Johnny Giavotella Returns To Share Honors As July Royals Minor League Player Of The Month

Looking back at the past month of Royals minor league baseball it was too hard to just pick one pitcher and one batter as Royals minor league players of the month for July, so four players share the honors.

Splitting the pitching honors are Omaha's Luis Mendoza and Idaho Falls pitcher Edwin Carl.

Mendoza was 2-1 during July in five starts as he put up a 1.54 ERA and batters hit just .161 off the 27-year old right-hander from Mexico.

Acquired via trade from the Texas Rangers prior to the 2010 season, Mendoza made four appearances for the Royals out of the bullpen last season and allowed ten runs in just four innings pitched. However he has put things together for Omaha this year as he is 7-4 with a 2.37 ERA. After starting the year in the Omaha bullpen he has moved into the starting rotation and his efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Should something happen that Kansas City needs someone to move up from Omaha to make a start, Mendoza will certainly get a look.

One player you may not be familiar with is Idaho Falls pitcher Edwin Carl. After pitching collegiality as the University of New Mexico, Carl went undrafted and signed with the Royals as a free agent in 2010.

In 10 outings (13.2 innings) during July, Carl was 0-1 with a 0.66 ERA and one save. He showed amazing control as he struck out 27 batters while walking just two during that time. Opponents batted just .089 against Carl during the month.

Though he may be 22-years old and only pitching in the Rookie Pioneer League, Carl's name is certainly one Royals fans show start to follow as they pay attention to the Royals minor leaguers.

Moving over to the offensive side of the ball there was also two Omaha players that stuck out for their efforts in July, in Johnny Giavotella and Lorenzo Cain.

Giavotella makes a return as a Royals Minor League Player of the Month as he batted .383/.430/.570 during July with three home runs and 15 RBI. For his efforts he was named to the AAA All-Star Game. On the year Giavotella is batting a salty .334/.389/.478 with nine home runs and 67 RBI. As noted many times before Giavotella is worthy of a call-up to the big leagues and with Chris Getz continuing to struggle offensively, hopefully that time will be sooner rather than later.

Sharing accolades this month with Giavotella is ironically another blocked prospect in the Royals organization, Lorenzo Cain. Cain hit .363/.442/.560 during the month with four home runs and 14 RBI. Blocked by Melky Cabrera roaming centerfield in Kansas City, it appears Cain may only get a September call-up with Kansas City and will have to fight his way onto the roster in Kansas City next spring. Cain has put up solid numbers all year in Omaha posting .318/.391/.525 batting numbers with 13 home runs and 57 RBI.