All-Prospect Team For June
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An all-star team comprised of prospects, based on their performance in the minors during the month of June. Monthly all-prospect team archives available here.
Park-adjusted OPS+ and ERA+ are new additions this year. Both are calculated by Baseball America in the style of the familiar Baseball-Reference.com index statistics. Park factors for the 2015 season are used in all cases.
C Francisco Mejia • Indians
High Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
The 20-year-old Dominican catcher repeated the Midwest League this season at low Class A Lake County and improved his OPS by nearly 250 points. At the time the Indians promoted him to the Carolina League on June 29, Mejia ranked among the MWL leaders with a .347 average, 51 RBIs and a .531 slugging percentage, while also throwing out 43 percent of basestealers.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
93 | 20 | 39 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 22 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 1 | .419 | .449 | .688 | 252 |
1B Josh Bell • Pirates
Triple-A Indianapolis (International)
Bell hit seven home runs in June, matching his total from 2015, when he spent most of the season at Double-A Altoona and played in 131 games. He ranked seventh among minor league first basemen in June with a .288 isolated slugging percentage, while his strikeout rate for the month (8.2 percent) easily ranked as the best among his first-base peers.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
118 | 24 | 43 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 26 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 1 | .364 | .433 | .653 | 219 |
2B Ian Happ • Cubs
Double-A Tennessee (Southern)
The 2015 first-rounder led all minor league batters (min. 80 plate appearances) with a .422 average in June, thanks largely to an incendiary week at Tennessee following a promotion from high Class A Myrtle Beach. The switch-hitting Happ went 13-for-22 (.591) in his first seven games in the Southern League, after hitting .361 in the Carolina League earlier in June.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
83 | 13 | 35 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 16 | 15 | 5 | 1 | .422 | .500 | .699 | 249 |
3B Jeimer Candelario • Cubs
Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast)
The switch-hitting, 22-year-old Dominican entered June as a middling performer at Double-A Tennessee but finished the month as a Triple-A terror. Candelario hit so well in the Pacific Coast League that he reached the big leagues on July 3 (as an injury replacement for Chris Coghlan) after hitting .333/.452/.600 in 25 games at Iowa.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
94 | 16 | 26 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 17 | 25 | 0 | 1 | .277 | .400 | .543 | 164 |
SS Amed Rosario • Mets
Double-A Binghamton (Eastern)
Rosario had about as good a month as one can have without hitting a home run. Just two minor league shortstops recorded a higher OPS in June than Rosario (.959), who reached Binghamton on June 23 and went 12-for-29 (.414) through his first eight Eastern League games. The 20-year-old Dominican hit .309/.359/.442 through 66 games at high Class A St. Lucie to earn his ticket out of the Florida State League.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
97 | 12 | 37 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 1 | .381 | .423 | .536 | 167 |
OF Aaron Judge • Yankees
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (International)
A 2013 first-round pick from Fresno State, Judge reached Triple-A for the first time in the second half of 2015, but his initial struggles dictated that he return to Scranton this season. Through his first 109 games at the level, Judge hit just .227 with a .153 isolated slugging percentage and 27 percent strikeouts. The 6-foot-7 right fielder broke through in June, however, by hitting .343 with a .343 ISO and nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (24).
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
102 | 30 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 25 | 21 | 24 | 4 | 0 | .343 | .477 | .686 | 245 |
OF Austin Meadows • Pirates
Triple-A Indianapolis (International)
Meadows, a center fielder, led all minor league batters with 25 extra-base hits in June, and here’s how he did it. The 21-year-old hit .361/.391/.902 with 18 extra-base hits through 15 games at Double-A Altoona in June to force his promotion to Indianapolis. Meadows, the ninth overall pick in 2013, then racked up seven more long hits in his first 12 Triple-A games before landing on the disabled list with a hamstring injury.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
107 | 22 | 33 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 1 | .308 | .339 | .738 | 199 |
OF Daniel Palka • Twins
Double-A Chattanooga (Southern)
While Palka isn’t a top-shelf prospect, the 24-year-old lefthanded batter is building an impressive résumé for power hitting. The 2013 third-rounder from Georgia Tech tied for the Midwest League lead with 22 home runs in 2014, then ranked fourth with 29 bombs in the California League in 2015. Palka, who joined the Twins in a November trade with the Diamondbacks for Chris Herrmann, collected 21 homers through three months to pace the Southern League.
