Patterson, Font again named week's best

ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Pacific Coast League announced Monday that Albuquerque outfielder Jordan Patterson and Oklahoma City right-hander Wilmer Font have been named the Player and Pitcher of the Week for the period of July 10-16. Both are being honored for the second time this year. Patterson, who also was named the winner for the week of June 19-25, is the second position player to collect two weekly awards this season (Christian Villanueva, El Paso). Font was previously honored this year for the period of May 15-21 and is the first pitcher to be recognized twice this year. 

In the All-Star-shortened week, Patterson still tied for a Minor League Baseball weekly-best with four home runs and paced the PCL with nine RBI and 20 total bases in four games. He hit .471 (8-for-17) with four extra-base hits and four runs scored, helping the Isotopes to a series win against the Las Vegas 51s.
The 25-year-old recorded his second and third two-homer games of the season on consecutive nights. Patterson is tied with four other players for a PCL season-best three multi-homer games. In the first game out of the break, Patterson contributed two homers, one being a grand slam, and five RBI in a win. He followed that up with two more homers, which highlighted his four-hit, three-RBI game. The Alabama native reached base two more times in the series finale, driving in one.

Patterson, in his second season with the Isotopes, has a club-best 18 homers, 65 RBI and 171 total bases in 85 games this season. Since the start of June, Patterson has hit .356 (52-for-145) with 10 homers and 34 RBI. He has been in the Rockies organization his entire career after getting selected by Colorado in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Alabama. Patterson was Albuquerque's only PCL midseason All-Star last year. He made his MLB debut later that season and got eight hits in 10 games.
Font worked six strong innings against New Orleans on July 16, giving up only three hits and one run with eight strikeouts and no walks. He retired 11 of the first 12 hitters and threw 56-of-79 pitches for strikes. Earlier in the week, Font started for the PCL in the Triple-A All-Star Game and threw a scoreless inning on only four pitches.
In his ninth professional campaign, Font has had a breakthrough year. He leads all of Minor League Baseball in strikeouts (127) and is pacing the PCL in WHIP (1.12), average-against (.222), strikeouts-per-nine innings (12.12) and fewest baserunners-per-nine innings (10.21). The 27-year-old has made 18 starts for the Dodgers and delivered a 3.91 ERA, a mark that places fourth in the league. This is his first season in the Dodgers organization. He came up through the Texas system and was with the Rangers until signing with the Reds prior to the 2015 season. He then spent the 2016 season with the Blue Jays, signing as a free agent last July. He made 12 starts that year between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo, pitching to a 3.68 ERA (66.0 IP, 27 ER) with 55 strikeouts against 12 walks.