Another Award For Aeros' Brown

Jordan Brown of the Akron Aeros keeps picking up honors after another good season. The young first baseman-outfielder was named Class AA Eastern League Player of the Year by Topps on Tuesday. Earlier, Brown was voted the MVP award in the league. A year ago, Brown won the MVP in the Class A Carolina League after helping Kinston win the championship.

The farm systems for Detroit, San Diego and Tampa Bay each had two of their farmhands earn Topps Player of the Year honors.

The annual George M. Trautman Awards are presented in each of the 16 domestic Minor Leagues by the Topps Company of New York in conjunction with Minor League Baseball. Brown (Eastern League), Chase Headley (Texas), Bubba Bell (California), Luis Durango (Northwest), Anthony Norman (Arizona) and Alfredo Silverio (Gulf Coast) all were league batting champions who also won Topps honors.

Headley and Bell also led their league in slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

Other Topps winners included Mike Hessman, the top home run hitter and run producer in the International League. Geovany Soto (Pacific Coast), Clint Robinson (Pioneer) and Silverio also led their respective leagues in RBI.

There were two ties among the league winners. Montgomery teammates Evan Longoria and Chris Mason, one of two pitchers honored, are co-winners in the Southern League. Durango shares Northwest accolades with Salem Keizer’s Matt Downs, who finished second in the league in batting average and first with 33 doubles and 68 runs.

Here's the list of winners:

TOPPS 2007 MINOR-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

LEAGUE	PLAYER	MLB ORG.	POS	HR	RBI	AVG
International	Mike Hessman	Tigers	3B	31	101	.254
Pacific Coast	Geovany Soto	Cubs	C	26	109	.353
Eastern	Jordan Brown	Indians	1B	11	76	.333
Southern (tie)	Evan Longoria	Rays	3B	21	76	.307
LEAGUE	PLAYER	MLB ORG.	POS	W	L	ERA
Southern (tie)	Chris Mason	Rays	P	15	4	.257
LEAGUE	PLAYER	MLB ORG.	POS	HR	RBI	AVG
Texas	Chase Headley	Padres	3B	20	78	.330
California	Bubba Bell	Red Sox	OF	22	83	.370
Carolina	Mitch Einertson	Astros	OF	11	87	.305
Florida State	Josh Kruezer	Blue Jays	1B	20	71	.309
Midwest	Gorkys Hernandez	Tigers	OF	4	50	.293
South Atlantic	John Raynor	Marlins	OF	13	57	.333
LEAGUE	PLAYER	MLB ORG.	POS	W	L	ERA
NY-Penn	Dylan Owen	Mets	P	9	1	1.49
LEAGUE	PLAYER	MLB ORG.	POS	HR	RBI	AVG
Northwest (tie)	Matt Downs	Giants	2B	8	48	.338
Northwest (tie)	Luis Durango	Padres	OF	2	32	.367
Appalachian	Ozzie Lewis	Twins	OF	9	50	.323
Pioneer	Clint Robinson	Royals	1B	15	66	.336
Gulf Coast	Alfredo Silverio	Dodgers	OF	6	46	.373
Arizona	Anthony Norman	Angels	OF	0	33	.362