Players of the Month

June produced some gaudy on-base and slugging percentages, with the top four players in OBP doing it all. Jose Altuve hit .420/.492/.620, his OBP the highest in the majors. Matt Carpenter missed first by a hair, with a .349/.491/.633 slash line. Altuve collected more hits, but Carpenter walked more with more power. Josh Donaldson provided even more power with a .368/.487/.705 slash line, hitting six doubles and six home runs, adding four triples as well! The four triples are 1/3 of his career total. Finally, Anthony Rizzo hit for even more power, with a .378/.467/.744 slash line, smashing nine doubles and eight home runs.

Brandon Moss, just at the edge of qualifying, slugged .792 to lead the month, but Wil Myers slugged .765 with 10 doubles and 11 home runs while playing in 26 games. He also drove in 33 runs, the most in the majors, while scoring 25. Adam Jones scored 30 runs to lead the majors, scoring 11 of those on his own home runs. In a big month for home runs, the leaders hit 11, including Edwin Encarnacion.

This is a very tough choice. Altuve hit .420, and hitting .400 for a month is a great feat. Donaldson hit for more power, and scored more runs and drove in more runs than Altuve. Wil Myers was a machine playing in what used to be a tough hitters park. In the end, I have to go with Donaldson, with the best balance of all the talents you want to see in a player. Josh Donaldson is the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month for June 2016.

On the pitching side, Michael Fulmer posted a 0.61 ERA, 0.7 runs better than anyone else in the majors. That might be enough in most months to give him the award. There are some caveats there, however. His inning total was low, 29 1/3 pitched, and his strikeout and walks rates were not outstanding. It terms of three-true outcomes, Jose Fernandez takes the cake with 14 K/ 1.67 BB/ 0.33 HR per nine innings. Again, however, that’s just in 27 innings pitched. Max Scherzer, with a 41 1/3 innings and a 12.63/1.52/1.09 line and a 1.96 ERA looks like a better candidate.

Danny Salazar won all five of his starts while posting a 1.91 ERA. He did walk 15 batters in 33 innings, and 33 innings isn’t all that much. Workhorse Jon Lester went 4-0 in six starts with a 1.41 ERA, pitching 44 2/3 innings.

I like Lester’s innings and ERA, I like Scherzer’s innings and three-true outcomes. In the end, however, my awards are about results, and the innings and ERA give Lester the edge. Jon Lester is the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month for June 2016.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/299ES6e