White Sox AA Player of July: C Rob Brantly
When the Chicago White Sox claimed Rob Brantly off waivers from the Miami Marlins, he was a bit of an unknown to people outside the state of Florida.
The Marlins acquired Brantly in 2012 from the Detroit Tigers in the deal for Anibal Sanchez. After a brief stint in the minors, he went on to have a strong finish to the season with the major league club.
Brantly couldn’t maintain his production the following year and spent all of 2014 with the Marlins Triple-A affiliate. With better catchers on the roster for this season, he became expendable.
For the White Sox this season, Brantly has been with Double-A Birmingham and the results have been pretty good.
In July Brantly has stepped his game up even hitting .426/.446/.630 with two home runs, 11 RBIs and eight runs scored in 14 games. From the 3rd to the 18th of the month he carried an eight-game hitting streak. In fact, there were only two games he played in July in which he did not record a hit.
His best game of the month came on July 15th in a win against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Reds AA affiliate). Brantly went 3-4 with a homer, two RBIs, a walk and three runs scored.
Below is a video of the deep home run he hit in that game.
For the season, Brantly is hitting .325/.347/.496 with four home runs, 22 RBIs and 13 runs scored in 30 games. While he does currently sport a career high .995 fielding percentage, his eight passed balls in the 29 games he has caught stops you from taking that too seriously.
His offensive performance earned him a promotion to Triple-A as of yesterday in the wake of Charlotte Knights catcher George Kottaras being released.
Honorable mention
Anyone who follows the White Sox at the minor league level should be pretty familiar with Tim Anderson. The young shortstop has shown since day one that he knows how to hit a baseball.
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This season he has been the Barons best player and though he was outdone by Brantly in July, Anderson still put together a strong month.
In the 26 games he played in last month, Anderson hit .295/.342/.410 with two home runs, seven RBIs and 19 runs scored. He also stole 12 bases in 17 attempts. He also carried an eight-game hitting streak of his own, extending from the 12th to the 21st.
Anderson’s best game of the month came in the first game of a double-header on July 21st against the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA affiliate). He went 2-4 with a triple, a run scored and three stolen bases. Anderson also picked up two more hits in the second game, though the Barons would go on to lose both.
The Barons leadoff hitter is now sporting a slash line of .307/.341/.413 with three home runs, 39 RBIs and 61 runs scored. He also leads the Southern League in hits (124) and stolen bases (40).
AA notes
Jacob May finally made his return to the diamond missing over a month after a collision in the outfield with Anderson. May is hitting .245 since coming back…. Keenyn Walker has spent the last two months with the Barons and is struggling with the promotion. He is hitting just .212 and is 10-18 in steals in the 46 games he has played in…. Christian Marrero continues to hit well in the middle of the Barons’ order. In July he drove in a team-high 20 RBIs in 28 games.
Next: Triple-A pitcher of July, Hector Noesi