WTHB July Astros Minor League Players of the Month

With no further ado, I present you with WTHB's July Players of the Month ...

A.J. Reed - May 2015
Photo by Jayne Hansen

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

1B A.J. Reed (Lancaster/Corpus Christi)
Reed's batting average fell off 80 points from last month and he still blew almost everyone out of the water. Plus he had one of the highest on-base percentages in the organization for the month. And his slugging percentage DID blow everyone out of the water, eclipsing the next highest mark by over a hundred points. After all was said and done, Reed ended the month of July with a .354/.446/.717 batting line in 27 games. He collected five doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 29 RBI, with 18 walks to 25 strikeouts. Reed was also the WTHB player of the month for June.

There were a number of incredible performances in July that deserve special recognition. Any one of these could have won player of the month had they not been up against Reed.

OF Drew Ferguson, 2015 19th round draft pick, put up a .359/.429/.533 batting line with seven doubles, three home runs and 14 RBI in 25 games between Tri-City and Quad Cities.

1B/3B Matt Duffy (Fresno) impressed me with his .337/.424/.564 line in 26 games as he collected eight doubles, five triples and 19 RBI. But I was even more impressed with his 14 walks to 11 strikeouts for the month.

OF Ronnie Mitchell (Lancaster) had a terrific month as well, hitting .321/.339/.538 with six doubles, four triples, three home runs and 23 RBI in 26 games.

3B Colin Moran (Corpus Christi) finished the month with a .349/.407/.538 line in 27 games with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs and 22 RBI.

3B Nick Tanielu (Quad Cities) put up a .340/.378/.510 line in 27 games, collecting 11 doubles, two home runs and 24 RBI.

1B/3B Tyler White (Fresno) also collected 11 doubles in July, along with three home runs and 21 RBI in 23 games. He hit .385/.477/.604 with 16 walks to 15 strikeouts.

1B/C Randy Vasquez (DSL) had a .395/.443/.570 batting line with six doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI in 23 games in July.

Other noteworthy performances included Fresno's Andrew Aplin (.333/.437/.367 in 18 games) and Joe Sclafani (.358/.386/.415 in 17 games); Tri-City's Pat Porter (.321/.386/.538 in 22 games) and Bobby Wernes (.341/.430/.365 in 24 games); Greeneville's Ford Stainback (.378/.465/.419 in 20 games); and the DSL's Edgar Lorenzo (.383/.464/.567 in 17 games) and Carlos Machado (.407/.471/.441 in 20 games).

Hector Roa (.574 for Greeneville - just promoted to Tri-City), Derek Fisher (.549 for Lancaster) and Jon Kemmer (.529 for Corpus Christi) had some very healthy slugging percentages. And Antonio Nunez's .453 on-base percentage in 19 games for Tri-City was impressive as well.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH

RHP David Paulino (Quad Cities/Lancaster)
Paulino BARELY eked out this win over our second place finisher, but ultimately, he had pitched a couple more innings and held hitters to a slightly better batting line. Paulino ended the month of July with a 3-1 record, 1.21 ERA and 0.843 WHIP in five starts. He issued eight free passes while striking out 32 in 29.2 innings, and held batters to a .167/.234/.206 line.

RHP Elieser Hernandez definitely deserves special recognition for his work for Tri-City and Quad Cities. In six games (four starts), he was 1-1 with a 1.32 ERA and a 0.915 WHIP. He walked five and struck out 34 in 27.1 innings.

Honorable mentions go to RHP Keegan Yuhl (Lancaster); RHP Ryan Deemes (Greeneville - since promoted to Tri-City); LHP Junior Garcia (Greeneville/Tri-City); RHP Erasmo Pinales (Greeneville); RHP Moreno Polanco (GCL/Greeneville); RHP Michel Martinez (DSL); RHP Yoanys Quiala (DSL); and RHP Jose Ramos (DSL).

RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH

RHP Jandel Gustave (Corpus Christi)

This was REALLY difficult this month. I ended up weighting several factors, including innings pitched, appearances, walks and batting average, but honestly, I could have gone with pretty much any of the honorable mentions. Gustave was 1-0 with three saves in July and had a 0.00 ERA and a 0.811 WHIP in seven games (12.1IP). He walked four batters and struck out 13 while holding them to a .146/.222/.171 batting line.

Honorable mention goes to RHP Jorge Alcala (DSL); RHP Jacob Dorris (Greeneville/Tri-City); RHP Angel Heredia (Quad Cities); RHP James Hoyt (Fresno): RHP Lachlan Madden (GCL/Greeneville); RHP Juan Minaya (Corpus Christi); LHP Cristhopher Santamaria (Greeneville); and RHP Ryan Thompson (Quad Cities).

Jandel Gustave - May 2015

Photo by Jayne Hansen

CATCHER OF THE MONTH

Jamie Ritchie (Quad Cities/Lancaster)
Ritchie has been getting behind the dish with much more frequency than he did earlier this year and his defensive numbers are starting to reflect that. Offensively, he has always had strong on-base skills and that hasn't changed. In July, he hit .272/.402/.419 in 25 games (20 at catcher) with six doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. He drew 18 walks and struck out 14 times and also stole three bags.

Honorable mention goes to Alfredo Gonzalez (Corpus Christi) and Oscar Campos (DSL). (Note: Campos had terrific offensive numbers, but only played 13 of 23 games behind the plate.)

Jamie Ritchie - July 2014
Photo by Jayne Hansen

April Players of the Month:
SS Carlos Correa
RHP Chris Devenski
RHP Ryan Thompson
C Tyler Heineman

May Players of the Month:
OF Derek Fisher
RHP Chris Devenski
RHP Travis Ballew
C Jacob Nottingham

June Players of the Month

1B A.J. Reed

RHP Francis Martes

RHP Angel Heredia

C Alfredo Gonzales