Leo: Clark named Clippers hitting coach

The Clippers coaching staff was announced this week and everything was, as expected, status quo with the exception of the hitting coach position. Lee May Jr. exited the organization last month leaving a vacancy that the Indians filled with an internal option.

Phil Clark, 43, joins the Clippers after serving as the Kinston Indians hitting coach last year. Clark will enter his sixth season in the Indians minor league system with stints at rookie-level and class-A.

Clark was a first round selection, 18^th overall, by the Detroit Tigers in the 1986 draft. He played parts of five Major League Seasons with Detroit, San Diego and Boston. Clark appeared in 264 big league games, batting .276 with 17 HR and 65 RBI. He finished his playing career in Japan where he was named league MVP in 1998.

Clark’s Kinston lineup batted just .234 last season in the Carolina League, but his 2010 Lake County squad claimed the Midwest League Championship.

For more on the 2012 Clippers coaching staff check out the team press release or the Columbus Dispatch article by Jim Massie.

In other news…

The Indians announced Jason Kipnis and Chen-Chang Lee as the organization’s 2011 minor leaguers of the year.

Kipnis won the Lou Boudreau Award (Player of the Year) for the second consecutive season, joining Jim Thome (’90 & ’93) and Victor Martinez (’01 & ’02) as the only two-time winners in franchise history. Kipnis, 24, played 92 games for the Clippers, batting .280 with 16 doubles, 9 triples, and 55 RBI. He homered in the Triple-A All-Star Game and the MLB Futures Game in July. Kipnis led the International league in triples and ranked second in runs scored (55) at the time of his July 22^nd promotion to Cleveland. He was named to the post-season IL All-Star squad and the Baseball America Triple-A All-Star Team. He is slated to be the Indians everyday second baseman going forward.

Lou Boudreau Award Winners
1990 – Jim Thome
1991 – Manny Ramirez
1992 – Ken Ramos
1993 – Jim Thome
1994 – David Bell
1995 – Richie Sexson
1996 – Russell Branyan
1997 – Sean Casey
1998 – Alex Ramirez
1999 – Scott Morgan
2000 – Billy Munoz
2001 – Victor Martinez
2002 – Victor Martinez
2003 – Grady Sizemore
2004 – Ryan Garko
2005 – Ryan Mulhern
2006 – Kevin Kouzmanoff
2007 – Asdrubal Cabrera
2008 – Beau Mills
2009 – Carlos Santana
2010 – Jason Kipnis
2011 – Jason Kipnis

Lee won the Bob Feller Award (Pitcher of the Year) after posted at 6-1 record with a 2.40 ERA in 44 relief appearances between Akron and Columbus. He recorded 99 K and just 23 BB in 71.1 IP. He was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in 21 games pitching for the Clippers after his June 22 promotion and recorded 1.29 ERA in four playoff appearances.  Lee was signed in September of 2008 out of Taiwan. He’ll likely get an invitation to major league spring training, but Clippers fans could again see Lee pitching out of the Columbus bullpen come April.

Bob Feller Award Winners
1990 – Charles Nagy
1991 – Mike Soper
1992 – Chad Ogea
1993 – John  Carter
1994 – Steve Kline
1995 – Danny Graves
1996 – Danny Graves
1997 – Marc Deschenes
1998 – David Riske
1999 – Robert Pugmire
2000 – Jason Stanford
2001 – Mike Bacsik
2002 – Billy Traber
2003 – Fausto Carmona
2004 – Adam Miller
2005 – Jeremy Sowers
2006 – Adam Miller
2007 – Aaron Laffey
2008 – David Huff
2009 – Hector Rondon
2010 – Alex White
2011 – Chen-Chang Lee