It’s tough to have any conversation about players hitting the ball well in the minor leagues right now without starting off with Jose Siri. The Dayton Dragons outfielder is hotter than the sun right now. Back at the end of spring training I wrote that I felt he could be a real breakout player this season, but that it came with some risk because of his past. He simply looked like a very different hitter, though. He really struggled in April for Dayton, but the team stuck with him and it has paid off in a big way.
In May he hit .309/.352/.474 with a double, three triples and three home runs. His OPS of .827 was a .218 point improvement over what he had in April. By the end of the month he had already stolen 19 bases on the season as he began to show all five tools. Things got better in June for Siri where he hit .294/.351/.576 with nine doubles and five home runs in 23 games played. He ended the month riding an 8-game hitting streak.
It’s now July 19th and he’s still rocking that same hitting streak, which has now reached 24 games. In 16 games during July he’s hit .357/.370/.714 with two doubles, a triple and seven home runs. He’s not missing anything thrown over the plate right now. Since the beginning of May, a span of 64 games played, he’s hit .317/.357/.575 with 12 doubles, four triples and 15 home runs.
Siri’s Dayton teammate Taylor Trammell is also on quite a tear in the month of July. The 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft is hitting .371/.443/.548 during the month over the course of 16 games played. He’s also stolen eight bases in the month and is tied with Siri for the Dragons lead with 27 steals on the season.
The guy taken by the Reds before Taylor Trammell last season was Nick Senzel. You’ve probably heard of him. On Monday night his 16 game hitting streak came to an end for Double-A Pensacola. In 15 games during the month of July he is hitting .350/.409/.517. In his two stops this season, Daytona and Pensacola, he’s hitting .305/.372/.465 with 31 doubles, two triples and six home runs.
It’s Tuesday night as I type this and the Billings Mustangs haven’t played their schedule game yet, so the numbers below on two players mentioned are likely to change. Mustangs outfielder Miles Gordon is out to a heck of a start. Last season came to an abrupt end after a shoulder injury on the field cut things short just 22 games in. This season he’s also played in just 22 games but he’s making up for lost time. The 19-year-old outfielder is hitting .360/.450/.581 with 14 walks and 19 strikeouts.
Not to be outdone, his teammate Alejo Lopez is matching him. The 21-year-old infielder has played in 23 games and he’s hitting .351/.434/.597 with more walks, 11, than strikeouts, 8. He saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end over the weekend as a pinch hitter on Sunday. On Monday he went 0-2 with 2 walks.