Starting the new month while looking back at the last one...

Charlotte Knights

Up: Carlos Sanchez. He hit .292 in both April and May, but he put a little more juice into it. .292/.372/.442. This qualifies as the hottest hitter for a pretty bad Charlotte offense.

Down: Jordan Danks. Sometimes I wonder if a guy in Danks' position has a hard time staying motivated. He hit .164/.279/.288 in May.

Up: Eric Surkamp. One bad start spoiled his May ERA (4.31), but his peripherals are nuts. he struck out 42 while walking just four batters over 31⅓ innings.

Down: Erik Johnson. He's melting (6.09 ERA, 40 hits 11 walks over 34 innings ,just 24 strikeouts).

Birmingham Barons

Up: Kevan Smith. Josh Phegley is blocking him a level up, but he's trying to draw attention to himself with a .358/.447/.605 May. He had more walks (13) than strikeouts (12) over 81 at-bats.

Down: Trayce Thompson. He's moved up to the leadoff spot to try to shake him out of an awful cold spell. He hit .153/.256/.297 with 41 strikeouts over 131 plate appearances.

Up: Chris Beck. The Birmingham rotation is a lot like the Charlotte offense, which means that Beck's thin 2.88 ERA makes him stand out. He did double his strikeout rate from April to May, but his ground ball rate suffered.

Down: Myles Jaye. Literally, Jaye was sent down to Winston-Salem after allowing six runs over three outs in his most recent start with the Dash. Control was a problem, as he walked eight batters to just one strikeout over his last six innings.

Winston-Salem Dash

Up: Tim Anderson. There are still holes in his game -- walks, errors -- but he hit .322/.347/.444 over 95 plate appearances, which gives him something to feel good about during an aggressive assignment.

Down: Nick Basto. Mysteriously sent down to extended spring training after hitting .333/.341/.452 with a respectable strikeout rate. He did commit 17 errors in 37 games, so maybe there's a position change in the offing.

Up: Frank Montas. Larry focused on him in last week's minor league report. He's still good.

Down: Tyler Danish. First three starts: 11.2 IP, 19 H, 16 R, 12 ER, 2 HR, 3 BB, 7 K.

Kannapolis Intimidators

Up: Trey Michalczewski. Home run power is going to be a work in progress, but he made better contact in May (.287/.352/.394).

Down: Cleuluis Rondon. Regression has kinda sat on him over the last six weeks or so. He hit .237/.317/.247, which means he's back to being entirely glove-first.

Down: Andrew Mitchell. He moved to the bullpen in May, but that hasn't helped his command at all. His line for the month: 14.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 20 BB, 18 K.

Sunday's box scores will appear in the comments shortly.