All South Atlantic League Team

By Doug Gray
Monday, September 28th, 2009

Like the other teams, this list is going to be based for the most part off of who had the best seasons in the league. Age will play a small factor, as a guy with a very good season at a younger age may get the spot over a guy with a slightly better season who was a bit older.

Catcher - Derek Norris

The Nationals 20 year old catcher may have had the best offensive year of anyone in the league. Norris hit .286/.413/.513 for Hagerstown while leading the league in OBP and walk percentage (16.7%).

Honorable Mention - Ryan Lavarnway

First Base - Kiel Roling

Roling hit .331/.399/.593 for Ashville over 388 plate appearances. The 22 year old led the league in average and slugging percentage and finished second in on base percentage.

Honorable Mention - Erik Morrison

Second Base - Corban Joseph

The Charleston second baseman hit .300/.381/.418 on the season with 49 walks and 61 strikeouts to go along with 8 steals in 436 plate appearances.

Honorable Mention - David Adams

Shortstop - Jose Pirela

Shortstop was slim pickings in the SAL this year and the 19 year old led the way with a .294/.351/.379 line for shortstops with 9 steals in 444 plate appearances.

Honorable Mention - Ryan Dent

Third Base - Jake Smolinski

Smolinski was a late arrival to the league who missed all of April, but hit .283/.379/.448 for the season. The 20 year old had 38 walks and 45 strikeouts in 322 plate appearances.

Honorable Mention - Will Middlebrooks

Outfield - Kyeong Kang

Kang hit .307/.390/.491 over 362 plate appearances for Bowling Green. The 21 year old outfielder also added 11 steals on the season.

Outfield - Justin Green

Green hit .303/.387/.444 for Kannapolis with 17 steals before earning a promotion to the Carolina League.

Outfield - Michael Synan

The Greensboro outufielder hit .291/.353/483 with 5 steals. Synan also had a 7.9% walk rate and a 20.1% strikeout rate in 417 plate appearances.

Honorable Mentions - Ronnie Welty, Donnie Webb

Starting Pitcher - Matt Moore

The Bowling Green lefty led the league in strikeout percentage at 33.7%, but he also struggled with his control at times.  The 20 year old had a 3.15 ERA and paced the league with 176 strikeouts.

Starting Pitcher - Jason Knapp

Before going down with an injury, Knapp was arguably one of the leagues most dominant pitchers. The 19 year old struck out 30.9% of the batters he faced on the season while posting a 4.01 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.

Starting Pitcher - Martin Perez

The 18 year old posted a 2.31 ERA over 93.2 innings for Hickory with a 26.9% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and a 51% groundball rate before earning a late season promotion to AA.

Starting Pitcher - Jordan Lyles

The Astros 18 year old pitcher threw 144.2 innings of 3.24 ERA baseball. Lexington’s ace struck out 27.8% of the batters he faced and had a walk rate of 6.3% with a 1.19 WHIP.

Honorable Mention - Eric Surkamp, Dexter Carter

Relief Pitcher - Dan Remenowsky

Remenowsky had a 1.99 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a 44.1% strikeout rate to go along with a 6.5% walk rate for Kannapolis.

Relief Pitcher - Henry Villar

Lexington’s reliever posted a 2.90 ERA, 1.08 WHIP along with his 29.6% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate.

Honorable Mention - Brian Rosenberg

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