The American Premier League is fairly young, opening in 1996 and now entering the 2010 season. There are currently 16 teams, divided between two subleagues. I took over an expansion team in 2005. As it happens, the top hitter and pitcher represent an agonizing choice I faced in my first draft. As it turns out, though, I couldn't have gone wrong either way!
As of opening day, 2010...
Top hitter: Luis Castro, catcher, Buffalo Sabres
Castro was my first ever draft pick as GM of the Sabres, drafted 2nd overall in 2005 out of Cal State-Monterey Bay. He combines low leadership with low loyalty, very high greed, and low work ethic, plus he's dumb as a pile of bricks, but has enough raw talent to make it work. I'm waiting for the day that I get an inevitable email about him being a problem in the clubhouse. Despite being the Sabres' first ever draft pick, he toiled in "insignificant" popularity both nationally and locally until his breakout year last season in 2009, in which he won the first Triple Crown in APL history and led us to our first league championship. Castro's 140 RBIs last year are the new APL single season record.
Top pitcher: Bryan Flowers, Los Angeles Stars
Flowers is another young stud from the 2005 draft, taken 3rd overall by the Stars out of BYU. A South Ogden, UT, native, there was a lot of talk going into the draft that my expansion counterparts, the Salt Lake City Bees, would pick him up with their #1 pick. But they went with a highly-rated shortstop prospect, I elected to go with Castro, and he fell to the Stars. Flowers has been a dominant member of a Los Angeles squad that has had a losing record every year he's been a part of their rotation, though he did win the Outstanding Pitcher Award last year for the first time. His career ERA of 2.73 is the current career record among eligible pitchers (minimum 607 IP).
Top prospect: Joe Willis, outfielder, Salt Lake City Bees
Willis was Salt Lake City's 1st round pick in their second draft in 2006 out of high school (Fairfield, CA). He somewhat surprisingly had to repeat Rookie League, but it looks like they've been fairly aggressively promoting him since. Maybe too aggressively, given his struggles in Triple A last year in Las Vegas. If he gets a little bit more contact and that power develops he could be a real star. The Bees are not expected to content this year so if he does start to put it together it will be interesting to see when/if they decide to bring him up.
