Jones hit .319/.441/.549 in 91 at-bats in August. He hit five home runs and stole five bases in six chances. He struck out 23 times but walked 19 times, showing some excellent plate discipline. For his all around efforts this season Jones will get plenty of Top 100 consideration, a vast improvement from going getting cut from the Cardinals Top 30 in Baseball America’s last Handbook. Jones is no longer tantalizing us with his tools, he’s flashing them on the ball diamond.

2. Brett Wallace – I personally voted Wally for the top spot, but he did have somewhat of an uneven month. Through 71 plate appearances for the Quad Cities Wallace had a power outage, hitting .306/.394/.387. But once promoted to Springfield, he went on an absolute tear, hitting .400/.471/.711. He did hit the ball on the ground a lot – 69%, but when he did hit the ball in the air, it usually went a long way. 27.3% of the balls he hit in the air cleared the fence.

3. David Freese – After a hot July, Freese showed no signs of slowing, hitting .349/.410/.632 for the month of August with seven homers.

As with the hitters, neither of us could decide who was in the top spot for the pitcher of the month. According to our system, Nick Additon is our pitcher of the month. Additon had a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings for QC with 24.1% K/PA rate and a 5.2% BB/PA rate. He had a 0.50 ERA with a 13/5 K/BB ratio over 18 innings and held batters to a .167 average.

2. T- Jason Motte and Richard Castillo – Motte held PCL hitters to a .163 average and struck out 22 of the 47 batters he faced, just showing utter dominance. Seeing him pitch yesterday all I have to say is wow…beware the goatee. Castillo posted a 1.99 ERA with a 23.2% K/PA ratio and a 4.5 K/BB rate. Pretty nice to see a converted catcher and an 18 year old pitcher both have terrific months.

Position Player of the Month:

Undoubtedly it was Josh Phelps. His 14 homers in July led all the minors, and he hit for an amazing .337/.426/.846 line. Apparently the Cardinals don’t want to add him to the 40 man roster no matter how well he hits, most likely because he’s limited first base. He would make a nice pinch-hit option, IMO.

Runners up:

2. David Freese- Our writers all agreed, David Freese picked a bad month to go nuts with the bat because in any other month, his monthly line of .378/.419/.694 would take home the prize. (Well, there is no prize really. Hey, maybe we could send the players an FR mug or something.) Freese had shown a slick glove and has shown steady improvement with the bat.
3. Allen Craig- July was a great month to be a Cardinals 3B. Craig turned 24 this month, and celebrated his birthday all month long by hitting .369/.422/.648 with 8 HR.
4. Tyler Greene- Greene went on a mission to prove he was worthy of being selected as the 30th pick overall of the 2005 draft. Greene hit .327/.364/.564 in July, earning him a call up to AAA. I see no real changes in his walk and strikeout rates or batted ball types to prove that what he’s doing is for real, but it’s nice to see him hitting nonetheless.
5. Brett Wallace- Wally hit .341/.434/.560. There’s less underlying questions about his month than Greene’s; Wallace posted a 23% line drive rate, he drew plenty of walks and has shown good strike zone judgment.

FR Pitcher of the Month:

Jason Motte- I’m not sure what else he has to do to earn a call up. He struck out 27 in 15.2 innings, (45.8% of the total batters he faced) walked 3 and allowed only 1 run on 8 hits. Meanwhile, the two-headed monster named Frizzlinghauskin still haunts my nightmares.

2.) Lance Lynn- The sandwich pick was a hero in the month of July. :Nyuk nyuk: Lynn threw 15 innings and had 20 K’s to 1 walk, with a 1.26 FIP. For his efforts he was called up to the Quad Cities, where he’s not quite enjoyed the same level of success so far. He may be gassed.
3.) Justin Fiske- For someone who tops out at 87 MPH, Fiske’s strikeout numbers are those of someone who throws 97. In the month of July he struck out 30 batters in 22 innings pitched while allowing just 14 hits. Fiske has in a sense been the left handed version of P.J. Walters this year. Like Walters, Fiske has come out of nowhere to post excellent numbers in spite of less then dominant stuff at three different stops. Both also feature “Bugs Bunny” changeups.
4.) T Mark Diapoules- Diapoules has some helium. The former draft-and-follow was a Midwest League All Star and then enjoyed a great first month at Palm Beach. He posted a 2.32 ERA and 29 K’s in 31 innings. What impressed me the most was his 59% ground ball rate during that span.
T-Chuckie Fick- Fick deserves some recognition for demonstrating some outstanding control-he walked just 2 batters in 32.1 innings and nearly posted a 3 to 1 groundout to flyout ratio.