July 1, 2023

Players of the Month

June busted out all over with great offensive performances. Eight players recorded batting averages over .350 in a minimum of 80 plate appearances (PA), including Luis Arraez of the Marlins who batted .406. It’s tough enough to hit .400 in one month, but Arraez hit .439 in April, and went 3 for 7, .429, in March.

Twenty one players posted OBPs over .400, including Ketel Marte at .442. Marte’s return to form this season is a big reason the Diamondbacks are on top of the NL West.

Fifteen players finished the month with slugging percentages over .600. Eddie Rosario of the Braves slugged a convenient .711, He appears to be returning to his pre-pandemic form, when he regularly hit over 20 home runs.

Despite all these great performances, the stats present an easy choice for the top batter. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels tops the OBP board with a .492 mark, and tops the slugging percentage board with a .952 average. His .394 BA finished second to Arraez. Ohtani collected 41 hits, twenty five of them for extra bases. Not only did his fifteen home runs lead the majors but he finished second in triples with three. He drove in 29 runs to lead the majors, and his 27 runs scored with second only to Marte’s 30.

Congratulations to Shohei Ohtani, the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month for June 2023.

On the pitching side, Eury Perez of the Marlins made five starts, allowing one run on a solo homer in 28 innings for an ERA of 0.32. He struck out 35 and walked five for a 3-0 record. Blake Snell of the Padres pitched three more innings with a 0.87 ERA, striking out 53 batters. He did walk more batters and allow more home runs than Perez, however.

Twenty eight innings is not a lot. Among the pitchers with at least 36 innings, the stand out is Taijuan Walker of the Phillies. Walker went 5-1 in six starts with a 1.50 ERA. While his three-true outcome rates are good, none of them blow you away. Brayan Bello and Marcus Stroman allowed zero home runs, No one seemed to have dominated as much as Perez all month, so despite the low innings total, Eury Perez wins the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month for June 2023.

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