Former SRU standout wins MVP in minors

In 2009, not many people would have predicted that a 23rd round draft pick from Slippery Rock University would go on to win the Texas League Most Valuable Player award two seasons later.

Matt Adams was drafted in the 23rd round by the St. Louis Cardinals organization, and before Adams was drafted he went to Slippery Rock University.

You guessed it. Adams was recently voted the Texas League Most Valuable Player for the 2011 season.

Adams plays for the Springfield Cardinals, which is the Double-A affiliate to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Texas League is one of three leagues that have Double-A affiliates for Major League Baseball, along with the Southern League and California League.

With the persona of coming out of nowhere, Adams did the same in the voting for the MVP.

One of the top runners for the MVP was 19-year-old center fielder Mike Trout from the Arkansas Travelers, the Double-A affiliate for the Los Angeles Angels, because Trout was called up to the majors on several occasions this season.

But Adams beat Trout and the other candidates out for the award and said that it was a great honor to receive the award.

"This is a huge honor when you look at all of the talented prospects who were in the running with me," Adams said.

When Adams was at SRU, he started his freshman season as a catcher and then moved to the first base position in his second season.

He said that he learned to keep a neutral outlook at SRU because of the quick turnaround from each game.

"I learned that I had to keep an even keel mindset going into every game," Adams said. "I had to learn not to get too high or too low about what happened from game to game and that helped me to keep my focus."

Adams has the stats to back up receiving the Texas League MVP as he leads the league with 99 runs batted in and has 31 homeruns, which is second in the league.

His batting average ranks fifth in the Texas League at .304 and his 79 runs is sixth in the league.

An approach at looking for a gap to gap style of playing helped Adams to improve his game and keep from getting too pole happy.

Motivation was another key in driving Adams toward his success so far in his career.

"I had to prove myself when I got drafted because people were saying that I wasn't going to be able to hang with the big time Division-I athletes," Adams said.

As a 22-year-old, Adams has the possibility of a long major league career in front of him and has aspirations to make it to the majors and stay there as long as he can.

"I'm looking to keep improving my game and make it to the majors and stay there to have a long career," Adams said.