By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Blue Jays have thrown another arm into the mix for a bullpen job this season, selecting right-hander Zech Zinicola in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at the Winter Meetings. Zinicola could be in the running for a late-inning role with Toronto.

"He was a really good guy to take a shot at to see if we can get a back-end piece for the Major League bullpen," said Dana Brown, a special assistant to Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

Brown, who left his position as the director of scouting with the Nationals earlier this offseason to join Anthopoulos' front office, was more than a little familiar with Zinicola. The reliever was a sixth-round pick by Washington in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and Brown believes Zinicola could be on the verge of turning a corner in his career.

Brown noted that the 24-year-old Zinicola features a fastball that registers between 90-96 mph and a strong slider. Last season, Zinicola posted a 1.74 ERA in 17 games at Double-A Harrisburg in the Nationals' system before struggling with Triple-A Syracuse, where he finished with a 7.56 ERA across 26 games.

Zinicola's issues at Triple-A did not alter Brown's opinion of the pitcher.

"I think what it was, he had inconsistent command mixed in with a little bad luck," Brown said. "But stuff-wise, he's up to 96 with a plus slider. I think once he can get the command, get the ball down a little bit, I think he's going to have a chance to take off."

Overall, Zinicola finished with 47 strikeouts and 19 walks over 54 Minor League innings in 2009. He went 1-2 with a 5.33 ERA in 43 contests between his stops at Harrisburg and Syracuse.

Selecting Zinicola with the 10th pick in the Rule 5 Draft cost the Blue Jays $50,000 and the club is required to leave the pitcher on the active roster for the entire 2010 season. If Toronto decides against keeping Zinicola with the big league club, the Jays have to offer him back to the Nationals for a price of $25,000.

Beyond Zinicola, the Blue Jays also selected 22-year-old right-hander Ruben De La Rosa from the Nationals' system during the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. De La Rosa spent last season with the Gulf Coast Nationals, striking out 44 hitters over 28 innings and finishing with a 4-1 record with a 0.96 ERA and three saves in 15 games.

"De La Rosa is a guy that we had multiple looks at," Brown said. "We also had some pretty good reports from our scouts in Toronto on him also. He's got a plus curveball. His numbers are really good. He pitched at a lower level, but he's up to 93 [mph] and he's a very competitive kid, too."

ATLANTA -- Tommy Hanson has been selected as the right-handed pitcher on the 2009 Topps All-Rookie Team.

Hanson lived up to tremendous expectations while going 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 21 starts for Atlanta this past season. The 23-year-old righty spent the first two months of this season with Triple-A Gwinnett.

Hanson led all Major League rookies in ERA (2.89), strikeouts-per-nine innings (8.18), WHIP (1.18) and opponent's batting average (.225). His 116 strikeouts and 11 wins ranked second among National League rookies to Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ, who compiled his 119 strikeouts and 12 victories over 38 1/3 more innings.

Dating back to his June 7 Major League debut, Hanson's ERA ranked seventh among all NL hurlers who compiled at least 100 innings over that span.

Hanson is the first Braves player to earn the honor since Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann were both part of the 2005 Topps All-Rookie team.

Each of this year's winners will have a trophy placed on their 2010 Topps trading baseball card. The first series is scheduled to be released in January.

ATLANTA -- Tommy Hanson lived up to tremendous expectations and helped the Braves remain in the postseason picture during the final week of the regular season. Among all the rookies who introduced themselves to the Majors this year, the impressive right-hander might be primed to have the finest career.

But when the balloting results for this year's National League Rookie of the Year were announced Monday afternoon, Hanson found himself in third place, behind Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan and Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ.

Coghlan received 17 of 32 first-place votes and tallied 11 more points than Happ, who received 10 first-place votes and was the only candidate included on every ballot. While finishing a distant third, Hanson drew two first-place votes and was excluded from 15 of the 32 ballots.

Hanson may have been hurt by the fact that he spent the first two months of this season with Triple-A Gwinnett. Coghlan made his Major League debut on May 8, one month earlier than Hanson, and drew the attention of voters while hitting .388 in the 59 games that he played after July.

Recognized as the game's top right-handed prospect entering this year, Hanson waited through two months with Gwinnett and then proceeded to go 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA in the 21 starts that he made for Atlanta.

Hanson led all Major League rookies in ERA (2.89), strikeouts-per-nine innings (8.18), WHIP (1.18) and opponent's batting average (.225). The 23-year-old Hanson's 116 strikeouts and 11 wins ranked second among NL rookies to Happ, who compiled his 119 strikeouts and 12 victories over 38 1/3 more innings.