The right fielder extended that lead in June by leading all minor league batters with 13 home runs and a .500 isolated slugging percentage.
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
96 | 20 | 29 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 30 | 13 | 34 | 3 | 2 | .302 | .372 | .802 | 221 |
RHP Phil Bickford • Giants
High Class A San Jose (California)
With rates of 11.3 strikeouts and 2.3 walks per nine innings through the first three months of the season—not to mention just two home runs allowed in 13 starts—Bickford shines in terms of fielding-independent pitching ERA. He recorded a 2.25 FIP through June, and that ranked among the best in the minors among qualified starters, according to FanGraphs.com. A first-round pick in 2015, Bickford earned a June 19 promotion from low Class A Augusta to San Jose, where in his first two starts he allowed three hits in 11 innings while striking out 20 and walking just three.
W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BB | SO/9 | BR/9 | AVG | ERA+ |
2 | 0 | 2.35 | 4 | 23 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 12.5 | 7.4 | .165 | 178 |
RHP Felix Jorge • Twins
High Class A Fort Myers (Florida State)
Walking less than one batter per start while still missing bats with quality stuff is a recipe for success, as Jorge has illustrated this season, particularly in June. The 22-year-old Dominican has improved his strikeout and groundball rates this season on his way to leading the Florida State League with a 1.55 ERA and 0.94 WHIP through the end of June. He had allowed just three home runs through 13 starts.
W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BB | SO/9 | BR/9 | AVG | ERA+ |
5 | 0 | 1.59 | 5 | 34 | 29 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 2 | 8.2 | 8.5 | .232 | 213 |
RHP Reynaldo Lopez • Nationals
Triple-A Syracuse (International)
Lopez made his first five starts of June at Double-A Harrisburg, going 2-1, 1.57 with 44 strikeouts and five walks in 29 innings to earn a June 30 promotion to Syracuse. Lopez has upped his strikeout game this season—he led the minors with 48 in June—to the point where the 22-year-old Dominican is locked in a battle with the Pirates’ Tyler Glasnow for the minor league strikeout crown.
W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BB | SO/9 | BR/9 | AVG | ERA+ |
2 | 1 | 1.56 | 6 | 34.2 | 32 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 48 | 9 | 12.5 | 10.6 | .241 | 236 |
RHP Francis Martes • Astros
Double-A Corpus Christi (Texas)
Martes ran up a 5.74 ERA and hideous 1.69 WHIP through his first nine starts at Corpus Christi, looking like one of the bigger prospect disappointments of 2016. The 20-year-old Dominican adapted to the Double-A game in June, however, when he struck out a batter per inning, allowed no home runs and recorded a representative 0.99 WHIP.
W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BB | SO/9 | BR/9 | AVG | ERA+ |
3 | 0 | 1.48 | 4 | 30.1 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 8 | 8.9 | 9.2 | .208 | 236 |
RHP Luke Weaver • Cardinals
Double-A Springfield (Texas)
Weaver fractured his left wrist in an outfield collision this spring and didn’t take the mound until June. He made a seamless transition to Double-A competition when he returned, recording a 1.15 ERA in five starts while striking out 34 more batters than he walked. Weaver, a 2014 first-rounder from Florida State, has performed admirably in two injury-shortened pro seasons, logging a 1.84 ERA and near-5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 150 innings.
W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BB | SO/9 | BR/9 | AVG | ERA+ |
4 | 0 | 1.15 | 5 | 31.1 | 29 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 3 | 10.6 | 9.5 | .244 | 324 |
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