May Awards/New Britain Rockcats

I will continue my look at the month of May in the Twins minor league affiliates. Today, I will talk about the New Britain Rockcats who had a terrible month of May as they continue to have a historically bad year. That is not to say that a few guys did not have solid months and I think it is good recognize their good play so that is what this posting is all about. I welcome your comments or questions whether they are positive or negative as long as they are constructive to make this blog better. You can either leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at travis_aune@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading

• Hitter of the Month: Ben Revere- After getting off to a very un Ben Revere like start in April the phenom came out on fire in the month of May. After hitting only .274 in April Revere turned it on in May. In 30 games in the month of May Revere hit .336 in 119 at bats. He had six doubles, a triple, and a homerun along with a very good month of May in rbi's as he recorded 15 for the month. Revere is not usually a run producer as he is mainly a singles hitter, that is why the 15 rbi's in May is so noteworthy. Revere only struck out seven times while walking 13. You would like to see the walk total go up, but you can't complain about seven strikeouts in 119 at bats a rate of one strikeout every 17 at bats which is awesome. In May, Revere stole 12 bases that is what makes him special as in his first two full seasons he stole 90 bases as he is lightning fast. Revere had an awesome .412 on base percentage in May, while compiling a decent for him .429 slugging percentage for an ops of .840. Ben Revere is a hitting machine and it won't be long before he roaming the outfield with Denard Span and Delmon Young to form a new soul patrol.
• Others Considered: Steve Singleton, Yangervis Solarte

• Pitcher of the Month: Kyle Gibson- Although Gibson only made four starts in New Britain in the month of May after being promoted from Fort Myers he really made them count. Kyle Gibson is the real deal and will be a member of the Minnesota Twins sometime in 2011. In May Gibson was just absolutely filthy as he made four starts and went 3-0 along with a complete game and a miniscule 1.37 era in 26.1 innings. In those 26.1 innings he only gave up four earned runs. He had a very good five walks and 23 strikeouts in his 26.1 innings so almost a strikeout an inning and a little over a walk per nine innings. The most impressive stat that I found about Gibson's 3.23 ground ball to fly out rate as he is a ground ball machine. He also held opponents to a very good .208 opponents batting average. Kyle Gibson is the real deal and will be a key contributer for the Twins next season if not this year. He is going through a few bumps in early June, but I have no doubt that he will overcome them to have a very good rookie season in the Twins organization as he works his way up to the majors.
• Others Considered: Carlos Gutierrez, Michael Allen