Minor League Players of the Month: July

Rochester (AAA):

Juan Morillo: 11 G, 15.3 IP, 21 K, 9 BB, 4.11 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 3.40 FIP, 56.8 GB%
Morillo has won this award for three months running now. He continues to rack up the strikeouts, but as was the case last month, his win is more a reflection of the unimpressive pitching performances put together by the Rochester pitching staff.


Justin Huber: .286/.381/.536, 9 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 1/1 SB, 11 BB, 24 K in 97 PA
Huber improved upon all three components of his slash line compared to June, when he was also Rochester's top hitter. Huber has struggled in his limited major league opportunities, but he is ready should the Twins ever need a right-handed first baseman.

New Britain:

Ryan Mullins: 4 G, 23.3 IP, 25 K, 3 BB, 3.47 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 1.91 FIP, 45.2 GB%
Mullins cut down on his walks in July which allowed him to win his first pitcher of the month award. The lefty again struck out around 1 batter per inning and he leads the Eastern League with 100 strikeouts on the season.

Erik Lis: .305/.377/.552, 5 2B, 0 3B, 7 HR, 1/1 SB, 12 BB, 20 K in 122 PA
Lis was clearly the best hitter for the Rock Cats in July. He hit more home runs (7) in July than he did in the first three months of the season combined (6), including 4 homers in 4 games in a series against the Binghamton Mets.

Fort Myers:

Michael McCardell: 3 G, 21 IP, 21 K, 1 BB, 2.57 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 1.68 FIP, 42.6 GB%
McCardell was promoted to New Britain mid-month, but his three 7 inning starts for the Miracle were so good that he was still the best pitcher for Fort Myers. He continued his strong performance, minus a misleading ERA, after his promotion to New Britain, but was placed on the DL near the end of the month.

Joe Benson: .277/.434/.369, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4/8 SB, 16 BB, 15 K in 85 PA
After missing almost two months with an injury, Benson came back on July 5th and continued his best season by far as a pro. He has posted an OPS over .800 in every month and shown much improved plate discipline, including walking in 18.8% of his plate appearances in July.

Beloit:

Andrew Thompson: .333/.403/.449, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3/3 SB, 8 BB, 10 K in 78 PA
Thompson had a great month in July and as a middle infielder could have an impact in a system lacking at that position. However, at 22 he's not young for the league and has been pretty unimpressive overall, though his BB:K ratio has been solid all season long.

Liam Hendriks: 4 G, 24.3 IP, 23 K, 4 BB, 3.33 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 2.71 FIP, 57.0 GB%
The 20 year old Hendriks has been impressive in his first taste of full season ball, with a lot of groundballs and just around 1 strikeout per inning.

Elizabethton:

Josmil Pinto: .368/.414/.671, 7 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 0/0 SB, 7 BB, 12 K in 87 PA
Pinto had the highest OPS (1.085) in July of any hitter in the Twins' system. He benefited from a high BABIP, but still had 13 extra base hits and a .303 ISO.

Tom Stuifbergen: 5 G, 30.7 IP, 24 K, 4 BB, 3.52 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 2.55 FIP, 69.0 GB%
Kyle Carr also had a great month before being promoted, but Stuifbergen had a much greater impact with almost twice as many innings pitched. He didn't have the best strikeout rate (7.04 K/9), but he didn't walk many (1.17 BB/9) and induced ground balls at almost a 70% clip.

GCL:

Andrei Lobanov: 8 G, 13 IP, 19 K, 0 BB, 1.38 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 1.69 FIP, 71.9 GB%
The numbers say it all for Lobanov. He had about the best month possible for a pitcher: lots of strikeouts and groundballs with literally no walks.

Wang-Wei Lin: .333/.455/.556, 2 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0/0 SB, 2 BB, 1 K in 11 PA
The GCL Twins struggled offensively this month, so I had no choice but to give the award to Lin despite his 11 plate appearances. No other hitter even had an OPS of .700 in the month of July.