Indians Minor League Awards Announced

INDIANS ANNOUNCE 2007 MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER & PITCHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

ASDRUBAL CABRERA combined to hit .303 in 2007
AARON LAFFEY was 17-6 w/a 3.34 ERA

CLEVELAND, OH—The Cleveland Indians today announced the recipients of the organization’s 2007 Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year awards.

INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA has been named the 2007 winner of the Lou Boudreau Award as the top minor league position player in the Indians player development system. Additionally, LHP AARON LAFFEY has been selected as the Bob Feller Award winner for 2007 as the organization’s top minor league pitcher.

Cabrera, 22, combined to hit .303 (171-585) with 114 runs scored, 35 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs and 79 RBI in 150 games between AA Akron, AAA Buffalo and Cleveland. Following the season, he was named the USA Today Indians Minor League Player of the Year.

He began his season at AA Akron where he hit .310 (114-368) with 78 runs scored, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 8 HR and 54 RBI in 96 games before being promoted to AAA Buffalo on July 30th. While with the Aeros, Cabrera was selected to both the Eastern League Midseason and Postseason All-Star Teams. He finished 5th in the Eastern League in batting and prior to his promotion to Buffalo he was leading the Eastern League in runs scored. Cabrera appeared in just 9 games at Buffalo batting .316 (12-38) with 6 runs scored, 3 doubles and 3 RBI before his contract was purchased by Cleveland on August 7th.

Cabrera made his Major League debut on August 8th at Chicago and made 40 starts at second base and 6 starts at shortstop as he hit .283 (45-159) with 30 runs scored, 9 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 22 RBI in 45 games for the Central Division Champion Indians. Cleveland was 28-12 (.700) when he started at second base and Cabrera made just 1 error in 220 chances in the field.

Laffey, 22, combined to go 17-6 with a 3.34 ERA in 31 games/30 starts (180.2IP, 172H, 75R/67ER, 42BB, 124K) between AA Akron, AAA Buffalo and Cleveland. He started the season at AA Akron going 4-1 w/a 2.31 ERA (35.0IP, 29H, 13R/9ER, 7BB, 24K) in 6 starts before earning a promotion to Buffalo on May 17th.

At Buffalo, Laffey was 9-3 with a 3.08 ERA (96.1IP, 89H, 36R/33ER, 23BB, 75K) in 16 games/15 starts with the Herd. He was unbeaten (9-0) over his last 12 starts/13 games with the Bisons and led the Herd in ERA (3.08) while being tied for the team lead in wins (9). Overall at the Minor League level he was 13-4 with a 2.88 ERA (131.1IP, 118H, 42ER, 30BB, 99K) in 22 games/22 starts. He led all Indians minor leaguers in wins (13), while finishing 2nd in ERA (2.88).

Laffey was promoted to Cleveland on August 4th where he made his Major League debut against the Twins, becoming the youngest Indians starter (22y, 111d) to debut since C.C. Sabathia (20y, 261d) in April of 2001. He ended the year as the Indians 5th starter, going 4-2 with a 4.56 ERA (49.1IP, 54H, 26R/25ER, 12BB, 25K) in 9 starts as he tossed at least 5.0 innings in 8 of the 9 starts.

BOB FELLER WINNERS LOU BOUDREAU WINNERS
1990- Charles Nagy 1990- Jim Thome
1991- Mike Soper 1991- Manny Ramirez
1992- Chad Ogea 1992- Ken Ramos
1993- John Carter 1993- Jim Thome
1994- Steve Kline 1994- David Bell
1995- Danny Graves 1995- Richie Sexson
1996- Danny Graves 1996- Russell Branyan
1997- Marc Deschenes 1997- Sean Casey
1998- David Riske 1998- Alex Ramirez
1999- Robert Pugmire 1999- Scott Morgan
2000- Jason Stanford 2000- Billy Munoz
2001- Mike Bacsik 2001- Victor Martinez
2002- Billy Traber 2002- Victor Martinez
2003- Fasuto Carmona 2003- Grady Sizemore
2004- Adam Miller 2004- Ryan Garko
2005- Jeremy Sowers 2005- Ryan Mulhern
2006- Adam Miller 2006- Kevin Kouzmanoff
2007- Aaron Laffey 2007- Asdrubal Cabrera

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