photo: Nick Dunn (Springfield Cardinals)
The Cardinal Nation’s choice as the top hitter in the St. Louis Cardinals system during June is Springfield second baseman Nick Dunn, who logged a .971 OPS, walked more than he struck out and edged out nine other finalists.
This article details the selection of The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month. Considered were offensive results during June across the entire St. Louis Cardinals system. The winner as well as a group of runners up, or finalists, are highlighted.
Starting with the usual 60 plate appearances requirement, a total of 40 hitters in the system qualified. Ten further separated themselves with OPSes of .800 or above, including four between .900 and 1.000 and one other above 1.000.
As a result of the analysis that follows, Springfield second baseman Nick Dunn is our winner.
Demographics
Double-A Springfield led the way with four finalists apiece while Triple-A Memphis and High-A Peoria each had two. Two of other three clubs – Low-A Palm Beach and the rookie-level Dominican Summer League club – had one each. The rookie Florida Complex League team was shut out, with no qualifier with an OPS above .758 in the first month of play.
A special shout out goes out to two players who are repeat finalists from May – Memphis’ Ivan Herrera and Springfield’s Chandler Redmond, In fact, Redmond has achieved finalist status all three months of 2023 to date. Though his .800 June OPS was right on the qualification line, his third strong month is a measure of consistency. Much more on Herrera, our May winner, is coming.
Reminder
Please remember, this is NOT the “Player of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not major factors here, either.
We will take two views of the data. The first look will be basic stats, followed by rate stats. Names are listed in the same sequence in both tables, in descending OPS order.
The stats
| Hitter | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Yordalin Pena | DSL | 16 | 75 | 64 | 16 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0.359 | 0.453 | 0.609 | 1.062 |
| Nick Dunn | Spr | 24 | 109 | 94 | 19 | 35 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 0.372 | 0.450 | 0.521 | 0.971 |
| Ivan Herrera | Mem | 14 | 61 | 51 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0.294 | 0.393 | 0.549 | 0.942 |
| Pedro Pages | Spr | 22 | 90 | 77 | 16 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 11 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0.286 | 0.378 | 0.545 | 0.923 |
| Jacob Buchberger | Spr | 23 | 100 | 81 | 13 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 17 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0.284 | 0.410 | 0.494 | 0.904 |
| Osvaldo Tovalin | Peo | 25 | 106 | 91 | 18 | 29 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0.319 | 0.415 | 0.473 | 0.888 |
| Taylor Motter | Mem | 22 | 94 | 82 | 12 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0.268 | 0.362 | 0.524 | 0.886 |
| Jimmy Crooks | Peo | 22 | 92 | 83 | 20 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0.289 | 0.348 | 0.530 | 0.878 |
| Alex Iadisernia | PB/Peo | 18 | 127 | 73 | 12 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0.260 | 0.349 | 0.466 | 0.815 |
| Chandler Redmond | Spr | 25 | 104 | 85 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 0.235 | 0.365 | 0.435 | 0.800 |
| Hitter | Tm | PA | GO/AO | XBH | TB | BABIP | ISO | BB/K | BB% | SO% |
| Yordalin Pena | DSL | 75 | 0.81 | 9 | 39 | 0.420 | 0.250 | 0.750 | 12.0% | 16.0% |
| Nick Dunn | Spr | 109 | 0.69 | 10 | 49 | 0.402 | 0.149 | 1.182 | 11.9% | 10.1% |
| Ivan Herrera | Mem | 61 | 0.93 | 7 | 28 | 0.308 | 0.255 | 0.800 | 13.1% | 16.4% |
| Pedro Pages | Spr | 90 | 0.65 | 8 | 42 | 0.327 | 0.260 | 0.478 | 12.2% | 25.6% |
| Jacob Buchberger | Spr | 100 | 1.18 | 9 | 40 | 0.339 | 0.210 | 0.773 | 17.0% | 22.0% |
| Osvaldo Tovalin | Peo | 106 | 1.29 | 10 | 43 | 0.368 | 0.154 | 0.643 | 8.5% | 13.2% |
| Taylor Motter | Mem | 94 | 0.67 | 11 | 43 | 0.298 | 0.256 | 0.600 | 12.8% | 21.3% |
| Jimmy Crooks | Peo | 92 | 1.11 | 10 | 44 | 0.322 | 0.241 | 0.350 | 7.6% | 21.7% |
| Alex Iadisernia | PB/Peo | 127 | 0.83 | 10 | 47 | 0.298 | 0.183 | 0.909 | 14.3% | 15.7% |
| Chandler Redmond | Spr | 104 | 1.21 | 9 | 37 | 0.340 | 0.200 | 0.457 | 15.4% | 33.7% |
With a large gap between the top OPS and the others, the main question to be answered is whether an 18-year-old in the first month of the rookie-ball season should be our winner.
