Owings, Bradley win D-backs’ organizational awards for second consecutive month
Jun 4, 2013, 12:31 AM | Updated: 1:16 am
The Arizona Diamondbacks announced on Monday that shortstop Chris Owings and pitcher Archie Bradley had won the organization’s Player- and Pitcher-of-the-Month awards for May. The tandem, who are posted at Triple-A Reno and Double-A Mobile, respectively, also captured the awards in April.
Owings, who leads the minor leagues in hits, with 86 — 10 more than any other minor leaguer — currently has a 21-game hit streak intact. The 21-year-old shortstop hit .355 (44-for-124) in 29 games in the month of May, recording six doubles, 14 RBI, three stolen bases and one home run.
Following the 2012 season, Baseball America ranked Owings as the Diamondbacks’ No. 7 prospect. Selected 41st overall as a supplemental first-rounder in the 2009 draft, Owings leads the Pacific Coast League in games, at-bats and runs scored.
Bradley, who was recently recognized by ESPN’s Keith Law as Major League Baseball’s ninth-best prospect, went 4-1 with a 0.79 ERA after being promoted to Double-A Mobile at the beginning of the month. He currently boasts the second-best ERA (1.01) and strikeout total (80) in the minor leagues. Right-handers in the Southern League are currently batting .100 (7-for-70) with 20 strikeouts against Bradley, who didn’t allow a home run in the month of May.
The Diamondbacks selected the hard-throwing 20-year-old with the seventh pick of the 2011 draft.
Monday was the first time that the organization’s player and pitcher awards were captured by the same pair for consecutive months.