Heyward named Baseball America minor league player of the year

This afternoon Baseball America announced Jason Heyward as their minor league player of the year after the Braves farmhand and 2007 first-round pick batted .323/.408/.555 with 17 homers, 46 total extra-base hits, 11 steals, and a 51/51 K/BB ratio in 99 games between high Single-A and Double-A before finishing the year with a brief stint at Triple-A.
Those numbers are obviously great, but what makes them amazing is that Heyward turned 20 years old last month. He’s 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds with incredible physical tools and has hit .318/.391/.508 through 238 pro games, with plate discipline and strike-zone control that are extraordinary for such a young hitter.
He drew 30 walks while striking out just 21 times in 50 games between Double-A and Triple-A despite facing pitchers who were almost all at least 3-5 years his senior. Heyward is the clear-cut premier position player prospect in baseball and should give Stephen Strasburg a run for the top overall spot when various prospect rankings come out next spring.
Atlanta has a track record of aggressively promoting elite prospects, but during the past two decades only Andruw Jones in 1997 saw significant action with the Braves as a 20-year-old. Not coincidentally, Jones was Baseball America‘s minor league player of the year in both 1995 and 1996. Heyward seems likely to begin next season at Triple-A, but picking up where he left off could get him to Atlanta for good by the All-Star break.