Dating back to his June 7 Major League debut, Hanson's ERA ranked seventh among all NL hurlers who compiled at least 100 innings over that span.

In other words, he lived up to the great expectations that were created in 2008, when he concluded a successful Minor League season and then proved dominant enough to become the first pitcher named the MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

"It's pretty hard to live up to expectations when everybody is expecting a shutout every time you pitch," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He lived up to it. That comes with makeup, his character and his abilities to fix things on the mound himself."

After surrendering three two-run homers in his debut against the Brewers, Hanson went 4-0 with a 0.78 ERA over his next four starts. The highlight of this span came during the final week of June, when he blanked the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Hanson limited the Yankees to four hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings on June 23 and returned to the same Turner Field mound five days later to limit the Red Sox to two hits over six scoreless innings.

Although he completed over 50 innings more than he had during any previous professional season, Hanson finished the season strong, allowing one run or fewer in four of his past six starts

Jim Ecker

JUPITER, Fla. -- You probably won't see the Yankees and Phillies pose for a group photo after the final game of the 2009 World Series, but you saw something comparable after the last game of the 2009 WWBA World Championship Monday afternoon.

The winners and losers walked to center field, posed for pictures together, made plans to socialize once they return to California and had a joint post-game meeting with the winning and losing coaches. It sounds odd, but it all made perfect sense.

The ABD Academy made the championship game of the WWBA tournament a family affair Monday when the Braves Scout Team defeated the Orange County Boxers, 7-1, at Roger Dean Stadium behind a strong pitching performance by David Longville.

The Braves Scout Team and the Orange County Boxers came up with new names for the World Championship, but the players on both clubs belong to the vaunted ABD program of California and carry the ABD banner wherever they go. This time, they met in the championship game of the 85-team tournament and had a grand time.

"This is a family, in a sense," said Jon Paino, who coached the Boxers. "We play together all summer long, we work out together. These kids are friends, on and off the field. They all play in California together, they play on the same club teams, they play high school baseball against each other. We are kind of a second family, so this was a lot of fun."

The Braves Scout Team scored four runs in the fourth inning to grab a 6-1 lead and was never headed. They strung together five straight hits by Rouric Bridgewater, Brett Harrison, Jean Ramirez, Bryce Mosier and Josh Guerra to take control. Harrison and Guerra hit doubles and Ramirez, Mosier and Guerra had RBIs.

Longville pitched five solid innings for the Braves with five strikeouts. Henry Owens, who was named the Most Valuable Pitcher in the tournament, tossed the last two frames to end the tournament.

Ironically, the most talented team in the ABD program did not make the playoffs. The ABD Bulldogs, blessed with four Aflac All-Americans and other highly regarded players, did not win their pool and did not advance. Meanwhile, their buddies who play on other ABD teams competed for the trophies.

"It's always good when you get two teams like this in the finals. We feel pretty good about it," said Mike Spiers, the director of ABD baseball who coached the Braves here.

The players who compete for the ABD Bulldogs are all high school seniors. Most of them have already committed to Division I colleges and some of them will be high draft picks next June. The players on the Braves Scout Team, by contrast, are high school juniors with a couple of sophomores thrown in. They could be next year's Bulldogs, and they gave a good account of themselves in Jupiter this past week.

Danny Camarena, who pitched a two-hit shutout for the Braves with 12 strikeouts in the semifinals, was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. He got the save in a 4-3 victory in the quarterfinals on Sunday night, then tossed a complete game in the semifinals on Monday morning. He finished with a 2-0 record in the tournament with a 0.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings. He also played the outfield and had several big hits.

"I'm very excited. I mean, I never would have thought," said Camarena, a left-hander from Bonita, Calif. "You come here, I wanted to do good. Me and my brother (Louie) talked about it, but I never really expected this."

Owens, a 6-foot-5 southpaw from Huntington Beach, Calif., pitched nine innings in the tournament without allowing a run. He struck out 13 batters and allowed only four hits to earn the award as Most Valuable Pitcher.

Camarena and Owens both went home to California with handsome trophies for their individual awards. Another teammate had the championship trophy in his mitts and wasn't letting go. A member of the ABD program won the title, but it wasn't supposed to be the Braves.

"We weren't expected to do anything, but we knew we could go far. We weren't intimidated by them seniors," said Owens, smiling broadly.

The Braves and Boxers mingled in center field after the game, savoring a big moment for the ABD program.

"We all know each other, we're all good buddies," said Owens. "But once the game starts it's all business. And once it ends, it's all cool."