INDIANS ANNOUNCE MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER
AND PITCHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
CA/1B RYAN GARKO Named Minor League Player of the Year;
RHP ADAM MILLER Receives Pitcher of the Year
CLEVELAND, OH—The Cleveland Indians today announced that they have named
CA/1B RYANGARKO
as the organization’s Lou Boudreau Award winner for the Minor League Player of the Year, and RHPADAM MILLER
the Bob Feller Award winner for the Tribe’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year.Garko, 23, in just his second season of professional baseball, had a spectacular season as he batted a
combined .330(142-430) with 33 doubles, a triple, 22 home runs and 100RBI between A Kinston, AA Akron
and AAA Buffalo to earn the 2004 Lou Boudreau Award. He ranked among all Indians minor leaguers in
several offensive categories as he was 3
rd in average (.330), 3rd in home runs (22), 3rd in RBI (100), and 5th inhits (142).
Garko was named to both the Carolina League Regular and Post-Season All-Star Teams, was named
Cleveland’s Minor League Player of the Year by
USA Today and was a 2nd team member of the Minor LeagueBaseball All-Star Team by
Baseball America. His numbers improved as the season progressed, batting .328(78-238) with 17 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs and 58 RBI in 65 games at A Kinston before being promoted
to AA Akron. While at AA Akron, he hit .331(57-172) with 15 doubles, 6 home runs and 38 RBI in 43 games
with the Aeros before appearing in 5 games at AAA Buffalo batting .350(7-20) with 4 RBI. Garko contributed
to the Bisons International League championship run as he belted 2 home runs and drove in 4 runs in 9 playoff
games.
Miller, who will turn 20 on November 26, had a phenomenal season in 2004, going 10-6 with a 2.95
ERA in 27 starts (134.1IP, 108H, 44ER, 40BB, 152K) between Lake County and Kinston to earn the 2004 Bob
Feller Award winner. He started his 2004 season at Lake County going 7-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 19 starts
(91.0IP, 79H, 34ER, 106K) before earning a promotion to Kinston where he went 3-2 with a 2.08 ERA in 8
starts with the Indians (43.1IP, 29H, 10ER, 46K). Over his 8 starts with Kinston, he allowed 2 earned runs or
less in each of the starts.
Miller also helped Kinston win the Carolina League title, as he did not allow a run while winning both
of his playoff starts covering 12.1 innings (7H, 14K). On the year, Miller struck out 152 batters, which led the
entire Indians minor league farm system for an average of 10.2 strikeouts per 9.0IP. Meanwhile, his 10 wins
were T-5
th most in the system & his 2.95 ERA was the 5th lowest ERA. Miller was Cleveland’s “SandwichPick” between the 1
st & 2nd rounds of the 2003 draft out of McKinney (TX) High School (31st overall).“Ryan had a sensational year and continued to improve while moving up three levels during his first full
professional season. He responded to each challenge he was presented with and has the potential with his
tremendous ability and work ethic to impact the Major League club in the near future. We are very excited
about his continued maturation as a hitter, where he has the potential to hit for both power and average,” said
Indians Director of Player Development
JOHN FARRELL. “Adam had an outstanding season and got strongeras the season transpired. Adam is a pitcher that pounds the strike zone and has a fastball that can overpower
hitters. In just his second season of professional ball at 19 years of age he has made tremendous strides, we are
very excited about his future.”
The Indians minor league system had another spectacular year in 2004, as the six (6) minor league clubs
posted a combined record of 380-324 (.540). The 380 wins were the 6
th most in all of Minor League baseballand the .540 winnings percentage was 5
th best among all 30 Major League organizations. In addition, theIndians organization had four teams (AAA Buffalo, A Kinston, A Mahoning Valley & the Dominican Summer
League) win their respective league championship, becoming the first organization since the 1990 Los Angeles
Dodgers to have four minor league champions in one season.