AA- Arkansas Travellers
AA Arkansas might be the most interesting team in the Mariners farm system. With big names like Jake Fraley, Dom Thompson-Williams, Kyle Lewis, Evan White, Justin Dunn, and Wyatt Mills, there are a lot of interesting names to watch.
Evan White had his April basically wiped out by injury and Lewis was off to an awful start but has picked it up recently. But neither of these big names will take home the offensive player of the month award. In fact, no one player will. Instead, we will split the award between Fraley and Thompson-Williams.
Both outfielders are off to great and similar starts. Fraley is slashing .280/.350/.473 with 3 home runs, 5 doubles, 2 triples, and is 7/10 in stolen base attempts. Meanwhile, DTW is slashing .275/.379/.425 with 3 home runs, 1 double, 1 triple, and is 7/8 in SB attempts.
We should also throw some love to Donnie Walton and his .289/.388/.434 slash line. But for this month, the award will be split between the 2 outfielders
Offensive Player(s) of the Month: Jake Fraley and Dom Thompson-Williams
Unlike AAA Tacoma, there are a few good names in the Arkansas pitching staff. Most notable amongst them is Justin Dunn, the second big piece in the Edwin Diaz trade. Dunn is off to a good start, fanning 27 batters in 18 innings while surrendering 8 walks. But to be honest, Dunn has the worst numbers of any starter in AA, which says a lot.
There are 3 candidates for this award: Darren McCaughan, Anthony Misiewicz, and Ricardo Sanchez. McCaughan has 30 strikeouts in 30 innings and has walked just 2. Misiewicz has fanned 25 in 24 innings while walking just 4. Sanchez is 4-1 with a 0.84 ERA, a 26/6 K: BB rate, and a 0.94 WHIP.
All three of these names are in the discussion and it is tough to pick just one. Mariners fans should be most excited about Sanchez, but all three are putting up fantastic numbers. Call it a cop out, but we will just have to split the award once again.