The Chattanooga Lookouts swept the weekly awards last week as Blake Dunn and Teddy Stankiewicz were named as the Player and Pitcher of the Week for the Southern League. This is the second time in 2023 that the Lookouts have had both the player and pitcher of the week at the same time – Connor Phillips and Rece Hinds accomplished it for June 12-18th.
Blake Dunn picked up his third player of the week award in 2023. He won it back in the final week of April when he was still playing with the Dayton Dragons in the Midwest League. He also won it for Chattanooga in July for the third week of the month.
Dunn entered the series against Tennessee riding a 6-game hitting streak. The streak was 12 games by the time the week was over. The outfielder went 12-28 (.429) with two walks, three doubles, three home runs, seven runs batted in, nine runs scored, and two steals. He would hit .429/.467/.857 during the week as he continued to break out and establish himself as a true prospect to keep an eye on.
After posting an OPS of .871 in High-A Dayton, Dunn has not only not slowed down, but he’s gotten better after his promotion to Double-A. In 63 games with the Lookouts, Dunn is now hitting .353/.432/.571. Between the two stops he’s got 17 doubles, 4 triples, 20 home runs, and 47 stolen bases. He needs just three more stolen bases this season to become just the second Reds minor league player to put together a 20-homer, 50 steal season (since 1960 when we have full minor league data).
It’s been an up-and-down season for Teddy Stankiewicz, but he put together a 1-run, 5-inning outing against Birmingham on August 20th. He followed that up with his best start of the year – a dominating 7-inning start against Tennessee on Saturday night where he allowed just three hits in a shutout performance, walked no one, and he struck out eight batters. He set season highs in both strikeouts and innings pitched. That was a strong enough performance to earn him the nod for Pitcher of the Week in the Southern League.
Here are the other Players of the Week this season from the farm system:
- Andrew Abbott – Southern League – April 10-16
- Blake Dunn – Midwest League – April 24-30
- Noelvi Marte – Southern League – May 1-7
- Matt McLain – International League – May 1-7
- Noelvi Marte – Southern League – May 16-21
- Tommy Eveld – Southern League – May 22-28
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand – International League – June 5-11
- Connor Phillips – Southern League – June 5-11
- Connor Phillips – Southern League – June 12-18
- Rece Hinds – Southern League – June 12-18
- Esmith Pineda – Arizona Complex League – June 26 – July 2
- Brooks Crawford – Midwest League – July 3-9
- Blake Dunn – Southern League – July 17-23
- Connor Phillips – International League – July 17-23
- Blake Dunn – Southern League – August 21-27
- Teddy Stankiewicz – Southern League – August 21-27
- Ethan O’Donnell – Florida State League – August 21-27
So, who is the Reds Minor League Player of the Year? Dunn or Encarnacion
-Strand?
When factoring in defense and baserunning I think it’s an easy answer as of today.