Players of the Month: May - You make the call (the Brewers just did)

[CheezWizHed]

What do you think? Who deserves the awards for May?

 

Wisconsin:

Pitcher: Tyler Thornberg has been dominant in May (0.51 ERA and 11BB/30K in 35 innings with a WHIP of 1.09). He has to be promoted soon, right, Mr. Nichols?

Batter: Michael Walker for two months in a row, although he slowed down a bit and was neck and neck with Chris Dennis (fresh from A+), but still hit 292/400/491/891 (nice OBP numbers there).

 

Brevard:

Pitcher: Last month, I picked Bucci over Heckathorn and thought it would be an anomaly going forward. Bucci is looking like the real thing and might quickly find himself the top pitching prospect in our system (although the draft may change that also). So congrats to Nicholas Bucci for his improving on an impressive April with 2.25 ERA and 9BB/27K in 32 IP with a WHIP of 1.13. Props to Santo Manzanillo for a nice May also.

Batter: Kind of a surprising fight this month. Khris Davis did well, Hunter Morris looked great (inc 4 games at AA), Shawn Zarraga with an 852 OPS at catcher, but my winner is: Brock Kjeldgaard. That final week pulling in big for him, giving him a line of : 261/369/568/937 for May

 

Huntsville:

Pitcher: Cody Michael Payne Scarpetta: Nice bounce back month for Cody: 2.62ERA, with 15BB/29K in 34.1 innings and a WHIP of 1.25

Batter: Its tempting to put Huntsville's favorite son Hunter Morris here, as he has lit the world on fire there, but with only 4 games in May in Huntsville... Anderson De La Rosa is doing the same with a few more games (1.032 OPS in 12 games), but I think I have to stick with Little Pine again this month and award to Erik Komatsu for his 317/400/436/836 line.

 

Nashville:

Pitcher: In the cupboard is bare category... Rogers is hurt, Rivas didn't pitch well, even DiFelice proved human...So the winner is.... Sam Narron! (2.68 ERA and 11BB/29K in 37IP, 1.22 WHIP)

Batter: Tie between Mat Gamel (296/361/537/898) and George Kotteras (356/449/525/975). Kotteras hit better, but only had 1/2 the ABs.

 

Overall:

Pitcher: Complete toss-up between Thornberg and Bucci. Thornberg has better numbers, but is older and a level lower... I'm going to pick Tyler Thornberg, since he was nearly unhittable in May.

Batter: Probably could have picked 4 batters from Brevard for May before picking from any of the other levels (Kh Davis, Morris and Zarraga), so Brock Kjeldgaard wins it

[TheCrew07]

Thornburg and Davis for me.

[YoungGeezy]

Thornburg and Komatsu for me. Looking right now, Komatsu could be on his second straight offensive player of the year season. Thornburg is really only competing against Ross and Bucci as of right now, hopefully some others get hot and are able to join in the mix (Scarpeta, Heckathorn, Peralta)

[CheezWizHed]

Davis and Komatsu are out in front quite a bit for the offensive POY, but Morris and Gamel have a shot also (maybe Walker, too). Morris' numbers really surprised me this month. A very quiet 326/358/494/852, although his walk numbers aren't great. Moving to AA seems to have really motivated him.

 

Bucci and Thornberg are neck and neck. I'd like to see them side by side in Brevard for the 2nd half to see if the humidity improves Thornberg's numbers a bit. Granted, Bucci's limited walks is probably more of a contributor to his success this year than the humidity. Scarpetta started slow, but again, quietly put up nice numbers last month.

[YoungGeezy]

While on the dicussion of Pitcher of the year I though I share some results. Last night I went through who I thought were out top 15 pitching prospects (not including Rogers because of injury and he would have taken last in nearly every catogory) to rate them on the season. If they had the best number they received 15 points and if they had the worse the received 1. The critera was ERA, FIP, BAA, WHIP, K/9, BB/9, and K:BB (LOB% and BABIP I didn't use because they are unstainable, ex. Thornburg having a 90.1% LOB% is cool but it would most likely be above his career average and eventually come down...same as BABIP) These are the stats that I feel are most important to judging a pitcher, my favorite is FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching).

 

The median score for the 15 was 56 points and only six of the pitchers were above:

 

Austin Ross (98)

Tyler Thornburg (94)

Nicholas Bucci (87)

Kyle Heckathorn (73)

Cody Scarpetta (68)

Brooks Hall(57) (Still early though)

 

Jimmy Nelson sadly was the bottom feeder with only 24 points :/

 

So Ross and Thorny are neck and neck, Bucci on their heels and Heckathorn and Scarpetta are in a good position if they get hot.

 

If anyone is interest in the Excel Spreadsheet with all the stuff on it (all is sortable and you can make changes as the season goes on to keep track) send me a message with your email and I can sent it to you. I have also been working on there career averages (all years prior to 2011) to track what to expect, how they project, and how much better they are doing and why (Peralta has a sad 58 LOB% but a FIP OF 3.96, the 6th best, .340 BABIP also is above career average) I plan on adding relievers to the list as well when I have the time (School and coaching just ended and looking for summer work so have plenty of time ha)

[TooLiveBrew]

Morris' numbers really surprised me this month. A very quiet 326/358/494/852, although his walk numbers aren't great. Moving to AA seems to have really motivated him.

 

Given some recent comments on Morris (not singling out you, CWH), I'm not sure if everyone noticed that he was sent back down to Brevard County.

 

My votes are for Thornburg & Gamel.

[Mass Haas]

Tom H. tweets the Brewers' actual selections.

 

Congrats to Hunter and Tyler.

[CheezWizHed]

Given some recent comments on Morris (not singling out you, CWH)

 

I'd hope not, since I listed him among the A+ hitters... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

I have a feeling that the Brewers REALLY like Morris. Not that he didn't have a good month to deserve POM, but there were a couple of better performances. I'm guessing some of the fanfare (and performance) at AA factored into it a bit.