Pirates prospect Starling Marte is a man of many achievements this season. He has been named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year, mid-season and post-season Eastern League All-Star, won the Eastern League batting title, was named the Eastern League Player of the Week from August 8-14th, the Altoona Curve’s Most Valuable Player of the Year and was a participant in the 2011 XM Futures Game.
The 22-year-old outfielder can add another to his list of achievements in his best season professionally: Eastern League Player of the Month for August.
Marte had an outstanding month for the Double-A Curve, batting .393 (46-for-117) with nine doubles, three triples, five home runs, 28 runs scored, 15 RBI, six stolen bases, a .437 on-base percentage and a .650 slugging percentage in 28 games.
He reached base in all but two of the games he played during the month and had 13 multiple hit games.
Marte also set a new Altoona Curve single-season franchise record with a league-best 178 hits this season. He finished the season with a .332 average, with a career-high 12 home runs, 50 RBI and scored 91 runs.
Marte, who is a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was signed by Pittsburgh as a anon-drafted free agent on January 4, 2007.
Some other Minor League News and Notes (curtsey of the Pirates media relations department)
- Triple-A Indianapolis:
First baseman Matt Hague finished the season ranked first in the International League in hits (165), third in total bases (244) and sixth in batting average (.309). Hague’s 165 hits were the most by a member of the Indy Indians since D.T. Cromer had 166 back in 1999.
Outfielder Gorkys Hernandez finished the season tied for the league lead with nine triples.
Left-hander Justin Thomas made a league-leading 63 appearances.
- Double-A Altoona:
Right-hander Kyle McPherson led all Pirates farmhands with 142 strikeouts, the most since Todd Redmond in 2006, who had 148.
Right-hander Phil Irwin led the Pirates minor league system with 13 wins. His eight wins with the Curve (five with the High-A Bradenton Marauders) beginning on June 19th ranked tied for second among all Double-A pitchers. Irwin also allowed just one unearned run in his last two starts (12.0 innings).
Right-hander Michael Colla finished ninth in the league with a 3.70 ERA, fifth with a 1.17 WHIP and third in batting average against among starters (.226).
- High-A Bradenton:
Three members of the Marauders finished in the top four in the league in batting average. Ramon Cabrera won the Florida Stat League batting title with a .343 average. Elevys Gonzalez finished second in the league with a .332 average while Adalberto Santos ranked fourth with a .314 average. Cabrera’s .343 average was the highest batting average by a pirates farmhand since Jim Negrych hit .359 in 2008.
Outfielder Robbie Grossman led all of minor league baseball with 127 runs scored, which was the most by any minor league since 2005. It was also the most runs scored by a Pirates minor leaguer since 1990.
- Low-A West Virginia Power:
Right-hander Zack Von Rosenberg was named the South Atlantic Pitcher-of-the-week on Tuesday after tossing 6.0 perfect innings in his September 2 start.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon, the Pirates first round pick in 2010, tossed a combined 8.0 scoreless innings in his last two starts.
- Short season State College:
Pitcher Nicholas Kingham lead all Pirates farmhands with a 2.15 ERA, which ranked third in the New York-Penn League.
Outfielder Alex Dickerson ranked second among all Short-season players with 16 doubles since making his professional debut on July 16th.
Photo credit: MILB
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