The St. Louis Cardinals today announced Memphis Redbirds (AAA) infielder César Prieto as their selection for Minor League Player of the Month for May.
Prieto, 25, ranked among all qualified Cardinals minor leaguers in OPS (.880, 2nd), extra-base hits (14, 2nd), home runs (5, T2nd), slugging percentage (.537, 2nd), total bases (51, 3rd), RBI (15, 4th), and runs scored (16, 4th). His 14 extra-base hits and eight doubles in May both established new single-month career-highs. The left-handed batter reached safely in 20 of his 24 games played, and had a 20-game on-base streak from April 26-May 21. It is Prieto’s first career organizational Minor League Player of the Month award selection.
“César Prieto’s productive month produced seven multi-hit games with a .880 OPS, helping Memphis to their 17-12 record in May,” said Cardinals Assistant GM & Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque.
The 5’9”, Cuban native was acquired by the organization at last year’s trade deadline from Baltimore along with pitchers Drew Rom and Zack Showalter in exchange for Jack Flaherty. He finished sixth in all of Minor League Baseball last season with 161 hits between the Orioles and Cardinals organizations, while also ranking sixth-lowest among full season minor leaguers in strikeout rate (9.6%). He entered 2024 as the Cardinals No. 17 prospect and “Best Hitter for Average” by Baseball America and is currently slashing .297/.335/.508 with 9 HR, 22 extra-base hits, 29 runs and 29 RBI in 49 games with Memphis.
