Cubs name their minor league player and pitcher of July |
CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today named Double-A Tennessee outfielder Alexander Canario as the organization’s minor league player of the month for July, while Single-A Myrtle Beach left-handed pitcher Luke Little was named the club’s minor league pitcher of the month.
Canario, 22, garnered Southern League Player of the Month honors after he hit .354 (23-for-65) with eight doubles, seven home runs, 16 RBI and 19 walks, contributing to a .500 on-base percentage and a 1.300 OPS in 19 games for Tennessee in July. The right-handed hitting outfielder tallied seven multi-hit efforts, including a 4-for-4 game on July 24 at Chattanooga. Canario notched his third multi-homer game of the season on July 12 vs. Biloxi and homered in consecutive games on July 23-24. His 26 home runs this season are the most by any Cubs minor leaguer and are tied for the seventh-most in all of minor league baseball. The six-foot, 212-pound Canario is in his second season in the Cubs organization after he was acquired from the San Francisco Giants on July 30, 2021, with right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian for infielder/outfielder Kris Bryant. Prior to joining the Cubs, Canario spent the first four-plus years of his professional career with the Giants after he signed with the club as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2016. Rated as the Cubs’ No. 19 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Canario owns a career .266 average (373-for-1,403) with 86 doubles, 13 triples, 71 home runs, 244 RBI, 64 stolen bases and an .844 OPS in 369 minor league games. Little, 21, posted a 1.15 ERA (2 ER/15.2 IP) with 25 strikeouts, compared to only five walks, in five starts for Myrtle Beach in July. The lefthander finished the month by tossing 13.2-straight scoreless innings over his last four outings. Little struck out five-or-more batters in four of his five starts and did not allow more than two runs in any of his appearances this past month. All told this season, Little is 1-4 with a 3.12 ERA (17 ER/49.0 IP) in 19 games (18 starts), while holding opponents to a .186 average (34-for-183) and lefthanders to a .167 average (8-for-48). A native of Charlotte, N.C., Little is in his second professional season after the Cubs selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 First-Year Player Draft out of San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas. The six-foot, eight-inch Little has made 24 career minor league appearances (22 starts), going 1-5 with a 3.45 ERA (23 ER/60.0 IP) and 98 strikeouts, good for an average of 14.7 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. Congratulations to Alexander Canario (@smokiesbaseball OF) and Luke Little (@Pelicanbaseball LHP), our minor league player and pitcher of the month for July! pic.twitter.com/pObWM8COjx
