by Ethan Kassel / A’s Farm Contributor
The Stockton Ports put together a rather uninspiring record of 10-17 during the month of May. But as much as the team struggled as a whole, there were a number of impressive performances by Ports players during the month.
Outfielder Austin Beck
After hitting just two homers and one triple in April, Beck doubled those numbers, homering four times and tripling twice, in May, and the 20-year-old ended up slugging a robust .529 for the month. Beck started the month off by belting two round-trippers in a May 1 victory over Visalia, and then notched his next multi-hit game of the month when he collected three hits, including a pair of doubles, in a May 7 loss at Lancaster. The A’s top draft pick in 2017 went 6 for 7 over the course of two games on May 26-27, with a long bus ride sandwiched in between. He singled three times in a May 26 loss at Inland Empire and went 3 for 3 with a double and a triple the following day in a win over Modesto at Stockton. Beck then homered and doubled as part of a three-hit performance at Lancaster on May 30 and wound up posting an impressive .849 OPS for the month.
Outfielder Jameson Hannah
After struggling throughout much of April and posting an OPS of just .603 for the month, Hannah sailed through May, batting .327 with seven doubles while putting up an OPS of .800 over 25 games for Stockton. What started with a 5-for-8 stretch against Modesto on May 4-5 turned into a remarkable month in which the 21-year-old compiled 32 hits. Last year’s second-round draft pick for the A’s went 9 for 14 over the course of a four-game series against Lake Elsinore in mid-May and had a hit in 20 of his 25 games during the month. Hannah also demonstrated good situational awareness, producing two sacrifice flies on May 10 against Inland Empire, one of just two games during the month in which he didn’t find himself on base at least once.
Infielder Nick Allen
Allen turned in an impressive performance at the plate in the month of April. And while his production dipped just a bit in May, he still proved to be one of the Ports’ top hitters during the month. The 20-year-old, who’s been splitting time at shortstop and second base, put together a string of seven multi-hit games over a 10-game span early in the month, going 16 for 40 from May 4-14. And over that stretch, he notched five doubles, three triples and a homer. After going 5 for 40 over the next two weeks, Allen finished the month with a bang, going 5 for 9 over the final two games of the month at Lancaster. And over the course of the month, Allen slashed .271/.346/.427 for Stockton.
Infielder Jeremy Eierman
After homering in his first at-bat of the season for Stockton, Eierman struggled throughout most of April and ended up hitting just .159 for the month. But the 22-year-old quickly put a dismal April behind him and found new life in May, putting up a .258 average for the month. Eierman, who’s been splitting time at shortstop and second base with Nick Allen, homered twice in the month’s first three days and also went deep on May 17 to give him a total of three home runs on the month. Things really started to click for Eierman when Modesto came to town for a three-game Memorial Day weekend series. He went 6 for 13 over three games and then notched another three hits in the month’s final match against Lancaster. Eierman ended up posting an OPS of .752 for the month, which was quite a marked improvement over his April OPS of .494.
Pitcher Brady Feigl
Even with a drop in his strikeout totals from 29 in 27 innings in April to just 21 in 35 1/3 frames in May, Feigl still managed to stay on top on his game, posting a 3.82 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP over six starts for Stockton. His month was highlighted by an impressive showing against Lake Elsinore on May 13 that proved to be one of the best performances in the A’s organization during the month. The 23-year-old struck out just three but allowed only one hit, a seventh-inning single, over seven scoreless innings for Stockton. After giving up four runs over six innings in his first May start, the only time Feigl allowed more than two earned runs the rest of the month came on May 21, a night during which he battled 18-mph winds blowing straight out to center field in Lake Elsinore. And in his final start of the month, he was charged with six runs on seven hits, including a pair of home runs, but four of those runs were unearned. Feigl leads all Stockton starters with a 3.61 ERA on the season.
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