Justin Turner appears to be an easy choice for offensive players of the month. His .402/.491/.722 slash line ranks 1st/1st/2nd in the majors for any player with at least 80 PA. He collected 39 hits, tied for second in the majors, despite many fewer plate appearances (PA) than the other hit leaders. The argument against Turner would be that his averages are helped by fewer PA, since he had less of chance to go cold. Ronald Acuna and Christian Yelich each hit 11 home runs to tie for the MLB lead, but none of their averages are close to Turner’s. Miguel Andujar and Rougned Odor led the majors in RBI with 29, but both have weaknesses in their games. Turner did it all, so Justin Turner is the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month for August 2018.
Cole Hamels made six starts, posted a 4-0 record, and recorded a 0.69 ERA. That’s the best in the majors for August. Except for Hamels no home runs allowed, it wasn’t a great month for the leaders in the three-true outcomes. Trevor Cahill did not allow a home run, but posted a 4.15 ERA. Jose Musgrove walked just 0.60 batters per nine innings, but posted a 4.20 ERA. Justin Verlander struck out 13.9 batters per nine IP, but ended August with 5.29 ERA for the month.
The main competition for Hamels comes from two Mets starters, Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom. Both bested Hamels in strikeout rate and walk rate. Both posted extremely low ERAs, in more innings than Hamels. The argument for Hamels is that he moved into a tight division race and responded magnificently. That and the much lower ERA makes Cole Hamels the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month for August 2018.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2N5E8E2
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