Cedar Rapids Kernels Baseball

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.

Read more...

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.

Read more...

4 Kernels on MWL prospect list

Four members of the 2013 Cedar Rapids Kernels were named to Baseball America’s Midwest League Top 20 Prospects list. They were outfielders Byron Buxton and Adam Brett Walker, infielder Jorge Polanco and pitcher Jose Berrios.

Buxton was the Midwest League's No.1 Prospect, according to Baseball America. He hit .341 for the Kernels with eight home runs, 55 RBI and 32 stolen bases before being promoted to Fort Myers in late-June. Berrios came in at No.13, followed by Walker (No.15) and Polanco (No.20).

The Kernels (Twins) were the only team to have four players listed in the Top 20. Quad Cities (Astros), Kane County (Cubs) and Fort Wayne (Padres) each had three players on the list and Dayton (Reds), Great Lakes (Dodgers) and Bowling Green (Rays) had two apiece.

Buxton wins top award from Twins

The Minnesota Twins have selected Byron Buxton for the 2013 Sherry Robertson Award as their Minor League Player of the Year, the club announced Sunday morning.

Buxton, 19, split the season between the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the Midwest League and the Fort Myers Miracle in the Florida State League.

He hit .334 this season with 19 doubles, 18 triples, 12 homers, 77 RBIs, 109 runs scored and 55 stolen bases in 125 games for the two teams. He also excelled in center field.

Read more...

Kernels installing new $150,000 field

Nobody likes a lawn that's strangled by weeds and has unsightly brown spots in the grass, and it's especially worrisome if million-dollar bonus babies are running on your lawn at full speed and trying to make sliding catches.

That's why the Cedar Rapids Kernels plan to install a new $150,000 grass field at Veterans Memorial Stadium this fall.

The field has been infected with poa, which Kernels General Manager Doug Nelson described as a "weed grass" whose roots grow sideways and choke the regular grass. It's led to discoloration in the outfield and unstable sod.

Read more...

Maier tabbed for MWL honor

Debra Maier, Director of Food and Beverage for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, has been named the Midwest League Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year. The award is presented by the MWL to a woman who has made outstanding contributions to her club, her league or to baseball.

Maier is the fifth woman from the Cedar Rapids organization to win the award. The others are Bea Buchheister (1989), Nancy Cram (1994), Jessica Fergesen (2007) and Andrea Brommelkamp (2008).

The Midwest League submits the winners of four post-season awards: John Henry Moss Community Service, John H. Johnson President’s Award, Larry MacPhail Promotional Award, and Rawlings Women Executive of the Year Award, to Minor League Baseball. The winners from each MiLB league are eligible for the national awards, presented at the Baseball Winter Meetings in December. The Kernels won the national John H. Johnson President’s Award in 2008.

The 2013 Baseball Winter Meetings will be held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 9-12.

Kernels' Gallant suspended by MLB

Dallas Gallant, who pitched for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the 2013 Midwest League baseball season, was suspended Friday by Major League Baseball.

Gallant received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for an amphetamine in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Gallant's suspension will be effective at the start of the 2014 season.

Read more...

Shibuya named Topps Player of Month

Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher Tim Shibuya has been named the Topps Player of the Month for August in the Midwest League. The Topps Company of New York, N.Y., presents the monthly awards in conjunction with Minor League Baseball.

Shibuya went 3-0 in August and led MWL pitchers with a 0.88 ERA. He ended the month with a four-hit shutout at Clinton Aug. 31.

The Twins selected Shibuya in the 23rd round of the 2011 draft from the University of California-San Diego.

Former Kernels outfielder Byron Buxton was named the Topps Player of the Month for August in the Florida State League and former Kernels outfielder Randal Grichuk was named the co-Player of the Month in the Texas League.

Buxton named top Minor Leaguer

Former Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Byron Buxton has been named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. Buxton played 68 games for the Kernels this past season, hitting .341 with eight home runs and 55 RBI, and was promoted to the Fort Myers Miracle in late June.

Buxton hit a combined .334 this season with 12 home runs and 77 RBI in 125 games. He led the minors with 18 triples and was named the MVP and Prospect of the Year in the Midwest League. The Minnesota Twins selected Buxton in the first round (second overall) of the 2011 First Year Player Draft out of Appling County High School in Baxley, Ga.

Buxton joins Mike Trout (2010) as former Kernels who have won Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year. He is the second Twins player (Joe Mauer, 2003) to win the award since it was first presented in 1981.