Pitchers of the Week

International League
Jeremy Hellickson, Durham
2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 15 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 K
Jeremy Hellickson worked hard for his first win of the week. Pitching against the Pawtucket Red Sox on Monday, the Rays prospect took a perfect game into the seventh inning, when he gave up a leadoff walk. The runner, Tug Hulett, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Hellickson got the next two batters to dribble grounders that would not make it out of the infield. Pitching with a 1-0 lead in the eighth, the 23-year-old allowed a leadoff single, got two fly balls and struck out Bubba Bell to get out of the inning and hand off the game to Tampa Bay closer prospect Winston Abreu, who struck out the side to preserve the one-hit shutout for Hellickson. The righty was only slightly less stingy his next time out. He scattered four hits over seven innings of shutout ball, refusing to issue a free pass, to beat the Rochester Red Wings on Sunday. Hellickson was also the IL Pitcher of the Week for the season's opening week.

Pacific Coast League
Seth Etherton, Albuquerque
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO
Seth Etherton, who spent almost the entirety of May in extended Spring Training, demonstrated his desire to spend the rest of the season in a rotation. He gave up just one hit and struck out five through his first four innings against the Reno Aces on Sunday. But he only got better as the middle innings ticked by, striking out two in the fifth, three in the sixth and another in the seventh. The Dodgers farmhand earned his first win of the 2010 season and lowered his ERA to 4.24.

Eastern League
Tim Alderson,
2-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 SO
Tim Alderson, whom the Pirates got from the Giants in the deal for Freddy Sanchez, struggled through his first several starts of the season -- although he threw five shutout innings on April 10, he had an ERA over 6.00 after his first eight outings. This week, though, Alderson was the prospect Pittsburgh fans hoped they were getting. Matched up against Scott Barnes -- another former Giants prospect and the reigning EL Pitcher of the Week -- on Monday, Alderson shut down the Akron Aeros over seven innings, surrendering four hits and hitting a batter while whiffing five. On Saturday, the 21-year-old allowed one run and struck out five more over six innings to beat the Reading Phillies.

Southern League
Jake McGee, Montgomery
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO
With the exception of Josh Vitters, Jake McGee struck out every Tennessee Smokies batter at least once Friday night. He wasn't especially particular about how he did it. He struck them out swinging, and he struck them out looking. He struck them out to lead off innings, and he struck them out when runners were in scoring position. He issued five hits and a walk in the win, but he kept the Smokies from scoring during his seven innings of work. Incidentally, McGee did hold Vitters hitless all three times they squared off, and Montgomery's Matt Gorgen fanned him for the penultimate out of the game.

Texas League
Blake Beavan, Frisco
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO
Rangers prospect Blake Beavan finished the week with a Texas League-best seven wins, and given the way he pitched Wednesday, it's easy to see how he's able to pile up so many victories. Three of the four hits he gave up in the ballgame were clustered in the first three innings, and he danced out of early trouble to beat the Northwest Arkansas Travelers in Frisco. Between the end of the third and the sixth inning, Beavan retired eight straight, three of them via punchout. The right-hander is also among circuit leaders in ERA, WHIP, innings pitched and average against, and this is his second Texas League Pitcher of the Week award in the month of May.

California League
Ethan Martin, Inland Empire
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
Ethan Martin, the Dodgers' first pick in the 2008 Draft, threw his first professional complete game on Thursday, shutting out Bakersfield over nine masterful innings. Martin gave up a single to the first batter of the game, a double in the third inning and another single in the fourth inning but otherwise held the Blaze hitless. Even late in the tilt, Martin showed no signs of tiring. He fanned three of the last five batters he faced.

Carolina League
J.J. Hoover, Myrtle Beach
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
Braves prospect J.J. Hoover put together his finest outing of the 2010 season Saturday, tossing eight shutout innings against the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Hoover, who was roughed up in one Carolina League appearance in 2009, scattered five hits over his day -- only once did Wilmington have more than one hit in any single inning against Hoover. The 22-year-old showed masterful control by striking out seven without putting anybody aboard on balls.

Florida State League
Charles Furbush, Lakeland
1-0, 1.93 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 14 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 22 K
FSL hitters can't be happy about having to deal with Charles Furbush. The southpaw, who was taken by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 2007 Draft, has piled up 90 strikeout victims and walked 11 over 62 innings this year, and he leads all of baseball in K's (Tim Lincecum comes in second with 83). Last year, Furbush totaled 93 strikeouts all season long. Whatever he's doing differently is working. On Tuesday, he struck out 12 while allowing a run on four hits over eight innings against the Tampa Yankees. Facing the Palm Beach Cardinals on Sunday, he was much less effective, giving up three runs -- two earned -- over six innings. The scary news? Even on his bad day this week, Furbush collected 10 strikeouts.

Midwest League
Austin Adams, Lake County
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 1 GS, 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K
Indians prospect Austin Adams, who was a fifth-rounder in the '09 Draft, staved off the South Bend Silver Hawks over four innings on Monday. His Captains would go on to lose, 6-3, but Adams began the game with two no-hit innings, worked around a leadoff single in the third and worked a perfect fourth, fanning four throughout the brief start. On Saturday, he came in to do some relief work in the fifth inning of a no-hitter. He kept the no-no going into the eighth, when he surrendered a two-out single, and he allowed another single in the ninth. Adams struck out seven over his five dazzling frames, though, and he didn't walk a batter in either of his two appearances.

South Atlantic League
Nathan Moreau, Delmarva
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Nathan Moreau, a 23-year-old Orioles prospect, threw six innings of one-hit, shutout ball against the Lakewood BlueClaws on Friday. After a two-out single in the first inning, Moreau struck out the side in the second and didn't allow another baserunner until giving up a leadoff walk in the sixth. The Shorebirds bullpen sustained the one-hitter to grant Moreau his first win of the season. Moreau's fine outing didn't come against an easy opponent, either: the BlueClaws are tied for the Sally League lead in runs scored (279) and have the circuit's second-highest team batting average (.268).