Wow, this is late. That seems to be a habit with these...
Anyways, here are 5 notable and 5 forgettable performances for the month of May. All splits and numbers come from May only, courtesy of Minor League Splits and First Inning. And the players featured are all prospects- they have a chance of making the major leagues, though maybe not as a star or even a starter.
STAR: Alden Carrithers, 2B, Lakeland
Alden's May line: .389/.504/.481. No, I'm not confusing statistics. He got on base 50% of the time and had a wOBA of .442.. I still have reservations about Alden Carrithers in the long term and I doubt he'll make the major leagues as a 25 year old second baseman just promoted to AA, but that performance deserves major kudos.
SCRUB: Casper Wells, CF, Toledo
I really don't want to put Casper on the Scrub list since he's got a ton of talent. But .231/.306/.431 isn't great. His BABIP was a bit low at .286, but that doesn't excuse the low on base and average. There's a silver lining here- that slugging percentage looks okay, and Casper has the talent to walk more, so I'd bet that he doesn't appear as a scrub that much. I still want him to get called up.
STAR: Giovany Soto, LHP, West Michigan
I think I should change my signature to "President of the Giovany Soto Fan Club". Not that I dislike Casey, but as much as I talk about this guy you'd think I was his brother. I'm not, but how can you avoid talking about a teenager putting up a 1.44 ERA and a 3.03 FIP in A ball? Considering that his secondary stuff is great and his fastball may add velocity (he's throwing in the upper 80's) he's got an arm to dream on.
SCRUB: Cale Iorg, SS, Erie
"We think Cale Iorg will be an all-star." -Dave Dombrowski
.219/.272/.313. With a .339 BABIP. He isn't that special anymore.
STAR: Rawley Bishop, 1B, Lakeland
Again, I'm worried about Rawley Bishop's success in the long-term. A .384 wOBA and hitting .360/.408/.505 in May helps to assuage some of those concerns. He was drafted as a 3B too, so he might end up hitting the majors as a 4 corners reserve.
SCRUB: Jon Kibler, LHP, Erie (recently demoted)
He was a marginal prospect to begin with, but a 5.60 FIP and 6.40 ERA seem to require demotion if not outright release. I wouldn't be surprised if he was actually hurt. There's nothing to like here- he walked 15 and struck out 14 with an average ground ball rate. Nothing to write home about, everything to forget.
STAR: Charlie Furbush, LHP, Lakeland
I could talk about how Furbush is 24 years old and has lost tons of development time to TJS. I could talk about how he strikes out tons of hitters even when he loses games. I could talk about how his homer rate dropped to .64 per 9. I could talk about the 1.97 FIP with 61 strikeouts to 6(!!!!!) walks in 44 innings. I could talk about any of these things. Instead, I will simply say: Erie or bust.
SCRUB: Luis Marte, RHP, Erie
Sure, it was only 10.2 innings. But man, was it a rough 10.2 innings. A 5.16 FIP, 7 walks to 8 strikeouts, a .282 batting average against. The only positive thing was the homer rate. On the plus side, it's hard to get worse and it's unfair to judge Marte's ability on a mere 10 innings. But that still doesn't give him a free pass.
STAR: Adam Wilk, LHP, Lakeland
He won't put up a FIP of 3.27 in the major leagues (Wilk projects to be more of a #4 innings eater if he makes it) but that doesn't make his performance less awesome. My favorite part? 30 strikeouts to 4 walks in 37.2 innings. Awesome ratio, and even if the K rate is a tad low, it's not horrible. He's 22 in A+ and probably could use a promotion, but he's a good pitcher. Don't be surprised if you see him sooner rather than later.
SCRUB: Gustavo Nunez, SS, Lakeland
What is it with Detroit "shortstops of the future" and plate discipline? Nunez's slash stats for May? .212/.250/.263. His OPS is only slightly higher than Alden Carrithers' on-base percentage. I don't care if he's scrappy or a good defender or what. He's got to turn that around, and striking out 26 times in 118 at bats is not the way to do that.
Honorable mentions go to Ramon Lebron (RHP, A West Michigan) and Brayan Villareal (A+, Lakeland) for great performances in May. Lebron had a 3.67 FIP and Villareal had a 3.45 FIP- both deserving of star designations.