Corniell named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month

Jose Corniell has been named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month for August, it has been announced. Corniell appeared in five games in the month of August for the Hickory Crawdads, striking out 32 of 109 batters faced over 29 innings while walking just five. He allowed opponents a .160/.220/.250 slash line over that stretch.

Corniell was acquired in December, 2020, from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for reliever Rafael Montero. I had forgotten until looking up the trade on B-R to see whether it was November/December 2020 or January/February 2021, but the Rangers also received a player to be named later in the deal. The PTBNL was infielder Andres Mesa, who has slashed .191/.265/.316 for Down East this season.

Corniell only turned 20 in June, and the righthander has split the season between low-A Down East and high-A Hickory, putting up a 2.95 ERA in 100.2 IP with 118 Ks and 31 walks between the two levels. Corniell is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and seems likely to be added to the 40 man roster this winter.

If you want to read more on Corniell, there’s a writeup on him as part of today’s Ten Pack at Baseball Prospectus, as well as writeups on Cam Cauley, Aidan Curry and Antoine Kelly.

I know I don’t normally do a whole post on a minor league player of the month award, but I figured we could use a little positivity right now.