White Sox AAA Player of July: 2B Micah Johnson
At the end of June, I took notice of Micah Johnson‘s play and labeled him as the Chicago White Sox AAA player of the month. In July his number have only gotten better, so once again, he is the team’s top player at Triple-A.
After being demoted to Charlotte in the middle of May because of a rough to start to his major league career, Johnson has done nothing but show he is above the competition at the minor league level.
This past month, he hit ..378/.427/.613 with four home runs, 14 RBIs and 26 runs scored. He also stole 11 bases in 14 attempts.
In 14 of the 27 games Johnson played in July, he had at least two hits. He has been arguably the best leadoff hitter within the White Sox organization this season.
His best best game last month came on July 7th in a 17-6 blowout victory against the Durham Bulls (Rays AAA affiliate). Johnson went 4-6 with a homer, two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Below is the video of his solo bomb (How about that 3-0 green light?).
For the season, he is hitting .328/.383/.437 with seven home runs, 32 RBIs, 47 runs and 26 stolen bases in 32 attempts. In just over two months, he has already tied his career high in home runs hit in a single season.
Johnson is also on pace for a career best .980 fielding percentage, which is exactly what the White Sox wanted to see from him in his return to the minors.
Honorable mention
Charlotte Knights outfielder Jason Coats has had an up-and-down season in 2015.
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He has hit everywhere in the lineup except fourth or fifth. Coats also has been atrocious leading off innings (.109 average) and has hit better when behind in the count (.269 avg) as opposed to ahead (.250 avg).
In June, he hit four home runs and had 16 RBIs but carried just a .191 average in 27 games.
Last month however, things came together.
The Knights outfielder hit .318/.383/.514 with five home runs, 21 RBIs and 14 runs in 27 games. His best game of the month came just four days ago.
On July 29th against the Louisville Bats (Reds AAA affiliate), Coats went 3-4 with a home run, two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. The Knights went on to win that game 6-2.
For the season, Coats is hitting .264/.309/.419 with 12 home runs, 66 RBIs (leads team) and 36 runs in 91 games with Charlotte (also played 12 games with Birmingham). He also is 8-10 in stolen bases and has 18 doubles.
AAA notes
After a strong June, George Kottaras has cooled off considerably in July. In eight games he has a .133 batting average….. Another notable Knights player that hit under the Mendoza line in July was Matt Davidson. He hit just .181 and is now hitting just .216 for the season…. Trayce Thompson was called up in place of Scott Carroll who took J.B. Shuck‘s spot on the roster after an injury landed him on the disabled list. The news comes as no surprise as his brother Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors guard) played MLB insider and tweeted out on Sunday that such a move was on the horizon.
Next: Here are your power rankings for the week