Lakewood shortstop Arquímedes Gamboa, Lehigh Valley right-hander Jose Taveras and Lehigh Valley second baseman Scott Kingery have been selected as the Phillies Minor League Hitter, Pitcher and Defender of the Month, respectively, for August.
Gamboa, 19, batted .318 (27-85) with five doubles, a triple, four home runs, 12 RBI, six walks, two stolen bases and an .896 OPS in 22 games. He finished the season with a 14-game hitting streak, during which he batted .418 (23-55) and raised his average by 34 points. He tallied four straight multi-hit games from Aug. 20-23, and seven over the course of the month. The Venezuela native recorded as many extra-base hits (10) in August as he did in April through July combined. Gamboa was signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent on July 17, 2014.
The 23-year-old Taveras saw his first-ever triple-A action in August, going 2-1 with a 1.54 ERA (6 ER, 35.0 IP) and 33 strikeouts in six starts for Lehigh Valley. He allowed only 24 hits in those 35.0 innings, holding opponents to a .188 batting average. His 1.54 ERA was the fourth-best among all triple-A pitchers in the month. Taveras allowed zero earned runs in five of his seven starts overall with the IronPigs, surrendering three or fewer hits in four of them. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Taveras was signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent on Nov. 10, 2013.
Kingery played in 30 games during August, appearing defensively at second base (22 games), third base (4 games) and shortstop (2 games) without making an error. The 23-year-old posted a .989 fielding percentage (3 errors, 272 total chances) in 63 games with Lehigh Valley, turning 34 double plays. He ended the regular season with a streak of 47 consecutive games played without an error. Kingery was selected by the Phillies in the second round of the June 2015 draft.