Meet Joe Black: Greg Desme Wins 2009 Joe Black AFL MVP Award

Please read my Top 200 MLB Prospects for 2010 sections, below this article.

This past week, Oakland Atletics prospect and Phoenix Desert Dogs outfielder Gregory "Grant" Desme was bestowed with the 2010 Joe Black MVP Award for his fantastic performance throughout five weeks in the Arizona Fall League. Desme led the league in homeruns (11) and extra based hits (16), while coming in second in RBIs (27), runs scored (30) and OPS (1.079). Desme's 11 home runs were third most over the past five seasons, behind only Brandon Wood's 14 dingers (the AFL record) in 2005 and Tyler Flowers' 12 in 2008. Desme also nearly doubled the second highest number of homers--Brandon Laird's and Corey Brown's 6.

Desme, a second round pick from the 2007 draft, emerged as solid prospect in 2009 after spending much of the past two seasons in the trainer's room and in a hospital bed recovering from shoulder surgery and a broken wrist. This past season, Grant Desme was the only player in the minors to hit at least thirty home runs and steal at least thirty bases. Spending the season in the Midwest League and California League, the twenty-three year-old totaled 31 home runs, 40 total bases (he was caught just 5 times) and posted an OPS of .933 while striking out 148 times in 486 at bats. Desme has netted positive reviews from scouts for his work ethic, quiet demeanor and power, receiving red pen only for his trouble with strikeouts and the few holes in his swing. Although Desme stole 40 bases, most scouts are in a consensus that his speed will just be above-average at the MLB level--maybe 20 stolen bases over a full season--and his baserunning instincts and first-to-third speed are what swiped 40 bases.

A shortstop and centerfielder in college at San Diego State and then California Polytech, Desme has always shown great bat speed. The young slugger could certainly hit 20-25 homeruns in the MLB annually-- if all goes according to plan development-wise. His bat control is solid, but lags considerably behind his bat speed and will have to improve if he wants to hit near .280 and strike out less than 25% of the time in the MLB. His defense is above average, and although he profiles best in left field, he's very capable of playing center and has the abilities to be a backup at second or third base in the MLB. With another year's worth of healing time for his labrum and wrist, Desme could certainly improve upon his impressive 2009 numbers and will eventually find himself playing at least semi-regularly in the MLB. He's already proven that he can handle the top young pitchers in the minors with his gaudy AFL performance, so with a few more years of seasoning, Desme could--perhaps--be a legitimate 20-20 threat and solid outfielder in the MLB. His stolen base numbers will be a bit behind, but his MLB play and stats could be a lot like Eric Byrnes'.

Although AFL numbers can often be misleading, with past MVP's and league standouts being Minor League burnouts like Eric Duncan and Chris Shelton, some of the best young players have used the AFL to make a name for themselves-- players like the 2008 MVP Tommy Hanson, and 2008 draft pick Gordon Beckham. Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun and Yunel Escobar were other young standout batters that have previously lit up the AFL.

Other 2009 AFL standouts were Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, White Sox third baseman Brent Morel, Yankees third baseman Brandon Laird, Reds outfielder Chris Heisey, Nationals pitchers Drew Storen and Stephen Strasburg, and Pirates outfielder Jose Tabata. Strasburg led the league in wins with 4, and outside of one ERA-inflating shelling, dominated the AFL. Ignoring his second appearance, Strasburg struck out 19 in 16.1 innings and gave up just two runs in that four-game span. Storen was tied for the league lead in ERA (.66) and struck out 13 and went a perfect 4/4 in save opportunities in 13 innings of work. The youngest player of the AFL leaders, Starlin Castro, flashed a slick glove at short and was third in stolen bases (9) and sixth in batting average (.376). White Sox prospect, Brent Morel, also flashed a nice glove, playing his sparkling defense while leading the league in batting average (.435) over 62 at bats. The biggest surprise of the above players was Yankees third base prospect, Brandon Laird--younger brother of Gerald Laird. The young third baseman was tied for second place in home runs and received a handful of votes for the Joe Black MVP Award.