Rockies announce Award winners

April 1st, 2019

DENVER, Colo. – The Colorado Rockies announced today that right-handed pitcher Peter Lambert has been named the 2018 Doug Million Minor League Player of the Year. Additionally, Short-Season Boise Supervisor of Development Fred Ocasio has been named the recipient of the fifth annual P.J. Carey Player Development Award.

Lambert, 20, went a combined 10-7 with a 3.28 ERA (148.0 IP, 54 ER) with 27 walks and 106 strikeouts in a career-high tying 26 starts (also: 2016-17) between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque, setting new career highs in innings pitched (148.0) and wins (10). He was named a Mid-Season All-Star with Hartford and earned Eastern League Player of the Month honors for June 2018, after going 5-0 with a 1.16 ERA (38.2 IP, 5 ER).

Ocasio enters his 23rd year with the Rockies organization, his first as the supervisor of development for Short-Season Boise. He spent the previous four seasons as the manager of High-A Lancaster/Modesto and worked two seasons as the manager of Low-A Asheville. In 2018, he led Lancaster to their seventh consecutive playoff berth (second as a Rockies affiliate), the longest active streak in the Minor Leagues. Prior to his managerial and coaching careers, Ocasio played for the Rockies organization from 1994-95 at Low-A Asheville. A graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in education, Fred and his wife, Alba, have four sons, Leonardo, Angel, Lucas and Liam.

The Doug Million Award has been awarded annually to the most outstanding Minor League player in the Rockies system since 1992. In 1998, the award was named after Doug Million, the Rockies’ first round draft pick in the 1994 First-Year Player Draft who passed away tragically in 1997 from a severe asthma attack. Past winners include Todd Helton (1997), Brad Hawpe (2002), Jeff Francis (2004), Antonio Senzatela (2015) and Ryan McMahon (2017).

The P.J. Carey Player Development Award is given to a top player development staff member in the Rockies organization in honor of the beloved longtime Rockies coach, who passed away in 2012. Carey spent 13 of his 22-season Minor League managing career at the helm of the Rockies’ Rookie and Single-A teams and was named Manager of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2005. He also served as the Rockies bullpen coach in 1997.