Nelson named PCL pitcher of the year

SAN DIEGO -- In an acknowledgement of his early-season dominance for Triple-A Nashville, Jimmy Nelson was named Pacific Coast League pitcher of the year Wednesday despite the fact he's been in the big leagues since before the All-Star break.

Nelson, 25, was the second Brewers farmhand in as many seasons to win the award, after Johnny Hellweg won last year.

"It's an honor," Nelson said. "It's pretty cool that the Brewers have gotten it the last couple years. It shows that we have some guys developing in our system.

"We had a few guys on that team that did well -- me, [Mike] Fiers did well and [Brad] Mills was dealing, too. It was a good staff and we all kind of pushed each other a little bit. Kind of like we do here."

In 17 outings for Nashville, Nelson was 10-2 with a 1.46 ERA. He struck out 114 batters with only 32 walks in 111 innings.

At the time of his July 11 promotion to the Brewers, Nelson led all of Minor League Baseball in ERA and opponents' batting average (.179), ranked third in strikeouts, and was tied for the PCL lead in victories.

Nelson was a near unanimous choice for the pitcher of the year honor in voting by field managers and representatives from the media in each city across the league. The only other player to receive a vote for the award was Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks.