PEORIA, Ill. -- The Chicago Cubs and Peoria Chiefs have announced that Peoria shortstop Javier Baez has been named the organization's Minor League position player of the month for July. He is the first Chiefs position player to receive the award in 2012.

In 28 games in the month, Baez hit .368 with seven homers, 16 extra-base hits, 20 RBI and 21 runs scored while slugging .679. During the month Baez had a career-best 16-game hit streak and was named the MWL Player of the Week for the week of July 9 to 15. During July Baez raised his season average from .298 to .335 and his slugging percentage climbed from .494 to .595.

Baez led the Midwest League in hits (39), total bases (72) and slugging percentage (.679) in July while finishing second in average (.368), runs (21), OPS (1.076) and extra-base hits (2). He was third with seven homers, one behind teammate Dustin Geiger and Nick Ramirez of Wisconsin. Baez added six doubles and three triples to his extra-base tally and also stole eight bases in July. The slugging percentage ranked Baez 13th in all of Minor League Baseball for July.

The month Baez put together is among the best individual month since the Chiefs switched to the Cubs affiliation in 2005. His .368 batting average and .679 slugging percentage are the highest single-month tallies since Josh Vitters hit .386 and slugged .754 with a franchise-record 12 homers in May 2009. The 39 hits are the most since Justin Bour collected 40 hits in August 2010 and Ryan Flaherty delivered 44 hits in August 2009. No Chiefs player has slugged over .600 in a month since Kyler Burke did so in August 2009 at .612 and Vitters is the only player with more than 15 games played to have a better month slugging wise since the change in 2005.

Baez moved into the three slot in the lineup on July 19 and since the change is batting .352 in 14 games. For the season he is hitting .330 with 11 homers, 10 doubles, 32 RBI and 40 runs scored in 55 games. He is slugging .584 with a .965 OPS and 19 stolen bases in 22 attempts. Baez is batting .370 against left-handed pitching and .350 on the road while also hitting .322 on the season with runners in scoring position.

Baez was drafted ninth overall in the 2011 draft out of Arlington Country Day High School in Jacksonville, Florida. As a high school star at Arlington Country Day, Baez hit .771 with 22 home runs, 20 doubles and six triples in 115 plate appearances as a senior in 2011. He led Country Day to the National Association of Christian Athletics Championship. He signed with the Cubs last summer instead of heading to Jacksonville University on a baseball scholarship.