Brandon Birdsell – Picture by Todd Johnson

Let’s just get right to it today.

July was a fun month to cover the system as their were lots of great performances from many Cubs prospects. I went to a lot of games in Davenport, Beloit, and Peoria. It was fun feeding off the energy as guys realize that the only way through the logjams in the system is to go out and dominate.

This month, I decided to mix up the structure a bit and do the players of the month intermittently with the category they come from.

Hitters

Iowa – David Bote, Yonathan Perlaza, Matt Mervis, Bryce Windham, and Luis Vazquez
Tennessee – Cole Roederer, Owen Caissie, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Bradlee Beesley, BJ Murray
South Bend – Kevin Alcantara, Moises Ballesteros, Ezequiel Pagan, Felix Stevens, Christian Franklin
Myrtle Beach – Reivaj Garcia, Andy Garriola, Parker Chavers

There are no big shockers here but it is cool to see a lot of familiar names like Cole Roederer, Luis Vazquez, and Reivaj Garcia. In addition, I was ecstatic to see both Christian Franklin and Parker Chavers on the same All-Star team.

Hitter of the Month

Cole Roederer gets this award for the first time since he was in Rookie League back in 2018. He hit .339 with a 1.200 OPS to go along with 6 HRs and 18 RBI. And he started off August going 2-for-4. It really warms my heart to see him succeed after the last 2 years of injuries and getting healthy. Good for him!

Starting Pitchers

Iowa – Caleb Kilian
Tennessee – Kohl Franklin
South Bend – Brandon Birdsell, Michael Arias
Myrtle Beach – Luis Rujano, Drew Gray, Nick Hull, Marino Santy

This list sort of thinned out quite a bit towards the end of month as one bad start did in several starters.

Starting Pitcher of the Month

Steady. That pretty much sums up Brandon Birdsell’s month. Brandon made four starts totaling 20 innings. He had a 1.35 ERA and struck out 18 while opponents hit just .183 against him. Promote him!

Relievers

Iowa – Bailey Horn, Carlos Guzman, Danis Correa
Tennessee – Eduarniel Nunez, Zac Leigh, Blake Whitney, Luke Little, Samuel Reyes
South Bend – Sheldon Reed, Max Bain, Adam Laskey, Frankie Scalzo, Tyler Santana
Myrtle Beach – Starlyn Pichardo, Jose Romero, Koen Moreno

After a rough couple of months of a narrow list of All-Star relievers, the big list is back with each affiliate having a minimum of three!

Reliever of the Month

Carlos Guzman got it done at Tennessee with an ERA under 1 while at Tennessee. He popped up to Iowa for a game and then came back to Tennessee yesterday. He should really head back to Iowa. There is not much more for him to do in Double-A. He had 15 Ks in 12 innings with a 0.75 ERA.