Giavotella Named PCL Player of the Month

OMAHA, Neb. - Omaha Storm Chasers second baseman Johnny Giavotella has been honored as the Topps Pacific Coast League Player of the Month for June, the Storm Chasers, Pacific Coast League and Minor League Baseball announced Thursday. The voting was conducted as a survey of the PCL's 16 managers, with each club's skipper getting one vote.

Giavotella, also elected as a starter for the PCL All-Stars in the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 13 in Salt Lake, batted .398 for the month of June (49-for-123) with four home runs, 25 runs batted in, 20 runs scored, 14 doubles and five stolen bases. His 49 hits for the month led all of professional baseball, from Class-A through the Major Leagues. Giavotella will celebrate his 24th birthday on July 10.

The second-round pick (49th overall) of the Kansas City Royals in 2008, Giavotella has made steady progress during his brief professional career. For the season, the 5-foot-8 sparkplug is batting .321 with seven home runs, a team-leading 61 runs batted in and a team-high 25 doubles. Through 86 games, he is already within four RBI of his entire 2010 RBI total of 65, which he accomplished in 134 games for the Texas League Champion Northwest Arkansas Naturals. He hit .322 for the Naturals a season ago.

Giavotella, who calls New Orleans home, attended baseball powerhouse Jesuit High School and played collegiate baseball for the University of New Orleans. In his three seasons with the Privateers, he posted batting averages of .348, .385 and .354, slugging a total of 32 home runs and driving in 172 runs under head coach Tom Walter.

He is the first member of the Omaha franchise to win the Topps PCL Player of the Month Award since Craig Brazell claimed the honor in May of 2007. Brazell, then 27 years old, hit .316 with 13 home runs and 24 RBI for the Omaha Royals that month. In the five games between May 21 and May 25, Brazell had an incredible four multi-homer games, one of the more impressive feats in PCL history.