O'Neill named double-A player of year by Baseball America
Give Maple Ridge slugger Tyler O’Neill a Baseball America triple-play.
The Seattle Mariners’ powerhouse outfield prospect on Monday was named double-A player of the year by the prestigious publication thanks to his .293 average, 24 home runs and 102 runs batted in for the Southern League’s Jackson Generals in 130 regular-season games.
Baseball America also named O’Neill to their double-A all-star team on Monday. Last week, they gave him a spot on their overall minor league all-star squad.
For perspective, Baseball America’s 2015 double-A player of the year, outfielder Max Kepler, had played 98 games with the Minnesota Twins this season going into Monday. The 2014 winner, outfielder Michael Taylor, played 138 games with the Washington Nationals last season.
O’Neill was a Triple Crown candidate going into the loop’s final weeks. He wound up leading the circuit in RBIs, coming in second in homers and fifth in average. And, keep in mind, at 21 he was three years younger than the league’s average position player, according tobaseball-reference.com.
“It just feels great to be recognized for all the effort I’ve invested into this year,” O’Neill wrote in a Twitter direct message.
The Generals opened the best-of-five Southern League championship series at home on Monday against the Mississippi Braves.
Jackson advanced to the final by defeating the Montgomery Biscuits in four games in the best-of-five semifinals. O’Neill led the way, batting .467 (7-for-15) with three homers and six RBI. He had a walk-off homer in the opening game of the set.
“I think, at the end of the year, he struggled a little bit. Playoffs coming around, he’s locked back in,” Jackson manager Daren Brown toldmilb.com.
O’Neill, who starred with the Langley Blaze program growing up, was picked in the third round of the 2013 amateur draft by the Mariners.
He hit .260 in 2015, with 32 home runs and 87 RBI, in 106 games with the Bakersfield Blaze, a club in the Advanced single-A California League.
The Mariners wanted him to improve his strike-zone discipline and O’Neill followed through, going from 29 walks with Bakersfield to 62 with Jackson.
His on-based percentage jumped from .316 in 2015 to .374 in 2016.