Tyler Moore: MiLBY Award Winner

The hits keep coming for Tyler Moore.

Yesterday, the 23-year-old added another award to the 2010 shelf with the fan-voted MiLB.com Class A Advanced Hitter of the Year, just weeks after winning the Carolina League MVP with a torrid streak from July 14 on that saw him raise his batting average from .191 to .271 and hit 21 of his 31 HRs and drive in 64 of his 111 RBIs. During the streak, Moore was named Carolina League Batter of the Week four times in six weeks.

Moore’s season was a perfect case of how one minor adjustment can make all the difference. Simply put, Moore stopped from always falling behind 0-2 and 1-2 and started consistently getting ahead 2-0 and 2-1. His strikeout rates and walk rates were actually fairly consistent month-to-month all season long, but that small change made all the difference.

Going into 2011, Moore will have a bit of a target on his back. The Natmosphere has been awakened to his presence and the expectations have been raised — he placed second on the 2010 DC-Internet Baseball Writers Association’s “Minor League Player of the Year” award (full disclosure: he did not receive my vote because I took the descriptor of “Minor league player most destined for big league success” (italics added) literally and seriously; I voted for him in the MiLB.com poll) as well as the organization’s minor-league batter of the year award.

Moore will likely start the 2011 season as the Harrisburg Senators’ starting first baseman. As the 2010 season came to a close, pitchers were beginning to pitch him soft-and-inside to negate his power but one has to wonder if the AA pitchers will pitch him straight up until such an adjustment proves necessary (i.e. they will decide that they can get him out just as they can any other batter). I believe he’ll pound such an approach and what remains to be seen is how he’ll adjust to when they change their gameplan.

But congratulations to Tyler nevertheless. It was a hell of a season to watch.