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Neil Solondz's Prospect Spotlight: Shaffer, Honeywell, and the 2015 MiLB Award winners

Richie Shaffer looks grumpy, but he normally isn't
Richie Shaffer looks grumpy, but he normally isn't
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Neil Solondz continues his excellent work interviewing the Rays prospects in September with two great episodes in his Prostpect Spotlight series.

The first shines a light on two names we can anticipate hearing a lot of in the near future: Renaissance prospect Richie Shaffer -- next year's possible starting first baseman (I said it!) -- and most entertaining prospect in the game Brent Honeywell. He shared pitch grips for his screwball and curveball, and discusses his training regimen.

Then a few players not so frequently discussed got a bump from Neil's series in a video posted yesterday: Charlotte MVP Jake Faria, Durham MVP Taylor Motter and Defensive POY Braxton Lee.

The full list of award winners for 2015:

  • Minor League Player of the Year: INF Richie Shaffer
  • Minor League Pitcher of the Year: LHP Blake Snell
  • Team MVP: UTIL Taylor Motter (Triple-A Durham); OF Tyler Goeddel (Double-A Montgomery); RHP Jacob Faria (Class A Advanced Charlotte); 1B Casey Gillaspie (Class A Bowling Green); INF Jake Cronenworth (Class A short season Hudson Valley); OF Zacrey Law (Rookie-level Princeton); OF Oscar Rojas (Gulf Coast League Rays); OF Jesus Sanchez (Dominican Summer League Rays); C Rene Pinto (Venezuelan Summer League Rays)
  • Baserunner of the Year: OF Joey Rickard (Charlotte, Montgomery and Durham)
  • Reliever of the Year: RHP Brad Schreiber (Charlotte and Montgomery)
  • Defensive Player of the Year: OF Braxton Lee (Charlotte)
  • Erik Walker Community Champion: RHP Mark Sappington