Minor League Monday 5/12/08

It's deja vu all over again, as this week's Minor League Monday honors the same two players I honored last September.

Pitcher of the Week - Ryan Pope, RHP, Tampa Yankees (Single A Advanced):

There was a lot of competition for this award this week, as pitchers on every one of the Yankees' farm teams threw scoreless starts. Pope, however, gets the nod thanks to his excellent command, as he struck out six over six innings without allowing a walk, and because he's an intriguing prospect. Last year, Pope managed to continue pitching well despite the jump from the relatively weak competition in the NAIA to the much stronger New York-Penn League. Now he's skipped a level again, and still hasn't had any problems. With a fastball that tops out around 93mph, he's not overpowering, but his strong command of it and his plus curveball and changeup makes him a good candidate to be a back of the rotation starter in a couple of years.

Hitter of the Week - Austin Jackson, CF, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

After his breakout season last year, Jackson came into with high expectations, so it's easy to be disappointed by the .268/.358/.349 line he put up in April. However, like all stats, those numbers are useless without context; specifically the facts that Jackson is young for the league, and he plays half his games at Mercer County Waterfront Park, which is a notoriously bad place to hit. Last week, with a month of Double A experience under his belt, Jackson took advantage of a road trip to show us what he's capable of. In six games he hit .348/.444/.522, with two doubles and a triple. Granted, he still has yet to hit a home run, but this improvement makes me think that it's just a matter of time.