA') and LUKE HUGHES (Minnesota Twins 'AA') for the award. Oeltjen's 8-15 hitting was quite brilliant, but Hughes' 10-23 featured more power and from more at bats.

RICHARD THOMPSON is pushing for a recall to the majors since being assigned to the Los Angeles Angels 'AAA' recently, while his 'AA' Angels club mate MICHAEL COLLINS and Colorado Rockies 'AA' pitcher ADAM BRIGHT were also worthy of special mention this week.

This week's nominations are:

 Trent OELTJEN  (AAA - Tucson Sidewinders)
4G   15AB  .533AVG  5R  8H  1D  1T  2RBI

Season:  .254 AVG

 Luke HUGHES  (AA - New Britain Rock Cats)
5G   23AB  .435AVG  7R  10H  2D  3HR  4RBI

Season:  .348 AVG

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Adam BRIGHT (Rockies 'AA' Tulsa Drillers) 2G  1-0, 0.00ERA  3.0IP  0BB  2K
Richard THOMPSON (Angels 'AAA' Salt Lake Bees) 3G  1-0, 0.00ERA  4.0ip  2bb  7k
Michael COLLINS (Angels 'AA' Arkansas Travellers) 515AB  .400AVG  4R  6H  2D  1HR  2RBI  1SB 
  'Flintoff & Dunn's PRO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK' - 14 APRIL 2008

Congratulations to this weeks selection of our F&D Pro Player of the Week.

Welcome to season 2008, and the resumption of our PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK.

The season has just started of course, and only a few players have had enough starts to be considered.

In the Majors, Braves' reliever Peter MOYLAN was, once again, the outstanding performer. His seven game ERA of 1.59 and a great save in his last outing, puts him head and shoulders above all other contenders. New Padre Justin HUBER
had a fine .500 batting average, but too few at bats to be considered this time.

Pitchers Adam BRIGHT (Tulsa Drillers AA) had five outings with one win and 0.00ERA, while David WELCH (Huntsville Stars AA) had  two starts for two wins and 1.64ERA over 11 innings. The only batter to hit above .300 with more than 20 at bats was Michael COLLINS (Arkansas Travellers AA) with .308 from 26 at bats.

Congratulations to Peter MOYLAN on being this season's first PRO PLAYER OF THE WEEK. Having dominated the award last season, 'Big Pete' looks capable of doing so again this year and we will make no apology if he does!

This week's nominations are:

 Peter MOYLAN  (MLB - Atlanta Braves)
7G   1.59ERA  0-1-1  5.2 IP  1BB  5K

Season:  1.59ERA

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Adam BRIGHT (Rockies 'AA' Tulsa Drillers) 5G  1-0, 0.00ERA  6.1IP  1BB  3K
David WELCH (Angels 'AA' Arkansas Travellers) 2G  2-0, 1.64ERA  11.0ip  2bb  2k
Michael COLLINS (Angels 'AA' Arkansas Travellers) 7 26AB  .308AVG  2RBI