Phillip Ervin has been solid, but unspectacular for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the 2016 season. For the year he’s hitting .241/.359/.407, good for an OPS of .766. The Southern League average OPS is only .687, so he’s certainly been better than average at the plate.
There hasn’t been a large variance in production from month to month for the outfielder. In April he posted a .795 OPS. That was followed up in May with a .735 mark and in June with a .704 mark. July saw a bit of a bump from the precious month at .715. Again, no real stand out month in there, but solid production month at the plate.
Then we get to August. As things sit heading into the game tonight, Phillip Ervin is hitting .292/.422/.472 during the month. That’s good for an .894 OPS. He’s walked more often than he’s struck out, with 11 walks and just nine strikeouts (and going back to July 1st, he’s got as many walks as strikeouts with 24 of each in 188 plate appearances).
The plate discipline has been good throughout the entire season. Ervin has walked in 10% of his plate appearance, or more, in every month of the season. His strikeout rate has fluctuated a bit more. In April it was 23.8%, while it dropped to 16.% in May only to rise back to 24.7% in June. Since then, he’s seen a real big drop off in his strikeout rate. In July he posted a 2016 best 15.3% strikeout rate, but again in August it’s gotten even better. He’s only struck out in 10% of his plate appearances on the month.
August has seen Phillip Ervin post his best stats in nearly every category on the season. His average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, extra-base hit total and strikeout rates are all the best of the year for him. The walk rate is the second worst of the five months, but it’s still a strong 12.2% on the month.
The overall season hasn’t jumped off of the page. His .241 batting average sticks out. The on-base percentage has been strong despite that and his power output has been solid. If you add in the 33 stolen bases you can add in some extra value there as well. At this point it would seem that it’s only the average that’s been holding him back. The rest of his game is showing up as very well rounded, capable of doing a little bit of everything (or a lot in some places).
This offseason the Cincinnati Reds will have to decide on whether or not to add Ervin to the 40-man roster in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. With a well rounded skillset of a guy who can get on base, provide a little bit of power, run the bases well and can play all three outfield spots, it would seem that he’s exactly the type that you protect or would be selected by another team.