It was an absolutely wild ride in minor league baseball during the month of May. In the first action back after a 20 month layoff, there was more excitement in the form of debuts, breakout performers, and crazy stat lines than we knew what to do with. Fortunately, over the course of the full month, some trends started to set into place. Included in those trends were four players that led the way on the farm with their bats and four that took the crown as the top arms on the bump. Let’s dig into the Cubs Mt. Rushmores from the past month!

Sergio Alcantara

The easy winner for the Cubs MiLB hitter of the month. Played terrific defensive shortstop, diverse hitting profile, and ran well. Maybe it was a month-long fluke, maybe the Cubs found something with this guy

.328/.481/.459
20.3% K, 22.8% BB
2 2B, 2 HR, 3 SB

Nelson Velazquez

Got a late start to the season but hit from the moment he stepped foot in South Bend. K/BB numbers weren’t pretty, but he started off the month hitting tons of singles and ended by logging extra bases.

.380/.396/.580
33.3% K, 3.7% BB
2B, 3 HR, 3 OF assists

PJ Higgins

He logged the fewest plate appearances in the minors of this group, but did what PJ does during his time in Iowa. Stellar walk numbers, improved pop, and a cannon for an arm.

.333/.458/.513
22.9% K, 16.7% BB
2 2B, 3B, HR

Chase Strumpf

No HRs & missed some time with injury, but when he was in there he put together the most professional plate appearances I’ve seen this year. Turning on pitches, going oppo, working deep counts. Was a joy to watch.

.309/.418/.382
25.4% K, 10.4% BB
4 2B, 3 SB, 4 HBP

DJ Herz

Only SP on the list because relievers actually logged as many innings as SP due to workload. DJ was the talk of the system this month, and for good reason. He’s one of the top arms in the organization.

0.75 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, .079 AVG
45.5% K, 13.6% BB

Scott Kobos

We like guys here that don’t give up runs. Talk about extremely deserving of his promotion to High-A today! He’s striking out nearly half the batters he’s facing and I’m excited to see him face better competition.

0.00 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, .154 AVG
44.2% K, 9.3% BB

Ben Leeper

First assignment after being signed as UDFA was to Double-A. He didn’t disappoint with good looking heater but an electric slider. Wish he’d bring back the full beard, but I won’t complain too much.

0.82 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, .122 AVG
31.1% K, 8.9% BB

Cayne Ueckert

This year’s version of Patterson, coming out of nowhere to be one of the first guys to earn a true promotion, up to TN. He’s basically just using his mid-90s fastball and blowing it by dudes like it’s coming in at 102

1.42 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, .100 AVG
41.9% K, 7.0% BB

Photo by Rich Beisterfeld (@biest22)