Dominican Summer League outfielder Yordalin Pena led our finalists in OBP (by a hair) and in slugging (by a large margin). He also paced the group in triples with three. However, his RBI total of eight is last in the group of 10. Further, his BABIP of .420 is the highest among finalists and is substantially higher than his .315 registered in the same league in 2022.
Springfield second baseman Nick Dunn’s .372 average paced the final 10 as did his eight doubles. His extra-base count of 10 tied for second among our finalists.
What really stands out for Dunn is his eye at the plate. The 26-year-old walked more than he struck out with a K rate just above 10% (best among finalists) and a BB rate just under 12%. Dunn’s resulting .450 OBP was just .003 behind Pena.
Our May winner, Memphis catcher Ivan Herrera, missed time while serving on St. Louis’ taxi squad for the London Series. Even though he appeared in just 14 games, the 23-year-old was competitive in counting stats, including 16 RBI, while posting the third-best OPS at .942.
Springfield catcher Pedro Pages paced our finalists with six long balls. In fact, that was the top total in the entire system in June. Pages tied another catcher, Peoria’s Jimmy Crooks, with the top RBI count in the organization at 20. Pages also had the top isolated power at .260.
Jacob Buchberger remains consistently solid with a .904 OPS while Taylor Motter led the group with 11 extra-base hits.
When all is said and done, the balanced performance of Dunn gave him the edge over Pena, Herrera and the others as The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month.
About the winner
Dunn was the Cardinals’ fifth-round draft pick back in 2018 and the left-handed hitting second baseman has already reached Rule 5 eligibility. 2023 is his third year at Double-A and he is clearly off to his best start there yet. Though this is not a full-season award, Dunn’s .313 batting average through June is a close second in the system to Luken Baker (.316).
The former Maryland standout finished June strongly with hits in nine of his last 11 games, while batting .408, driving in nine and scoring 10 runs. Dunn had hits in 18 of his 24 June games, including an eight-game hitting streak from June 4-11, during which he hit .452.
Just missed
Several others with good Junes fell below the plate appearance (PA) qualification measure.
Memphis first baseman Luken Baker missed part of the month while with St. Louis but posted an exceptional 1.225 OPS in 47 PAs when back in Triple-A.
Outfielder Tyler Reichenborn logged a .944 OPS in 42 PAs with Peoria and OF Joshua Baez came in at .947 in 59 PAs for Palm Beach.
How did last month’s winner fare?
With Herrera a repeat finalist in June, our May honoree’s most recent highlights are included above. Had he spent the entire month of June with Memphis, he may have repeated as our Player of the Month, However, my guess is that Herrera more highly valued his time with the big league club, albeit while inactive.
What is next?
Check back on Wednesday for The Cardinal Nation’s June Pitcher of the Month announcement. The Cardinals organization should also name their own selections of Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation
Now available – 2023 Prospect Guide
The Cardinal Nation 2023 Prospect Guide is back for its sixth year. It includes a record 292 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of new scouting reports and much more.
https://thecardinalnation.com/order-tcns-2023-cardinals-prospect-guide/
Not yet a member?
Join The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.
Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com or for fastest turnaround, pose your questions on The Cardinal Nation’s members-only forum. Follow Brian on Twitter.
© 2023 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.