The St. Louis Cardinals announced right-handed pitcher Matt Pearce and shortstopAllen Cordoba have been honored as the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Month for July for their accomplishments on the field.
Pearce, 22, the Cardinals 13th round selection out of Polk State (Fla.) College in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft was 2-3 with a 1.93 ERA over six starts at Palm Beach (High-A). The Bonita Springs, Fla., native led all of Minor League Baseball with 46.2 innings pitched during the month, walking a mere two batters and hurled two complete games.
The right-handed stalwart leads all of Minor League Baseball with four complete games setting the Palm Beach franchise mark. Pearce currently leads the Florida State League in innings pitched (130.1), WHIP (0.93), complete games (4) and ranks fifth in ERA (2.42). He led the Midwest League in ERA (2.43) during the 2015 season at Peoria (A).
"Matt's impressive month was highlighted by just two walks in six starts over 46.2 innings of work," explained Cardinals Director of Player Development, Gary LaRocque.
Cordoba, 20, a non-drafted free agent from Changuinola, Panama, batted .376 with five doubles, three triples and eight stolen bases in 22 games at Johnson City (SS-R). The right-handed batting shortstop finished the month on a 12-game hitting streak (22-52, .423), scoring in 11 of 12 games. He is currently riding a 13-game hit streak and an Appalachian League-leading 14-game on-base streak, while ranking in the Top 5 in the league in batting (.353, 4th), hits (41, T2nd), on-base percentage (.423, 4th), runs (28, T3rd), triples (3, T4th) and stolen bases (9, T3rd).   Cordoba was the Gulf Coast League Most Valuable Player for the 2015 season.
"Allen earned Player of the Month with his consistent defensive play at shortstop and his productive month offensively," said LaRocque.