Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced the club’s July Minor League Award winners:
- Player of the Month – 1B/OF Abimelec Ortiz
- Starting Pitcher of the Month – RHP Caden Scarborough
- Reliever of the Month – RHP Gerardo Carrillo
- Defender of the Month – INF Casey Cook
Ortiz, 23, batted .341/.400/.682/1.082 (29-85) with 7 home runs, 8 doubles, 17 RBI, 8 walks, and 18 runs scored in 21 games with Double-A Frisco last month. The left-handed hitter was honored as Texas League Player of the Month for July, ranking among the league’s leaders in home runs (1st), slugging percentage (1st), OPS (1st), total bases (1st, 58), extra-base hits (1st, 15), RBI (T1st), doubles (T1st), and batting average (3rd) during the month. His 7 home runs, 15 extra-base hits, and 58 total bases paced all Texas farmhands in July. Ortiz was promoted to Triple-A Round Rock on August 5 and is hitting .444 (8-18) with 4 home runs and 13 RBI over his first 6 career Triple-A contests. On the season with Frisco (89 games) and Round Rock (6 games), the Bayamón, Puerto Rico native and 2023 Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year is slashing .257/.357/.478/.835 (92-358) with 20 home runs, 19 doubles, and 69 RBI.
The 20-year-old Scarborough fashioned a 1.40 ERA (3 ER/19.1 IP) with 23 strikeouts against 4 walks in 5 July games/4 starts for Single-A Hickory. Among Carolina League hurlers with 15.0-or-more innings pitched last month, he ranked T7th in strikeouts-per-walk ratio (5.75) and 8th in WHIP (0.88). Scarborough began the month with a one-hit gem (4.1 IP, 0 R, 7 SO) on July 5 vs. Kannapolis and closed the month with a then-season-high-tying 5.0 innings of one-run ball on July 29 at Fayetteville. Ranked as Texas’ no. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, the Rangers’ 6th-round draft selection in 2023 from Harmony (Fla.) High School has totaled 88 strikeouts in 70.0 innings with a 3.09 ERA across 18 games/17 starts for the Crawdads in his second professional season.
Carrillo (pronounced cah-REE-yo) allowed just one unearned run last month, going 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA (1 R-0 ER/8.1 IP) over 9 relief appearances with Double-A Frisco in July. He posted a 0.840 WHIP figure with 3 walks (1 IBB) and 11 strikeouts, as opponents batted just .143/.226/.214/.440 (4-28) with one extra-base hit (3B) last month. For the season, the Guadalajara, Mexico native has gone 2-2 with a 3.41 ERA (13 ER/34.2 IP) over 30 relief appearances with the RoughRiders. The 26-year-old right-hander has seen time in the Dodgers and Nationals systems, and also pitched in the Mexican Winter League. A non-roster invitee to Rangers Major League Spring Training camp in 2024, he is returning to form after missing all of last season following 'Tommy John' ligament replacement surgery on March 1, 2024.
Cook combined for a .986 (1 E/72 TC) fielding pct. over 23 games and 201.0 innings at second base and shortstop for High-A Hub City in July, aiding in 6 double plays. The 22-year-old had not committed an error for the entire month until his lone miscue, a throwing error on a backhand double play feed to the shortstop on July 30 vs. Asheville. The Rangers' third round selection in the 2024 MLB Draft out of the University of North Carolina, Cook has spent the entire campaign at High-A Hub City after making his pro debut with Hickory (A) in 2024.
– RANGERS –