Angel Cuan will be celebrating his 24th birthday tomorrow, and he has an early birthday present to enjoy. The St. Lucie southpaw has been awarded the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week honors following a dominant performance against Bradenton.

Following his first seven-inning performance of the season on May 18th (also against Bradenton), Cuan came back to do the same in his most recent start, but even better. In those seven shutout innings, he allowed only two hits and no walks, while striking out nine hitters. It the second consecutive time he’s kept an opponent scoreless, while the nine whiffs are a season-high.

He didn’t allow a walk for the fourth time in 2013, and has now only allowed five free passes in 39 innings pitched this season. His most recent dominant start brings his season record to 5-1, to go along with a 3.69 ERA and 33 strikeouts. On the heels of twirling this gem, St. Lucie manager Ryan Ellis said he would have left him in the ballgame for all nine innings if he didn’t need to get Jeurys Familia and Scott Atchison an inning of work each for their rehab assignments.

What I thought was interesting was that Cuan is awfully used to beating Bradenton. He’s taken the mound against them four times this season, and sports a 4-0 record. In total, he’s thrown 24 innings against the Marauders in less than a two-month span, allowing four runs on 16 hits, four walks, and 27 strikeouts. Sounds like he has their number.

Congratulations to Cuan on this accomplishment! What a way to begin his birthday celebrations.