It's time for this month's Prospect Performance Review, a look at how the organization's top prospects fared in May...
1. Matt Moore - After his typical slow start, Moore seems to be getting on track in the majors. While his 4.83 ERA for the month isn't anything to write home about, his 41-14 K-BB in 31.2 innings was a vast improvement over his 17-14 mark in 25 April innings. He continues to struggle with he home run ball and pitch efficiency, neither of which is unusual for a 22-year-old.
2. Hak-Ju Lee - It was another rough month for Lee, hitting .217/.291/.264 so far this month, an OPS nearly .100 lower than a disappointing .248/.315/.327 in April. Still only 21, it's now a near-lock that Lee spends the entire season with Montgomery.
3. Chris Archer - Archer may have had the biggest improvement of any on this list. After walking more than he struck out in April, he posted a 41-13 K-BB in 28.2 innings in May, with one start still to come. Over his last three starts, he's struck out 30 in 16.2 innings.
4. Taylor Guerrieri - Remains in extended spring training.5. Alex Colome - Colome returned from an oblique injury on May 26th to make his first start since early April. He struck out five in 4 innings and has a 15-3 K-BB in three starts this season.
6. Alex Torres - He's performed better as a reliever, but when the comparison is to an ERA over 10.00 as a starter, that's not saying much. He's got a 17-9 K-BB in 12 relief innings, obviously still not hitting the strike zone enough. Torres' GB% is also at a career low 39%.
7. Tim Beckham - Serving a 50-game (reduced from 420) suspension for testing positive for a drug of abuse.
8. Enny Romero - Romero continues to hold hitters to a low batting average -- .237 in May, .229 overall -- but his 38-29 K-BB rate in 49 innings is disappointing after he fanned 140 last season. His 3.67 season ERA is fine but is being helped by just home run allowed all year.
9. Drew Vettleson - His average fell from .303 to .261 from April to May but his OPS has risen as he's hit for four more extra-base hits in a similar number of ABs. A .282/.350/.441 line isn't any sort of breakout, but it's a solid line for a full-season debut. Vettleson also leads minor-league baseball in outfield assists.
10. Mikie Mahtook - He tapped into his power more this month. His .284 May batting average is identical to April's, but his .389 SLG% represented a .066 improvement. Still a ways to go, obviously, but he did finally hit his first home run.
11. Brandon Guyer - Out for the season with a labrum injury to his non-throwing shoulder.
12. Jake Hager - He raised his batting average from .200 in April to .300 in May, though his OBP for the month was only .311. But a teenager hitting .300 (and not all singles, eight of his 21 hits went for exta bases) in the Midwest League is nice to see, even if we're talking arbitrary cutoffs.
13. Derek Dietrich - He holds the team lead in OPS among those with 75+ ABs (sorry, Mayo Acosta) with a .270/.354/.483 season line, .277/.352/.564 in May with five home runs after none in April. Worth noting that he's hitting .310/.402/.520 on the year vs. RHP.
14. Ryan Brett - A hot month for him as a 4-5 game yesterday raised his monthly line to .348/.402/.461 with an OPS just a hair under .800 for the season. He's walked eight times in May (four in April) and swiped eleven bases (two in April).
15. Luke Bailey - Injured since April 14 (broken hand)
16. Parker Markel - Returned from injury to make two starts in May, getting knocked around to the tune of six earned runs on ten hits in 4.1 innings.
17. Albert Suarez - An underwhelming season continued as Suarez punched out 12 in 26.2 innings in May, though he did only walk four. With a 4.50 ERA and a .279 opponents batting average, he isn't exactly pumping up his stock. With one more inning, though, he'll set a career high.
18. Tyler Goeddel - MOA? After a terrific start, Goeddel hit .219/.333/.328 in May. The improved walk total is nice, though the strikeouts are still roughly one per game. He's shown nice speed and baserunning with eleven steals against one time caught for the year.
19. Matt Bush - Restricted list; I think we all know about this situation.
20. Blake Snell - Remains in extended spring training.
Special shoutout: Josh Sale - Called up from XST to Bowling Green were he hit .366/.491/.805 in 15 games before hurting his hamstring on May 21, though he hasn't been placed on the DL.
Special shoutout 2: C.J. Riefenhauser - He's got a 2.36 season ERA thanks to a 53-6 K-BB rate in 42 innings for the Stone Crabs. Still a wide L/R split, though: Righties are hitting .287 against him, lefties are hitting .172.