Our Fortieth spot went to the reliever who may have had the best year of any reliever in the organization, Andrew Albers. Albers collected 38 of 171 votes (22%), with Dakota Watts second (29), Lance Ray third (25), Angel Mata fourth (23) and Jairo Perez fifth with 16 votes.
The four players receiving the least votes will be dropped from the next round, Daniel Santana (9), Danny Ortiz (7), Ryan O'Rourke (7) and Brett Jacobson (5). Added will be Kane Holbrooks, Bruce Pugh, Jorge Polanco, Steve Hirschfeld and Tim Shibuya. Holbrooks was again very good early in the season before struggling with an injury much of the year. Pugh was very good at Ft. Myers and equally ineffective when he moved up to AA. Polanco is a very young shortstop who must learn to hit, however, is gifted with a special glove. Hirschfeld was one of the better starters in the Eastern League for much of the year. Tim Shibuya was a 2011 23rd round pick who was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year.
This next round will remain open through Saturday afternoon. Please leave comments of who you want added now that we are trying to maximize the number of players exposed to our voters.