Middle infielder Gavin Lux has been named the 2019 Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America and they could not have gotten it any more right.
Dodgers SS/2B Gavin Lux is Baseball America's 2019 Minor League Player of the Year. He won it in a very, very competitive year.https://t.co/1p7dgsHF7H
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) September 9, 2019
Lux stood out amongst Dodger fans all season as our best minor league performer, but as JJ Cooper of Baseball America mentioned in his tweet, it was a competitive year to win it in.
For example, the Diamondbacks had one of their top minor league prospects, corner infielder Kevin Cron, crushed 38 home runs and posted a 182 wRC+ and 1.226 OPS in just 82 games for Triple-A Reno. Outstanding. However, Baseball America saw Lux as being more deserving of the honor and for good reason.
While Lux has struggled in his limited time at the major league level, he finished a 2019 campaign by jumping all the way from Double-A Tulsa to the big leagues. Across 113 games of minor league action for Lux, he smashed a .347/.421/.607 slash line and posted an elite 166 wRC+. He also chipped in 26 home runs for good measure.
At Triple-A Oklahoma City in particular, Lux smashed an insane .392/.478/.719 across 49 games. He won Dodger fans over with his play and we all salivated over his arrival. While he has been somewhat of a disappointment so far at the major league level, the small sample size means nothing.
When we look at Lux, we see the future. A very bright one.