Sept. 25, 2006
Former Mizzou baseball standouts Mark Alexander and Cody Ehlers each have been earned postseason awards for their performances this past year in Minor League Baseball.
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced last week that former Mizzou pitcher Mark Alexander has been named as the organization's 2006 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year, according to Dodgers Vice President of Scouting and Player Development Roy Smith. He was honored Sunday in a pregame ceremony, prior to the Dodgers' final regular-season home game of the year against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Alexander set a new Missouri school record by appearing in 35 games for Mizzou in 2004. He had a 4-0 record and had 10 saves, which was second most in a season in MU history. He was a Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention selection that season.
Alexander, who was signed by Dodgers scout Mitch Webster in the 20th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, just completed his third minor league season in the Dodgers' farm system. The right-handed reliever spent the majority of the season with the Double-A Jacksonville Suns, where he posted a 3-2 record with 26 saves while compiling an impressive 0.96 ERA. He spent July 17-Aug 20 playing with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s where he went 2-1 with one save in 14.1 innings pitched. His 27 saves this season led all Dodger Minor Leaguers for a second consecutive season and tied him for second in the Southern League (26).
His most notable month of the 2006 season came in June when he made 10 appearances, tossing 10 shutout innings and surrendering only four hits, while earning eight saves and fanning 16 of the 33 batters he faced.
The Missouri resident strung together 25 2/3 consecutive shutout innings between May 21 and Sept. 1 for the Jacksonville Suns. During that span, he made 20 relief appearances and collected 17 saves. The 2006 Southern League All-Star was honored as the Minor League Baseball Southern League Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 22-28, when he tossed 4 2/3 shutout innings in four appearances while collecting four saves.
Former Mizzou first baseman and current member of the Tampa Yankees Cody Ehlers was named to the Florida State League's postseason All-Star team and was voted the 2006 FSL Most Valuable Player in a voting process involving field managers, official scorers and sportswriters representing all 12 teams.
Ehlers lead Mizzou in nearly every offensive category in 2004, including batting average (.364), home runs (18) and RBI (71). He was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Tournament as a senior at MU.
Ehlers has been the FSL's most dominating run producer all season, leading the league with 103 RBIs, almost 20 more than the nearest competitor. The Yankees' first baseman also leads the league with 35 doubles, is fourth in hits (142) and compiled 18 home runs while batting .298.