Paul White

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY Sports has named a Minor League Player of the Year since 1988. Past winners include Josh Hamilton, Josh Beckett, Jose Reyes and Prince Fielder.

Fans get to help vote for this year's winner. Members of USA TODAY Sports' baseball staff, the group that whittled a strong field down to five finalists, get one vote and online fan balloting counts as two votes.

Voting closes Aug. 23, with the winner announced in early September.

The year's finalists (statistics through Sunday):

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3B Kris Bryant, Cubs: He has been running a back-and-forth battle all summer with Joey Gallo for the minor league home run lead (they'll both top 40), but Bryant's 1.118 on-base-plus-slugging (OPS) clearly is tops, as are his 301 total bases. At 22, the third baseman has handled the midseason promotion from Class AA to AAA, keeping his batting average above .300 and OPS above 1.000 for (Des Moines) Iowa. The bigger suspense revolves around the clamor in Chicago for one more promotion.

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3B Joey Gallo, Rangers: Look out, Bryce Harper. Here comes the next impact bat from Las Vegas. Nothing changed in the third baseman's power output after a midseason promotion to Class AA — with a slight interruption for a massive display at the All-Star Futures Game. Gallo, 20, is on the verge of his second consecutive 40-homer season and a third year with an OPS above 1.000, but his biggest step forward is a huge increase in his walk rate to balance a high strikeout rate that previously was seen as a detriment to his progress

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RHP Tyler Glasnow, Pirates: Pitching most of the season short of his 21st birthday, the 6-7 right-hander has been the most unhittable starter in the minors. Pitching at high Class A Bradenton (Fla.), Glasnow has allowed 64 hits in 113 1/3 innings, a rate of 5.1 hits per nine innings that's the best at any level. His 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings ranks in the top three among minor league starters.

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1B Matt Olson, Athletics: Of course an Oakland prospect leads the minors in walks. But the big (6-4, 236 pounds) first baseman is doing plenty more. His 108 walks combined with 124 strikeouts shows strong plate discipline for a 20-year-old playing at high Class A. His 35 homers would get more notice in a lot of seasons, but combine that with his .401 on-base percentage and it's even more noteworthy.

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LHP Henry Owens, Red Sox: While Boston shuttles pitchers back and forth from the minors, the 6-6 lefty made the move up to Class AAA less than a month after his 22nd birthday. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his first AAA start after going 14-4 at Class AA New Britain (Conn.) with a 2.60 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 121 innings. Overall, he's at 147 strikeouts in 138 2/3 innings, with 105 hits allowed.