June 2, 2009 at 3:05 AM
Player of the Month, May: Aaron Bates
Portland OF Aaron Bates swung a hot bat in May, posting a .370/.456/.602 line in 108 at-bats (40 hits) over 28 games, belting six home runs and seven doubles, and was named SoxProspects.com (position) Player of the Month. Bates power output for May was especially impressive in light of the fact that he hit 11 homers in all of 2008. On the season Bates is batting .344/.413/.525 with seven home runs and twelve doubles in 183 at-bats (63 hits) over 46 games, scoring and batting in 36 runs respectively. He was also voted SoxProspects.com Player of the Week for the week of May 25-31 (a week for which he was also named Eastern League Player of the Week), having previously been so recognized for May 4-10. Bates, 25, is presently the 29th rated prospect in the organization by SoxProspects.com.