The Chattanooga Lookouts are playing as well as any team in the minor leagues, having won 13 of their last 18 games. The catalyst has been slugger Daniel Palka, but others have chipped in as well to help the Lookouts go from seven games below the .500 mark to one game above.

In the month of June, Palka has been unstoppable, leading Chattanooga to an 11-4 start to the month. The 24-year-old outfielder has a .288 batting average (15-52) with nine homers and 19 RBI. Palka was acquired in an offseason trade for catcher Chris Herrmann. He has been a big reason for the recent surge by the Lookouts, but not the only reason.

The middle infielders have both been impressive over the past several games. Engelb Vielma, who many consider to be the best fielder in the Twins system, is hitting the ball extremely well. Since his return to Chattanooga, he is hitting at a .414 (12-29) clip. He won’t keep this pace up, but if he bats around the .300 mark all season, with his glove being arguably the best in the Twins system, he could work his way up the system and perhaps make the big leagues in either 2017 or 2018.

Brazilian infielder Leonardo Reginatto has been even outperforming Vielma the past few weeks. Earlier this season, he had a 14-game hitting streak and has at least one hit in 18 of his last 21 games. Of those 18 games, Reginatto has multiple hits in nine of them. Since the hitting streak started on May 22, Reginatto has a batting average of .369 (31-84), rasing his season batting average 36 points in the process.

Center fielder Zach Granite has been gold for the Lookouts this month. He has only been held hitless twice in the month of June. In said month, Granite has a .375 batting average (21-56) with seven of those 21 hits going for extra bases. He also has nine multi-hit games. His batting average was .255 at the start of the month and now it is at .283. As the weather has warmed up, so has Ganite’s bat.

Finally, we cannot forget about the pitching staff. In the 14 games this month, the Lookouts have given up more than three runs in just four games and in two of those four that they did give up more than three, most of the runs were unearned. Chattanooga is on a current streak of nine consecutive games without allowing more than two earned runs in a game. This month, the Lookouts pitchers have an ERA of just 2.30, and just a 1.56 ERA in the past nine games. It would make sense why Chattanooga has won seven of those nine.

Despite the loss today, Chattanooga still is second in the division in the Southern League North Division. It will be interesting to see if the Lookouts can keep it going or if they are just all hot at the same time, but right now, Doug Mientkiewicz has his team playing extremely well.