PCL Top Players Of The Week 5-20-5-26, 5-27-6-2

Greetings Grading On the Curveians! The Pacific Coast League is in full swing this year, and as we head into the mid-season and summer weeks the top players are heating up as much as the weather. Each week the PCL honors the top performers with their player of the week award. We should honor and pay tribute to these top performers as well. So let’s do that with a quick look and salute around the PCL at the top hitters and pitchers for the weeks of May 20-26, and May 27-June 2.

Moore while playing with the Houston Astros in 2012-Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Week of May 20-26

Hitter of the week- Scott Moore-Sacramento  River Cats

(.455/.554/.864) 10 for 22 3 HR 7 RBI 9 R

Scott Moore by all rights is having a solid season for the Sacramento River Cats. The First Place River Cat’s domination in the PCL over the last ten years has been remarkable, and having good players like Moore is what has allowed them to win year in and year out.

Moore has been having a good season, but the week before last he was spectacular. The 29 year old left handed hitting third baseman had one of the best series of his career against Tucson last weekend. During the three games Moore collected eight hits and slugged three home runs. Moore had a 5 for 6 performance with two home runs and four RBI in Saturday night’s game (May 22). For good measure he added another home run and two singles the following day. Moore scored seven runs in the series for Sacramento and they won one game with 20 runs. Overall during the week, Moore posted a line of .455/.556/.864 (10 for22) with three home runs, seven RBI, and nine runs scored. Moore is hitting .298 with an .865 OPS and seven home runs in 47 games in 2013.

Pitcher of the week- Martin Perez– Round Rock Express

(1-0 7 IP 3H 7K)

22 year old pitcher Martin Perez has pitched in the majors briefly with the Rangers the last two seasons. Unfortunately injuries have derailed his progress since. In spring training he broke his arm after being hit with a line drive on March 3.  He was just recently promoted from the double AA Texas League to the Round Rock Express of the Pacific Coast League, and rumors were that he would be returning to the majors quickly.  His domination of PCL hitting eventually earned him a return trip to the Rangers this Monday.

Perez a left hander, has only pitched in three games with the Round Rock since his promotion, but has been wowing everyone. In the past Perez was thought of as being too small for a power pitcher, (6’0 165), but in recent years he has increased his velocity into the low 90’s. Perez throws a fastball around 92, and a sharp breaking curveball, and changeup. His curve and change has both been voted as the best in the Ranger’s farm system.

Last week Perez had a dominating outing against the Reno Aces. Perez tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and whiffing seven in a 6-0 Round Rock victory. In his brief time in the PCL, Perez has whiffed 17 in 18 innings, while allowing just six runs, and limiting hitters to a .213 batting average against. For that he was awarded with the pitcher of the week award.

Matin Perez-Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Week of May 27-June 2

Hitter of the week –Kole Calhoun –Salt Lake Bees

(.497/485/.667) 11 for 27 2 HR 9 RBI 7 runs scored)

One of the Angel’s top prospects Kole Calhoun had a rough start to begin the season. He broke a bone in his hand in the first game of the season,  which caused him to miss the first six weeks of the season. Calhoun returned to the Bees on May 19, and has been raking it ever since. For the week of May 27-June 2, he was superhuman. The left handed hitting right fielder collected five multi-hit games in seven days, and homered and drove in three runs in both Monday and Saturday’s games. Despite playing in just 15 games this season, Calhoun is hitting .387 (24 for 62), with three home runs.

Week of May 27-June 2

Pitcher of the week – Robbie Erlin Tucson Padres

(1-0 7 IP 2H 11K)

The Padres top ten pitching prospect Robbie Erlin had a great week last week. Despite struggling in his previous few starts, Erlin turned it around with a top-notch performance in a win against Sacramento. Erlin tossed seven scoreless frames, while allowing just two hits, and whiffing 11 batters. His 11 whiffs matched a franchise record previously held by Sean O’Sullivan. Erlin was soon promoted to the big leagues following this start, and earned his first big league win against the Blue Jays on Saturday. He allowed just two runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. All total with Tucson, Erlin was 4-0 with a 3.79 ERA.

These are our top hitting and pitching performances of the week. Which players will be heating up the PCL next week? Check in with us here to find out. We’ll have more top performers next week. To the players above, we recognize and salute you!

We’ll also have a look at the other side of the coin. The top worst performers of the week will be documented in a later post. I didn’t want to stink up this post with those lousy performances. For that we will have a separate article. Check for that later in the week.