2018 Paul Owens Award winners as top Phillies minor leaguers

Paul Owens (center) was with Phillies for half-century
(Photo: Matthew Veasey)

The Philadelphia Phillies established the annual Paul Owens Award back in 1986 to recognize the top performing player and pitcher in their minor league organization.

The award was named in honor of Owens, the 10th person selected to the franchise Wall of Fame back in 1988, the first non-player enshrined there by the team.

Owens spent nearly a half-century with the organization from 1955 through his death in 2003 as a minor league player and coach, scout, farm director, manager, general manager, and executive.

The GM and architect of the 1980 World Series championship team, Owens also managed the club during two stints which included guiding the 1983 club to the National League pennant.

The winners of the 2018 Paul Owens Award were announced today. The pitching honors went to David Parkinson, while the hitter honors were bestowed upon Austin Listi.

Parkinson is a 22-year-old left-hander who was the Phillies selection in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of the University of Mississippi. A 6-2, 210lb native of Henrico, Virginia, Parkinson went 11-1 across 22 games, 21 of them starts, in a season spent with stints at both High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. He allowed just 91 hits over 124.1 innings with a 141/35 K:BB ratio.

Listi also split his season between Clearwater and Reading. The 6-0, 218lb 24-year-old was the club’s 17th round MLB Draft choice a year ago. A native of Huffman, Texas, Listi slashed .312/.412/.502 with 18 homers, 25 doubles, 84 RBI, and 63 runs scored this year. A first baseman and outfielder on defense, Listi actually appeared in more games as a DH than at any defensive position.

Parkinson is currently ranked at #19 on the MLB.com list of top Phillies prospects. He ranked 18th on our own Phillies Nation top 20 Phillies prospects list published on August 8.

The well-respected prospect evaluator John Sickels of Minor League Ball commented in his August 22 review of the Phillies farm system that “Parkinson has gone from a Grade C into the B range somewhere with a brilliant season in A-Ball (1.43, 130/32 K/BB).”

Previous Paul Owens Award recipients include Wall of Famers Mike Lieberthal (1992) and Pat Burrell (1999). Also honored previously were 2008 World Series heroes Jimmy Rollins (1997), Ryan Madson and Chase Utley (both 2002), Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard (both 2003), and Howard again in 2004.

Current Phillies players to take home the honors include Maikel Franco (2013), J.P. Crawford (2014), Andrew Knapp (2015), Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins (both 2016), and Scott Kingery (2017).

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies name 2018 Paul Owens award recipients"