Andrew Knapp, Ricardo Pinto named Paul Owens Award winners

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The Phillies had one heck of a season down on the farm, so the winners of the 2015 Paul Owens Award — the organization’s top minor-league player and pitcher — would certainly have earned it.

Catcher Andrew Knapp and right-hander Ricardo Pinto were named the recipients on Thursday.

Knapp, the Phillies' 2013 second-round pick and first college catcher taken by any team in that draft, took off and never came back down when promoted to Double A Reading on June 25. The switch-hitting 23-year-old hit .360 with 21 doubles, 11 homers, 56 RBIs and a 1.050 OPS in 55 regular-season games for the Fightin Phils.

His emergence helped Reading finish an Eastern League-best 80-61 and reach the Eastern League Championship Series, which it lost to Bowie in five games.

Knapp, the Phillies' 17th-ranked prospect by MLB.com, will play in the Arizona Fall League followed by Winter ball.

Pinto, signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent in December 2011, went 15-4 with a 2.97 ERA, 105 strikeouts and 37 walks in 24 starts between Single A Lakewood and High A Clearwater. The 20-year-old Venezuelan, a top-15 Phillies prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America, performed quietly in the shadow of a slew of upper-level pitching prospects such as Aaron Nola, Jake Thompson, Zach Eflin, Jerad Eickhoff, Alec Asher, Adam Morgan, Jesse Biddle and Ben Lively.

The award, started in 1986, is named after the late Paul Owens, who worked within the Phillies' organization for 48 years as a scout, farm director, general manager, manager and senior advisor. Last season, J.P. Crawford and Luis Garcia took home the honors.

Randolph ranking
Cornelius Randolph, the Phillies' top pick in the 2015 draft, was ranked the fifth-best prospect in the Gulf Coast League (rookies) by Baseball America on Thursday. Randolph, 18, hit .302 with a .425 OBP in 53 games for the Gulf Coast League Phillies.

Randolph will next play instructional league in Florida during October.

"Wonderful," Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan said in August of Randolph's first season. "Going to be a good, good hitter."

Agostinelli honored
Phillies international scouting director Sal Agostinelli on Thursday was named the recipient of the Dallas Green Award. Per the Phillies, the award is presented annually to an amateur or professional scout who best exemplifies the Phillies' standard for scouting while demonstrating the same loyalty, work ethic, dedication and passion as the award’s namesake.

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