Players of the Month

Yasmani Grandal led the majors with a stellar .488 OBP in the month of July, collecting 24 hits and 16 walks. Eleven of his 24 hits went for extra bases, giving him a .727 slugging percentage. Matt Carpenter beat that slugging percentage handily, however, 19 of his 31 hits going for extra bases for a .774 slugging percentage. His OBP came in at .447. Christian Yelich hit .400 for the month, going 42 for 105 with five walks and 17 extra base hits. It’s tough to hit .400 in a month, but Yelich banged out a ton of hits and ended July with a 15 game hit streak.

Carpenter led the majors in home runs while Yelich led in doubles. Jose Ramirez did everything, posting a .332/.441/.722 slash line and leading the majors with 11 stolen bases. He was caught just once. Kole Calhoun deserves an honorable mention, as his July line was very close to Carpenter’s line, just below in most categories.

Carpenter was the complete player (and played a bit more than Grandal), so Matt Carpenter get the nod as the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month for July 2018.

On the pitching side, Zack Greinke posted the lowest ERA of the month, 1.60 in 33 2/3 innings. His three-true outcomes were all excellent, which also puts him ahead of Dallas Keuchel and his 1.65 ERA. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole each posted strikeout rates over 13 batters per nine innings pitched, but Verlander allowed a high number of home runs, while, Cole walked a lot of batters. Verlander’s walk rate of 0.90 per 9 IP was also the best in the majors, while Zack Godley pitched 34 2/3 innings without allowing a home run.

A shout out goes to Scott Oberg of the Rockies, who went 5-0 in 13 relief appearances, posting a 1.46 ERA in 12 1/3 innings. That was the most wins for any pitcher in the month.

Greinke with the low ERA and great three-true outcomes is at the top of my list. Zack Greinke wins Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month for July 2018.

Congratulations to both players!

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