Minor league notes on Luis Gonzalez and Jason Esposito

Yesterday, the Orioles named minor league pitcher Luis Gonzalez the organizational Pitcher of the Month for July. That is a nice honor for a player who has barely been in the organization for a year. The 22-year-old left-hander from the Dominican Republic was originally signed by the Phillies, but they released him. On July 18, 2013 the Orioles signed him as a minor league free agent. "Our Latin American program did a really good job of finding this guy as a released player in the Dominican," Orioles director of player development Brian Graham said. "He was a 20-year-old player who had been released by the Phillies. He came to our academy and threw a bullpen and our Dominican staff signed him. "When you look at him you see Eduardo Rodriguez's body and a similar delivery. He's been very impressive. He's very mature with good composure." Last year Gonzalez pitched in the Orioles' Dominican Summer League program and in May of this year they sent him to Single-A Delmarva. He's had a strong season for the Shorebirds, going 6-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 14 games, 13 starts. Over 66 2/3 innings he has given up 52 hits with 22 walks and 62 strikeouts. He's allowed an average of just .212 and one stat that stands out is that he has not allowed a homer all year. Gonzalez went 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA last month and over 27 1/3 innings walked seven with 26 strikeouts. He took a 20 1/3 innings scoreless streak into his start Tuesday but the streak ended when he gave up six runs over 5 1/3 frames. "He has a quick arm," Graham said. "Throws 90 to 93 (mph) with velocity with late life. His changeup is much improved and he throws a slider for strikes. He's one of those guys if he commands the baseball he has a chance to pitch at a high level." Meanwhile, at Single-A Frederick third baseman Jason Esposito, the club's second round pick in 2011 out of Vanderbilt, is starting to pick it up at bat. In 101 games for the season, Esposito, who turned 24 on July 19, is batting .272 with 24 doubles, four triples, eight homers and 40 RBIs. This is a nice improvement after Esposito hit .209 in 2012 for Single-A Delmarva and .222 last season at Frederick. But in July, the right-handed hitter batted .354 in 26 games for the Keys. I asked Keys manager Luis Pujols why Esposito's bat has come to life. "He's been doing a lot of work and he's staying through the middle," Pujols said. "He has a lot of confidence now and (coach) Torre Tyson is doing a great job with him. He's cut down on his strikeouts and increased his walks. His goal is to finish strong. "They've been working on how he uses his hands, pitch selection and staying through the middle. His average is better against left-handed pitchers, but he's hitting better against right-handers now too." O's minor league RBI leaders: 89 - Christian Walker, Norfolk 75 - Dariel Alvarez, Norfolk 70 - Michael Burgess, Bowie and Trey Mancini, Frederick 66 - Mike Yastrzemski, Bowie O's minor league strikeout leaders: 126 - Tyler Wilson, Norfolk 124 - Mitch Horacek, Delmarva 112 - Parker Bridwell, Frederick 106 - Hunter Harvey, Delmarva and Steven Brault, Delmarva