Jonathan Singleton: Astros Minor League MVP

The choice for Astros Minor League MVP was pretty easy for me. George Springer was really the only threat to Jonathan Singleton winning this award. Singleton, a former 8th round pick of the Phillies, had a great year this year as he batted a cool .284 with 21 home runs and 79 RBI to go along with 7 stolen bases. He spent the entire year at AA Corpus Christi and figures to begin next year with AAA Oklahoma City as he inches closer towards the majors.

Jonathan Singleton (H. Darr Beiser-USA TODAY Sports via US PRESSWIRE)

Singleton was acquired along with SP Jarred Cosart, RP Josh Zeid and OF Domingo Santana in the July 30, 2011 trade that sent Hunter Pence to Philadelphia. Some felt that then GM, Ed Wade, should have held out for Singleton the year prior when Roy Oswalt was traded to the Phillies as Phillies GM Ruben Amaro deemed the young slugger untouchable. Largely viewed as a great trade for the Astros, Singleton has improved in each of his years in the minors. Drafted in the 8th round of the 2009 draft by the Phillies straight out of high school, Singleton has risen in the ranks of MLB’s top prospects (ranked 39th in 2011 by Baseball America and then 34th in 2012). He has drawn comparisons to Ryan Howard and Carlos Delgado, the latter of which I believe to be more accurate.

As I said earlier, Singleton is likely to begin next season with AAA Oklahoma City but could very well be promoted to the Astros at some point next year and at the very latest, be a September call up. As a 20 year old playing in the Texas League for a full year, Singleton handled the challenge very well. He went through slumps like everyone does but ended the season on a power surge. This is definitely a young, power hitting prospect for Astros fans to be excited about and well deserving of the Astros Minor Leagues MVP for the 2012 season.