Vote for the BCB Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August

So here’s your opportunity to vote for the best minor league pitchers for the month of August. We’ll follow this up with a vote for the Player and Pitcher of the Year vote.

A quick reminder of the rules. I pick one player from each of the top five minor league affiliates. You vote for the player who has had the best month. You can pick whichever one you want for whatever reason you want, except that I do ask that you make your choice based on what the player did in the month of August. This is an award for performance, not for how highly-ranked a prospect the player is.

If you’re reading on Apple News or Google AMP, you need to go to a web browser to vote.

Clicking on the player’s name will take you to his milb.com page for more information.

With that said, here are this month’s nominees:

Iowa Cubs right-hander Adbert Alzolay

Alzolay struggled in July after being sent down from the major leagues. We soon found out why as Alzolay ended up on the injured list. When he was activated on August 3, he looked like the same old dominating Alzolay that we’d seen at the beginning of the season.

Alzolay made six starts in August and went 0-1 with a 3.32 ERA. Alzolay pitched 21⅔ innings and held opposing hitters to a .175 ERA. He struck out 31 batters and walked 11. Alzolay gave up four home runs in August, but considering the way the ball has been flying in Triple-A this year, that’s forgivable.

Tennessee Smokies right-hander Cory Abbott

This is the third time that Abbott has been nominated for this award this season, which speaks to how well he’s pitched this season. Maybe he’ll finally win one.

Abbott made six starts in August and went 3-1 with an 0.98 ERA. Abbott gave up just four runs (and two unearned runs) over 36⅔ innings. He walked just nine batters and struck out a whopping 50 batters. Abbott had ten or more strikeouts in three starts this month. Abbott held opposing hitters to a microscopic .107 batting average in August.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans left-hander Brailyn Marquez

Marquez was promoted to Myrtle Beach at the beginning of the month. He made four starts for the Pelicans and was 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA. He totalled 20⅓ innings and gave up five runs, four earned. Marquez struck out 20, walked only six and held opposing hitters to a .214 batting average. Marquez also threw a rare complete game shutout against Potomac on August 13, although it was a rain-shortened five-inning complete game.

South Bend Cubs/Eugene Emeralds right-hander Zach Mort

Mort was promoted to South Bend from Eugene Emeralds on August 6 and he made one start with Eugene and four with South Bend. Between the two levels, Mort was 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA. He totalled 26⅔ innings while striking out 17 and walking just 11. He didn’t allow any unearned runs in August either, which is always a plus. Mort held opposing hitters to a .196 batting average.

Eugene Emeralds right-hander Chris Clarke

The Cubs’ fourth-round pick this past June from USC finished his first professional season on a strong note. Clarke made five starts, totalling 16 innings and went 0-0 (hard to get a decision when you’re not allowed to pitch five innings) with a 1.69 ERA. Clarke struck out 16 and walked just four. He didn’t give up any unearned runs and allowed just one home run. Opposing hitter managed just a .179 batting average against Clarke in August.