Scott Kingery Among Minor League Baseball’s Players Of The Month

Scott Kingery (Photo by Mike Janes)

Reading second baseman Scott Kingery was red hot in May. How hot was he? The 23-year-old second baseman led the Eastern League with 10 home runs, 30 RBIs, 84 total bases, 20 extra-base hits, a 1.055 OPS, a .667 slugging percentage and eight stolen bases. The month was just an extension of his scalding regular season, in which he’s swatted an MiLB-best 17 home runs. Only Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, who’s gone deep 18 times this year, has more home runs across the sport.

Here are the rest of the players of the month in the minors, as named by Minor League Baseball.

League: International
Winner: Tom Eshelman
Why He Won: Eshelman went 3-0, 1.50 and led the IL in innings (38.2) despite making his first start of the month with Double-A Reading (Phillies). He also struck out 25 against just four walks.

League: Pacific Coast
Winner: Luke Weaver
Why He Won: Weaver went 5-0, 2.19 and struck out 37 against just six walks in 37 innings for Memphis (Cardinals).

League: Southern
Winner: Nick Gordon
Why He Won: Gordon led the SL in runs (22), total bases (58), extra-base hits (17), doubles (11) and triples (3) for Chattanooga (Twins).

League: Texas
Winner: Matt Pearce
Why He Won: Pearce posted five wins and held opposing hitters to a .194 average. He allowed just two earned runs over 33 innings and threw two complete games for Springfield (Cardinals).

League: California
Winner: Brendan Rodgers
Why He Won: Rodgers hit .409 in May, and notched a minor league-best 21 extra-base hits and 86 total bases. The shortstop also swatted eight home runs for Lancaster (Rockies).

League: Florida State
Winner: Shed Long
Why He Won: Long had 14 multi-hit games, including five three-hit games. He batted .359 over 27 games in May for Daytona (Reds).

League: Carolina
Winner: Michael Chavis
Why He Won: Chavis posted a 1.101 OPS in May and led the league in average (.368), hits (42), runs (24), doubles (12), homers (seven), RBI (30), extra-base hits (20), total bases (77), slugging (.675) at Salem (Red Sox).

League: Midwest
Winner: Jon Duplantier
Why He Won: The former Rice righthander went 4-0, 0.79 in May and permitted just 17 hits in 34 innings. He struck out 34 during the month for Kane County (Diamondbacks)

League: South Atlantic
Winner: Nick Fanti
Why He Won: Fanti went 3-0, 1.05 and pitched the first 8.2 innings of Lakewood (Phillies)’s no-hitter against Columbia on May 6. He allowed just 12 hits in 25.2 May innings, just three went for extra-bases.