May Awards/Beloit Snappers

Today, I will finish off my look at the month of May as I look at the Beloit Snappers who did not have a great month of May, but had some decent performances that are worth looking at. The Snappers had a rough month in that they lost 12 out of 13 games in a stretch that took them out of playoff contention. After talking about the Snappers today I will begin my look at the top 50 prospects in the Twins organization. I will include the Twins 2010 draft picks in my look at the prospects so check back tommorrow for a look at that. However, today is about the Beloit Snappers and some of the good performances in the month of May. Like always you can either leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at travis_aune@yahoo.com and let me know what you think.

• Hitter of the Month: Anderson Hidalgo- Talk about a guy going under the radar as not many people talk about the quality season that Hidalgo is having this year with the Snappers. After hitting .314 in April, Hidalgo followed that up with an even better month of May. In 28 games in May, Hidalgo hit .317 with a homerun and 10 rbi's along with a very impressive 13 doubles. He does not have a lot of homerun power, but he is a doubles machine as he already has 16 doubles on the season. He does not walk much as he only walked four times in 101 at bats. However, he does not strikeout much either as he only struck out 14 times along with stealing two bases. Anderson Hidalgo had a very good .349 on base percentage along with a not bad .475 slugging percentage for a very good .824 OPS for the Snappers. The 21 year old out of Venezuela that the Twins signed in 2006 is not known as a huge prospect, but he has put up numbers so far this year that some of the higher prospects would be jealous of. He is struggling a little bit in June, but he still has half a month and I expect him to get his numbers back up before the end of the month. It will be interesting if people start getting on board with the young third baseman and put them on their prospect lists because this year he deserves the recognition.
• Others Considered: James Beresford, Brian Dozier

• Pitcher of the Month: Michael Tonkin- Tonkin really made quite the impression in his debut in Beloit. There were many that felt that he was not ready for A ball and that he would be better served going to Elizabethton. However, he really did well in May as he showed that he is ready for Beloit. Tonkin made four May starts and went 0-2 due to lack of run support and a very good 3.38 era. Tonkin worked 21.1 innings in those four starts so just over 5 innings a start for the 20 year old out of Palmdale, California who the Twins drafted in the 30th round of the 2008 draft. In his 21.1 innings he only gave up eight runs. The fact that he is Jason Kubel's brother in law should not fool you as he is a very talented pitcher that you will be hearing quite a bit about his good pitching. Tonkin only walked four batters in his 21.1 innings of work while striking out 13. Tonkin held opponents to a .282 opponents batting average.
• Others Considered: Kane Holbrooks, Dakota Watts