Players of the Month

A number of batters posted great months in June 2018. Mike Trout led the majors in OBP (all averages minimum 80 PA) with a .496 mark. He collected 32 hits and 24 walks, getting plunked three times for 59 times on base. Jesus Aguilar led in slugging percentage with a .747 mark, but did not play as much as many of the leaders. His 10 home runs in 89 PA was impressive. Paul Goldschmidt was not far behind with at .738. He also hit ten home runs and led the majors in hits with 39.

Alex Bregman and Nelson Cruz led the majors with 11 home runs each. Bregman tied for the lead in RBI with 30 with teammate Evan Gattis, while Bregman was also second in runs scored with 24. Goldschmidt led that category with 25.

Goldschmidt gets the nod as he is the players who did everything well. He collected hits, walks, extra-base hits, scored runs, drove in runs, and just played an outstanding brand of baseball in June. Paul Goldschmidt is the Baseball Musings Offensive Players of the Month for June 2018.

On the pitching side, Tyler Skaggs posted a 0.84 ERA in five starts covering 32 innings. (Average categories based on 26 innings). He struck out 10.12 batters per nine and did not allow a home run. The competition for best three-true outcomes comes down to Trevor Bauer and Chris Sale. They ranked 2-3 respectively in strikeouts per nine IP, and three-four respectively in home runs allowed per nine innings. Sale wins the walk battle and the ERA battle. Sale also pitched 41 innings, Bauer 41 1/3, well eclipsing Skaggs. Jon Lester and Zach Eflin both went 5-0 with excellent ERAs.

It strikes me that Sale was the total package. He did everything well and pitch a lot of innings, his walk rate and ERA giving him the advantage over Bauer. His mastery of the Yankees Saturday night didn’t hurt. Chris Sale is the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month for June 2018.

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