Alex Avila: Earning His Stripes Down On the Farm

Last years draft brought the Detroit Tigers a surplus of arms. Many of those drafted were relievers that projected to make it to the Show quickly. With the majority of the attention focused on those young arms, perhaps our fifth round selection was both overlooked and underhyped. Selected in the fifth round last year, Alex Avila—a 5′11 left-handed catcher—has flown under the radar in the media thus far. His performance, though, has been both solid and consistent.  After being drafted, he reported to Low A West Michigan, where he appeared in 58 games. Avila batted .305 with 22 RBI to finish out the year. That performance left such a positive impression, that Alex was promoted to AA Erie in his first full season this year. This season, Avila is batting .291 with 21 doubles, a triple, and eight home runs. The lefty has also knocked in 44 runs. Perhaps most impressive is his on base percentage which is .389.   As we all know...