Double-A South: Top Performers May-June

Cooper Criswell, Rocket City Trash Pandas, June 22, 2021. Photo credit Garrison27, @Garrison27 on Flickr

It’s hard to believe we’re already two months into the Minor League Baseball season. We take a step back and look at who some of the top performers have been across the Double-A South league during that time.

We’re starting to see a lot of players get promoted so now seems like a fitting time to take stock of where everyone is on the leaderboards in Double-A South.

Next to each name below, I list the Double-A South team they play for, their major league affiliate, and their rank in our top 50 prospects list for that team.


Runs

Peyton Burdick – (OF, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #10): Despite hitting only .207 on the season, Burdick leads the league with 37 runs scored in 48 games.

Jose Barrero – (SS, Chattanooga Lookouts, Reds #3): He’s second in the league with 31 runs scored in 40 games. He’s also hitting .300 with an .848 OPS. He was just recently promoted to AAA, and we could see him back up in Cincinnati by the end of the year.

 

Hits

Miles Mastrobuoni – (SS, Montgomery Biscuits, Rays #NR): First of all, what a great last name – very similar to someone I know. I got to watch him earlier in the year when he came to Birmingham and he was impressive. He leads all of Double-A South with 55 hits in 44 games while hitting .315 with an .860 OPS.

Lorenzo Cedrola – (OF, Chattanooga Lookouts, Reds #NR): Another player not ranked in our top 50, Cedrola has 50 hits in 44 games with a .311 average.

Honorable mention: Top prospects Brice Turang (Brewers) and Barrero (Reds) have 49 and 48 hits respectively.

 

Home Runs

Micker Adolfo – (OF, Birmingham Barons, White Sox #7): Not much of a surprise here, Adolfo has light-tower power and is tied for the league lead in home runs with 12. He’s also second in slugging at .531.

Peyton Burdick – (OF, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #10): Not only does he lead the league in hits, he’s tied in home runs.

Mitch Nay – (3B, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #NR): It’s a three-way tie with Nay having 12 as well, to go along with an .824 OPS.

 

RBI

Micker Adolfo – (OF, Birmingham Barons, White Sox #7): It’s no surprise that the person leading the league in home runs also leads the league in RBI with 33. However, he also has the third-most strikeouts in Double-A South with 64.

Jose Barrero – (SS, Chattanooga Lookouts, Reds #3): After a rough go of things in his big league debut, he’s bounced back nicely at Double-A. He’s second in the league with 28 RBI.

Orlando Martinez – (OF, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #29): He’s also sitting on 28 RBI and is having an all-around good year slashing .282/.332/.518 with 10 home runs and an OPS of .849.

Brice Turang – (SS, Biloxi Shuckers, Brewers #3): I really love what I’ve seen from Turang who started slow but has really turned it up in June. He’s slashing .283/.352/.410 with 28 RBI as well to go along with a .763 OPS.

 

Stolen Bases

Justin Dean – (OF, Mississippi Braves, Braves #23): The Mississippi center fielder leads the league with 14 stolen bases and has been caught stealing just three times.

 

Batting Average

David MacKinnon – (1B, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #NR): He’s played in just 37 games, but he’s hitting .322 in 143 at-bats with 16 walks and 27 strikeouts to go along with a .909 OPS.

Miles Mastrobuoni – (SS, Montgomery Biscuits, Rays #NR): It makes sense that the person leading the league in hits is atop the leaderboard in average as well. Mastrobuoni is hitting .314 in 175 at-bats.

 

ERA

Jake Eder – (Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #47): I really liked Eder coming out of Vanderbilt and tried to snag his first auto in a break that @Scotty_Ballgame ran, but didn’t get that lucky. He leads Double-A South with a 1.13 ERA in 9 starts and 47.2 innings.

Ethan Small – (Biloxi Shuckers, Brewers #4): Another starting pitcher that I love, Small was just recently promoted. With the Shuckers, he posted a 1.96 ERA in 41.1 innings over 8 starts.

Hunter Greene – (Chattanooga Lookouts, Reds #5): Also someone who was just promoted, Greene had a 1.98 ERA in 7 starts and 41 innings with the Lookouts.

 

Innings Pitched 

Nolan Kingham – (Mississippi Braves, Braves #47): Pitchers seem to be getting moved along a lot quicker as Kingham was just promoted to Triple-A. He still leads the Double-A South with 55 innings pitched to go along with a stellar 2.29 ERA.

Cooper Criswell – (Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #NR): He has pitched 52.2 innings this year in 9 starts, including a complete game, with a 3.59 ERA.

Kyle Tyler – (Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #21): The Trash Pandas are getting some serious length out of their starters with Tyler being one of three starters with over 50 innings pitched on the season already.

 

Strikeouts

Reid Detmers – (Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #2): How quickly can these Angels starters get to the big leagues and help out Mike Trout? Detmers was drafted with that in mind as someone who could move along quickly. He’s dominating Double-A South with 76 strikeouts in 41 innings

Jake Eder – (Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #47): He’s second with 71 strikeouts in 47.2 innings.

Ethan Small – (Biloxi Shuckers, Brewers #4): The lefty is third with 67 punchouts in 41.1 innings.

Honorable mention: Criswell and Greene round out the top five with 63 and 60 strikeouts respectively.

 

WHIP

Konnor Pilkington (Birmingham Barons, White Sox #47): This is somebody I’ve watched a lot with my hometown Barons and I love him. He’s also like a little lesser version of Lance Lynn from the left side the way he attacks hitters. It’s certainly working for him as he leads the league with a 0.89 WHIP to go along with a 3.16 ERA in 42.2 innings with 48 strikeouts.

Jake Eder – (Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #47): Again, Eder has probably been the best pitcher in this league all year. He’s second in WHIP at 0.90.

Kyle Tyler – (Rocket City Trash Pandas, Angels #21): He’s third in WHIP at 0.98, and these are the only three qualified starters with a WHIP under one.

 

Saves

Colton Hock (Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Marlins #NR): Hock leads the league in saves with 10 to go along with a 2.45 ERA in 22 innings with 27 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.18.

 

Top Relievers

Dauri Moreta (Chattanooga Lookouts, Reds #NR): The 25-year-old righty is 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA in 16 games with 34 strikeouts in 23.2 innings and a WHIP of 0.76.

Brooks Wilson – (Mississippi Braves, Braves #42): Another 25-year-old righty, Wilson has a 1.71 ERA in 13 games with 32 punchouts in 21 innings and a WHIP of 1.10 for the M-Braves.

 

That does it for this month’s Double-A South update. As I mentioned, there are a lot of players getting moved up right now so it will be interesting to see how this leaderboard changes over the next couple of months.

 




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