A look at the candidates for the top Orioles minor league awards

In the next day or two, we will find out who will be this year's winners of two major Orioles minor league awards. In a pregame ceremony Friday night, the Orioles will present the Brooks Robinson Award to their minor league Player of the Year and the Jim Palmer Award to the Pitcher of the Year.

First baseman Trey Mancini is the heavy favorite to win the Robinson Award. Over 136 games this season between Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie, the 23-year-old from Notre Dame hit .341 with 43 doubles, six triples, 21 homers and 89 RBIs. He posted a .375 OBP, a .563 slugging percentage and a .938 OPS.

He won the Eastern League batting title and the unofficial O's minor league Triple Crown, leading all O's farmhands in average, homers and RBIs. The O's handed out a Player of the Month award five times this season and Mancini won three times. He was named one of five finalists for USA Today's minor league Player of the Year Award, which went to Tampa Bay pitcher Blake Snell.

During the Eastern League playoffs, Mancini talked about the key to keeping his bat hot just about all year long.

"When things are going well or bad, I never change my mental approach," he said. "Just take it one at-bat at a time. Look for a pitch and put a good swing on it. A lot of times you are only going to get one pitch to hit per at-bat. When you get it, you have to hit it. Especially at this (Double-A) level, guys really know what they are doing."

On his way to the league championship, Bowie manager Gary Kendall had a good seat to watch as Mancini hit .359 with 29 doubles, three triples, 13 homers and 57 RBIs in 84 Bowie games. He slugged .586 with an OPS of .981.

"He's been unbelievable," Kendall said. "Offensively, I've seen him hit a good fastball and a good breaking ball. They get him some, but overall this guy has hit everything thrown at him. And he's done it consistently, day in and day out. And he's worked very hard at first base.

"Late in the year, he just kept barreling pitches and against some good heaters and sliders. Against guys that would be a challenge at any level to hit. It is just such a professional at-bat that he takes.

"He runs hard and plays the game the right way. Just impressed not only with his production, but what he brings as a teammate. He's a very humble kid. He promotes his teammates and doesn't talk about himself. He has gotten compliments from other managers in our league that played a long time in the big leagues like Lance Parrish (of Erie). He just brings a lot to the table."

The Pitcher of the Year may be a three-man race between right-handers Terry Doyle, Oliver Drake and Mychal Givens. Others who could get consideration include lefty Chris Jones and right-hander David Hess.

Drake may be the favorite after an outstanding year as Triple-A Norfolk's closer. He went 1-2 with an ERA of 0.82 and saved 23 games in 23 chances. Over 44 innings, he allowed just 23 hits with 16 walks, 66 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.89.

A 43rd-round draft pick out of the Naval Academy in 2008, Drake overcame major shoulder surgery to make the Orioles' 40-man roster for the second time last winter. There was no guarantee Drake would return to pitch at a high level when the doctors performed an interval closure and cleaned up his labrum in August of 2012. But he made it all the way back to pitch healthy and make it to the major leagues this year.

Givens went 4-2 with a 1.73 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings for Double-A Bowie. Doyle helped lead both Bowie and Norfolk to the postseason, going a combined 16-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 158 2/3 innings. His 16 wins tied for second in all of minor league baseball. Jones went 8-8 with an ERA of 2.94 in 150 innings for Norfolk. Hess went 10-5 with a 3.64 ERA between Frederick and Bowie. He pitched to an ERA of 1.61 in his last 15 starts for the Keys and Baysox and pitched two strong postseason games for Bowie, including one in Game 4 of the Eastern League Championship Series to force a Game 5 that Bowie won to take the title.