Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers: The Rainiers finished 79-63 and four games behind Pacific Coast League North winner Portland, a tremendous accomplishment considering the revolving clubhouse door in the second half of the season.
With most of the top prospects being called up to the Mariners, manager Dan Rohn finished the season with 65 different players and more than 130 roster transactions. He won the PCL Manager of the Year award for that.
First baseman A.J. Zapp finished with 101 RBI, fourth in the PCL, and outfielder Greg Jacobs batted .320 with nine home runs and 30 RBI in 69 games after joining the Rainiers.
Class AA San Antonio Missions: Outfielder Shin-soo Choo starred on a team that finished second in the Texas League West division. His .315 batting average was fourth best in the league, and he was third with 84 RBI, third with 40 steals, second with 163 hits, tied for second with seven triples and second with 89 runs.
On the mound, former Anacortes High School and Edmonds Community College star Rick Guttormson finished with 25 saves, third most in the league, while Rich Dorman’s 137 strikeouts were fourth and Chris Buglovsky’s 3.64 ERA was sixth.
Class A Inland Empire 66ers: The 66ers swept their best-of-three California League first-round series against Rancho Cucamonga and opened a best-of-five series Saturday at Lancaster.
Bobby Livingston, who led the league with 1862/3 innings and was second with 141 strikeouts in the regular season, gave up eight hits and two runs in 71/3 innings of Inland Empire’s 5-3 clinching victory over Rancho Cucamonga. Wladimir Balentien hit his second home run of the series and his fourth for the 66ers since coming to the team in late August.
Center fielder Gary Harris went 2-for-4 with two RBI Thursday. He finished the regular season with a league-leading 18 triples. Outfielder Jon Nelson’s 95 RBI ranked fourth in the league.
Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers: Shortstop Adam Jones, in his first full pro season, batted .267 with 11 home runs and led the team with 72 RBI and 23 doubles.
Outfielder Chris Colton’s 11 triples tied for third in the league and right-hander Brandon Moorhead’s 163 strikeouts were fourth.
The Rattlers finished last in the Midwest League Western Division with a 26-44 second-half record.
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