Hellickson is the top pitching prosepect in the organization and in his second start of the season against the Tigers he gained his second win. He went seven scoreless innings while striking out seven, no walks and 3 hits. After giving up a leadoff hit in the first inning, the next 18 were retired. I cant say how good this kid is. He does it so calmly and fluent its unbeleivable. I know Strasburg gets the hype but this kid is a star for sure.

“He knows how to pitch, that’s for sure,” said James Shields, the elder statesman of the Rays’ starting rotation at age 28. “He’s got really good command of his pitches. He knows where each one of them is going. That’s one of the main differences between the Minor Leagues and the Major Leagues.”

Im glad the elder of the staff had this to say because pretty soon he will be taking his spot sooner than later. In two starts Hellickson is 2-0, has a 1.29 ERA and 13/2 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Most teams that lose two starting pitchers in the same day more than likely will have a downfall but not when you have a star like Hellickson to bring up from AAA to outduel the opposing team. I look forward to seeing this kid in the Rays rotation in the near future and staying. I just cant see why he needs to waste any of his arm facing batters in the minors that are clearly no competition for him. He leads the minors in win with a record of 12-3 and has an ERA of 2.45

Kelly Shoppach

Awful.  The only word to really describe the hitting of Kelly Shoppach during the month of July. .128 in 46 PA isn’t even laughable it’s so paltry.  46 PA’s, 5 hits, no extra base hits.  Couple that with 5BB and 15K and you have put together about an awful of a month as a hitter could produce.  Enough said, this is making me angry.

Andy Sonnanstine

5 appearances, 6 ER, 3 bombs, and a 7.36 ERA for the month will land you on this list.  I once saw Sonnanstine as a potentially valuable 5th pitcher for the Rays, but it seems as though he has just regressed the last 2 years.  He gave up a run in all but one of those 5 appearances in June, and had a brilliant .2 IP, 4 H 3 ER dazzler vs the Indians.

Randy Choate

When you allow opponents to hit .333 off you for the month, you’re also going to have a pretty good chance to end up on this list.  Choate had 14 games in July, allowed 8 hits in 6.2 IP, and 5 ER.  I had to reach on this one, just because I don’t like to put guys on the list who aren’t really playing/pitching too often, but a 2 man Bums of the Month list seemed kind of pointless.  Welcome Randy.

Pena who has been struggling to put the bat on the ball all year other than dropping HR, actually brought his average up above .240 for the month of July (.241). While that seems pretty measly, and it is, Pena still is great at looking at pitches and taking BB (15 BB in July) and by doing so, always keeps his OBP above .350.  For the month of July he hit .241/.365/.506/.871 and hit his 2nd most HR of any month of the season with 7.

Matt Joyce

A lot of Rays fans have been clamoring for Joyce to get a real chance to show some of the power that he showed with the Tigers and the reason why the Rays moved Edwin Jackson to obtain him.  Just like Pena, he didn’t really hit the ball well (.235) but when you can slug at a .559 clip for the month, on a team where everyone has below average BA, you’ll more than likely end up on our studs of the month list. He hit 5 HR and 7 2b for the month, which explains the high .SLG even with the low BA.  Just like Pena, Joyce has a great eye, and knows how to get on base even when he isn’t hitting the ball (.342 OBP).

Joaquin Benoit

BEAST.  The heir apparent to closer Rafael Soriano, Benoit has pretty much been unhittable all year long.  In July, he pitched 15.1 IP, gave up 5 hits, and only 1 run, while striking out 21 guys and walking only 2.  The one run that he allowed was a HR.  You can’t get much more unhittable than facing 53 guys in a month and allowing 5 hits.  Benoit doesn’t allow hits, and doesn’t walk guys, he pretty much just strikes guys out.

Wade Davis

Amongst constant trade speculation, Wade Davis put up his best month of the year.  He went 4 and 0 wit ha 3.03 ERA in 5 starts.  Most importantly to me, he issued his fewest BB total of any month of the season.  He also allowed his fewest hit and run totals of any month of the season.  He ended the month with a 1.194 WHIP, by far his best WHIP numbers of the year.

I know everyone is going to ask how the hell I didn’t put Matt Garza on here when he pitched a no hitter in July, but Garza had a pretty subpar month other than that outing.