Most Productive Farm System

In 1985 we added an award to recognize the team that dug deep and planned for the future by picking quality minor leaguers.  In the beginning (1985, 1986, etc) we were allowed to select three minor leaguers.  Many teams in the CFCL, still trying to figure out how to pick major league talent, would look at the Chicago Tribune and see who was in the Cubs minor league system.  That's no doubt  how guys like Don Schultze, Dan Rohn and Dave Owen were selected.  Not surprisingly the owners that selected those players did not win the award.

Then in 1992 we moved to Ultra and added reserve lists, 12 initially and then our current 17.  This afforded owners to really dig deep into the minor leagues and even Japan to snatch up all the young talent available.

The Most Productive Farm System Award goes to the team who ACTIVATES the most productive players from the minors during the current baseball season.  So, for example, let's look at 2009.  The Rebels won the award with Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen and Mat Latos.  The Rebels didn't select McCutchen.  They traded for him while he was still in the minors.  When McCutchen went to the show in Pittsburgh, he was part of the Rebels team and therefore the Rebels got credit for him coming from their minor league system.

It's not perfect and maybe more credit should have gone to the Ruffins, but in truth minor leaguers are traded so frequently and multiple times over it would be near impossible to track the origin of each player.

Here is the list of all the Most Productive Farm System Winners:

1985		Fred's Friars		VColeman
1986		David's Copperfields		BBonds, JGonzalez
1987		Bald Eagles		R Palmiero, J Magrane
1988		David's Copperfields		R Alomar, R Gant
1989		David's Copperfields		G Jefferies, Dw Smith, E Anthony
1990		Eric's Lambchops		D Deshields, T Ziele, S Avery
1991		Bald Eagles		W Chamberlain, A Cedeno
1992		Clark's Kents		D Nied, M Piazza
1993		Dem Rebels		J Burnitz, P Martinez, R Klesko, J Lopez
1994		David's Ruffins		C Floyd, B Hunter, JR Phillips
1995		David's Ruffins		B Pulsipher, B Barber, R Bottalico
1996		David's Ruffins		A Jones, S Rolen, B Wagner, Al Benes
1997		Dem Rebels		L Hernandez, B Keischnick, P Reese
1998		David's Ruffins		A Boone, D Gibson, A Ramirez, K Wood, M Clement, S Elarton
1999		David's Ruffins David's Copperfields		M Clement, D Gibson, O Dotel, C Hermanson, D Ward, P Bergeron, L Berkman R Belliard, B Chen, B Petrick, J Ramirez
2000		David's Copperfields		Lance Berkman, Ben Petrick, Brad Penny
2001		Matt's Hard Hats		Josh Beckett, Jimmy Rollins, Bud Smith
2002		Matt's Hard Hats David's Ruffins		Josh Beckett, Jacob Peavy, Kurt Ainsworth, Peter Bergeron Bobby Hill, Jack Cust, Sean Burroughs, Juan Cruz
2003		DoorMatts		Dontrelle Willis
2004		Ruffins		David Wright, John Buck, Todd Linden, Scott Hairston
2005		Kenndoza Line		Ryan Howard, Rickey Weeks, JD Closser, Luke Hudson
2006		David's Ruffins		Angel Guzman, Cole Hamels, Carlos Quentin, Jeremy Hermida
2007		Graging Bulls		Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Upton
2008		Candy Colored Clowns		JR Towles, Jay Bruce, Chris Perez, Blake DeWitt, Chris Volstad

2009     Dem Rebels                    Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Mat Latos
2010     Candy Colored                Buster Posey, Starlin Castro, Yonder Alonso
             Clowns
2011     Kenndoza Line                Danny Espinosa, Craig Kimbrell, Jordan Lyles, Jerry Sands
2012     Graging Bulls                  Bryce Harper