Who is the Minor League Player of the Year?

Kevin Czerwinski | Special for USA TODAY Sports

USA Today Sports has named a Minor League Player of the Year since 1988. Past winners include Kris Bryant, Paul Goldschmidt, David Price and Josh Beckett.

Fans will have a hand in selecting who gets the honor this year. Members of the USA Today Sports’ baseball staff have compiled a list of five worthy candidates. We’ll each get a vote but the fans will have a chance to make their voices heard through online balloting.

The winner will be announced in early September.

1B A.J. Reed, Astros

Stats through Aug. 22: .342, 29 homers, 109 RBI

Houston has so much of its young talent playing at the Major League level that it’s difficult to imagine several more top prospects are on the way yet we have Reed, 22. The Corpus Christi (Texas) slugger has demolished the AA Texas League with the ease he assaulted opposing pitching in the hitter friendly Class-A California League. Reed was first in the minors in RBI (109), second in homers (29) and was top-10 in batting average (.342) through Aug. 22. A September call-up for some experience during Houston’s playoff push is not out of the question though Reed is currently not on the 40-man roster.

LHP Blake Snell, Rays

Stats through Aug. 23: 13-4, 0.99 WHIP in 118 innings

Snell’s ERA through 22 appearances (20 starts) stretched over three levels was 1.51. While much of that was built on the strength of a 46-inning scoreless streak to start the season (49 overall dating back to last year), the 22-year-old has been dominant throughout. Consider that he allowed one earned run or less in 15 of his 22 appearances and that on 10 of those occasions he didn’t allow any runs. Overall, the former first-round pick (2011) was 13-4 through Aug. 23 with a 0.99 WHIP through 118 innings. He is not on the 40-man roster, either, and the Rays haven’t let him go deeper than 5 1/3 innings through six starts at Durham (N.C.) of the AAA International League so it’s not likely that he will get a call in September.

RHP Michael Fulmer, Tigers

Key stats through Aug. 23: 1.82 ERA, 8.61 SO/9

The Tigers pulled in a haul of great pitching prospects at the trading deadline and Fulmer, a former first-round pick (2011) with the Mets, may be the best of the bunch. He was 9-3 through 20 starts in the Class-A Florida State and AA Eastern Leagues but it wasn’t until he reached Binghamton (N.Y.) and Erie (Pa.), after the trade from the Mets, that he began to shine. He was leading the Eastern League in ERA (1.82), batting average against for starters (.220) and was second among starters in K/9IP with 8.61. Fulmer, 22, had the lowest ERA among all AA qualified pitchers through Aug. 23 and was one of only two qualifying pitchers at the level with a sub-2.00 ERA.

OF Adam Brett Walker, Twins

Key stats through Aug. 23: 27 homers, 97 RBI, .502 slugging

The temptation to look at Walker’s .249 batting average through 118 games and be put off is certainly there. But then you look down the Chattanooga (Tenn.) slugger’s stat line and see 27 homers, 97 RBI and nifty .502 slugging percentage. Walker, 23, is among the most productive sluggers in the minors. He has 79 homers and 300 RBI over the last three seasons and still had two weeks of AA Southern League season left to pad those numbers. While he may never hit for a high average he could be Minnesota’s version of Joey Gallo.

1B Trey Mancini, Orioles

Key stats through Aug. 22: 161 hits, .335 average

Mancini, 23, may not have the RBI numbers that Walker and Reed are putting up yet, the key word there being yet, but look at his body of work over the course of a season during which he has starred in the Class-A Carolina and Eastern Leagues. Mancini was tied for the minor league league in hits through Aug. 22 with 161. He was hitting a combined .335, including hitting .354 for Bowie (Md.) in an Eastern League stocked with strong pitching. Now, toss in the fact that he has 17 homers and 79 RBI and he’s every bit as productive as the aforementioned pair.