Major League Baseball has announced the players who were deemed worthy of Player of the Month awards as well as Pitcher of the Month, Reliever of the Month, and Rookie of the Month. One nominee from both the American League and National Leagues was nominated for the awards.
The hottest hitters this July. ?
Yuli Gurriel and Paul Goldschmidt are the Players of the Month. pic.twitter.com/kT8oQAlGht
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2019
Coming off of a week where Paul Goldschmidt was named Player of the Week, he was named Player of the Month for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League (NL). The Houston Astros had Yuli Gurriel nominated as the American League (AL) Player of the Month. Gurriel takes home his first Player of the Month award but he was also named Rookie of the Month during the 2017 season. Before Goldschmidt was traded to the Cardinals, he took home one of these awards while playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pure domination.
Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg are the Pitchers of the Month for July. pic.twitter.com/WikygiZBHu
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2019
The Astros players weren’t done with just one award, starting pitcher Gerrit Cole took home to Pitcher of the Month award for the AL for his dominance on the mound. The NL Pitcher of the Month came to be Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals who was electric on the hill only allowing four runs during the month of July. The Astros who have former Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, newly crowned Pitcher of the Month award winner Cole, and newly acquired Zack Greinke.
The Astros rotation just got much deeper, Greinke is the biggest addition from the trade deadline but Aaron Sanchez also helps make that rotation even stronger. The Washington Nationals can snowball the success of Stephen Strasburg into foreshadowing for good results after the trade deadline. If the Nationals starters do well, they should be in good shape after trading for three relief arms at the deadline to round out their bullpen.
Shutdown options out of the ‘pen.
Tommy Kahnle and Seth Lugo are your July Relievers of the Month.
(MLB x @TheHartford) pic.twitter.com/atl46zUPIB
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2019
When fans think about the success of the New York Yankees bullpen, names like Aroldis Chapman, Adam Ottavino, Zack Britton, and Dellin Betances come to mind, but July was all about Tommy Kahnle. The AL Reliever of the Month was announced as Kahnle who was lights out in the pen for the Yankees, helping them continue the tear they are on looking to push deep into the postseason this year. The NL Reliever of the Month came in the form of Seth Lugo from the New York Mets who has helped keep their bullpen together.
The Mets traded for shutdown closer Edwin Diaz in the offseason, a move that has not benefitted them much at all as Diaz is struggling. Lugo has allowed the Mets to have a better chance of winning when the ball comes out of the starters hands at the end of the games. The Mets trade deadline featured one of the biggest deals that went down, beefing up their starting rotation to feature Marcus Stroman making it a playoff-contending rotation.
These kids were clutch.
Yordan Álvarez, Keston Hiura are the Rookies of the Month. pic.twitter.com/CTX5tNEt72
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2019
In a month where Keston Hiura earned an NL Player of the Week honor alongside AL nominee Ramón Laureano of the Oakland Athletics, Hiura was crowned NL Rookie of the Month. The Milwaukee Brewers youngster has proven to be a force in the lineup, keeping him up with the big league club as a part of the next wave of rising stars in the MLB. The AL Rookie of the Month nominee was another Astros player, Yordan Alvarez who was crowned the award. Alvarez was the third Astros player to take home a monthly award which is huge for a team hoping to get back to the playoffs and back to the World Series.
