Metro Sports Report

Buxton wins top minor league award

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Minor League Baseball and the Topps Company announced Tuesday that outfielder Byron Buxton, the second overall pick in the June 2012 draft by the Minnesota Twins, is the winner of the 54th annual J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year.

Buxton finished among the top 12 MiLB players in six offensive categories, including a Minor League best 18 triples. His 109 runs ranked second.

The 19-year-old center fielder from Baxley, Ga., joins Mike Trout (2010), Delmon Young (2005) and Andruw Jones (1996) among those who have won the award as teenagers.

Silver is pure gold for Warriors

Royal Silver has a distinctive name that's easy to remember, evoking colorful images of precious metals and befitting a British monarch, but he wasn't always fond of it.

"In elementary school I didn't like it, because I thought it was an odd name," he said Monday. "But I like it now."

Silver is a 6-foot-3, 275-pound nose guard on the Cedar Rapids Washington football team, a stalwart on the defensive line and one of the reasons the Warriors have won five straight games and are heading for the Class 4A playoffs.

Kernels fill 'Top Prospect' list for Twins

The 2013 season was, by almost all measures, a successful maiden campaign for the affiliation between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and their new Major League parent, the Minnesota Twins.

Now, the fall is bringing out the first of what will be many published organizational “top prospect” lists, signaling that it’s not too early to begin looking at what kind of talent the Twins will be sending to Cedar Rapids in 2014.

John Sickels publishes The Baseball Prospect Book and is one of the more respected minor league experts in the business. Last week, he released his list of the Twins’ Top Twenty Prospects on his minorleagueball.com website.

Adam runs with a smile on his face

Adam Todd has made a name for himself in the world of running. No small feat, given the obstacles he faces in everyday living.

The 14-year-old has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that causes multiple types of seizures resulting in developmental delays and cognitive impairment.

Finding the right course of treatment has been a struggle for his parents, Dale and Sara Todd of Cedar Rapids, but one almost miraculous form of therapy has been found on the running trail.

"His epilepsy doctor in Chicago told us, 'I can't give you any medication that's better than running,'" Sara Todd said. "He almost went a year without a seizure - April to April. It's good for him physically, mentally and emotionally."