Baseball’s regular seasons fit nicely into a window made up of six months of the calendar. That first month is over with the Houston Astros putting up one of their best opening months in their history at 16-9, which is percentage points behind the 15-8 Yankees and Orioles for best in the AL and second best in all of baseball.
It is time to make a few quicky awards for the first month of the season. We’ll just call them the ChipalattAwards.
Pitcher of the Month. Dallas Keuchel. Put forth any other name and you are just being goofy. 5-0 and he left the 6th game with a 2-1 lead. At least 7 innings in every start. 2 runs is the most he has given up and that was in his 9 inning complete game win at Cleveland. First in wins in the AL, first in innings pitched, 3rd in ERA among qualifiers – he is looking even better than he did in his Cy Young season after one month and is also Player of the Month for the Astros.
Runner-up. Chris Devenski. He’s had a few bumps lately, but his pitching was critical in 5 of their first 11 wins. His 2.16 ERA and .600 WHIP are strong, but his 32 Ks vs only 2 BB in 16.2 IP is world class.
Everyday (almost) Player of the Month. Evan Gattis. Even though he is tied for 10th on the team in plate appearances, he is tied for first with 14 RBIs. His .321 BA/.400 OBP/.918 OPS is impressive, but more impressive is his ability with runners in scoring position. RISP – .444 BA / .476 OBP / 1.254 OPS 2 outs RISP – .667 / .714 / 1.714
Runner-up. George Springer. His BA and OBP are too low, but his 16 runs scored, 7 HRs and 14 RBIs have meant a lot to the team. Brian McCann is right here also due to what he has brought the team behind the plate as well as at it.
Looking in a mirror winners. No contest here. The twin brothers of different mothers award goes unanimously to Brian McCann and Evan Gattis
Biggest Surprise (Positive). Brad Peacock. For a guy who only made the team out of ST due to Collin McHugh’s injury, he has been an under the radar contributor to date. After 7 scoreless appearances, he did give up a run Sunday – but his numbers to date are pristine. 2-0 record, 18 Ks and only 4 hits in 11.1 IP and a 0.79 ERA.
Runner-up. This may be Yulieski Gurriel, who after a slow start this season is spraying line drives all over the place. After the first week of the season, he was putting up a pitiful .095 BA / .095 OBP / .190 OPS. At the end of the month he was one of the best hitters on the club with a .329 / .354 / .835 line.
Biggest Surprise (Negative). Tie. Carlos Correa and Carlos Beltran – The two Puerto Ricans were supposed to ride their World Baseball Classic success into a strong start of the season. Instead they both end April with only 2 HR and 8 RBIs and .650 OPS and .627 OPS respectively.
Runner-up. Not sure. Alex Bregman who is just OK, but lacking the power he showed last season? Ken Giles and Luke Gregerson who have more positive outings than negative, but crummy ERAs to date?
Best Survivor of the World Baseball Classic. Jose Altuve who has risen up to a .326/ .402 / .874 slash. Yawn. Can’t this guy do anything to thrill us like an OBP of .500? He is also the winner of the best leadoff stats for a guy who is not allowed to leadoff.
Runner-up. Nori Aoki who started off on fire and now is just solid.
Best Imitation of a Power hitter by a non-power hitter. Marwin Gonzalez who is second on the team with 5 HR and on pace for 32 dingers.
Runner-up – Jake Marisnick already has 2 HRs in only 21 ABs and also has the highest SLG and OPS on the team.
Most Likely to Get Replaced in the Rotation. Mike Fiers with his 5.12 ERA / 1.603 WHIP and less than 5 innings per start.
Runner-up. Joseph Musgrove who is a bit better in every way and who better have a longer leash than Fiers.
Your turn. What April Awards would you like to hand out?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
135 responses to “Astros 2017: The ChipalattAwards for April”
When the game is late would you rather be AJ Hinch and his bullpen (2.93 ERA / 1.12 WHIP / 9 of 12 in saves) or Bannister with his pen (5.36 ERA / 1.46 WHIP / 2 of 9 in saves)?
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Uhh, I don’t really keep up with football., except for the Rockets.
I like Counting Cars, though. That’s a sport, right?
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https://www.google.com/amp/www.crawfishboxes.com/platform/amp/2017/5/3/15537010/astros-purchase-contract-for-casey-coleman-from-atlantic-league
This article is telling that nobody from AA is ready to be promoted, or ahead of schedule. Kind of disappointing for Deetz, Thome, Armenteros with sub-2.0 ERA’s. But good for me, since I’ll be at Whataburger Field this month.
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I guess that’s one reason why a healthy arm belonging to a Fiers will help keep him in the mix. A string of injuries to our ML staff could really change our fortunes quickly. We have nothing on standby.
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The Astros preseason were 14-1 to win the World Series. Now Bovado rates them at 8-1. I’ve never placed one of these kind of bets, but that sure looks juicy!
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Is this the same thing as Texas, hold ’em?
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Different World Series.
Were you being facetious?
As you know, I play in the World Series of Poker, but could only hope to watch the baseball version, Op.
Oh, shoot, game time!!
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Oh, yes, Bovada is a poker site, Op, but apparently they do online sports gambling too.
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The lineup. Love this photo of Marwin looking over at the dugout after his blast!
https://mobile.twitter.com/astros/status/859868514462597120/photo/1
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A double digit clobbering tonight?
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I always like your predictions!
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Hey that was super smooth by our SS! Check that, he’s our shifted SS ha!
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Well they will score double digits for sure.
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Rangers don’t want to go to their bullpen early – go ahead Astros and get those double digits for daveb
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Blummer is a completely different person tonight. I wonder if he was feeling Kalas’ pain last night? I’m really confused about that.
Is it time to plug Luhnow and Co. again for the Morton and Aoki pickup? Brilliant!
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Looks like MarGo reads Chipalatta, too!
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MARWIN STRIKES AGAIN!!! He’ll be in the lineup tomorrow!!
I *love* this team!!! Please no Sipp Hinch! The guy can NOT get ANYONE out.
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Well if he doesn’t use Sipp how can he turn this into a tight game by the 9th
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He’s doing his best to give us some drama.
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A Rule 5 draft pick was Marwin Gonzales.
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Double digits daveb. Got any predictions for tomorrow?
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Sandy, don’t want to push my luck, but if Joe gives us what have gave us on Sat. night, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape today!
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daveb you are on a hotter streak than the Astros – so push as much as you want
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I don’t know about you, but this is the game I have been waiting for.
Correa breaks out.
Score 10 runs.
Charlie Morton gets some confidence and a win.
Beat the Rangers.
Becky blogging like herself again.
Feliz decides to use the fastball and stops messing around.
Big Joe going tomorrow and a rested bullpen.
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If I died to night…..I’d have the biggest smile on my face😆!!! Cowabunga Buffalo Bob! The look on Stinky’s, face was *P R I C E L E S S*!!
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You guys gotta read about “the belt” Reddick had made! It’s a wrestling belt, and it gets handed to the play of the game after each win! Go to the official Astros site and get a look and read what Reddick says about it!! Correa got it after tonight game!
I loved Rasmus, warts and all, and now Reddick has won me over this year!
Think about this, all these guys will be playing together for the next 3yrs!!!
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I love Reddick. ..absolutely brilliant signing. Not just for his play but also what he brings to the clubhouse
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Seattle scored four in the 8th and beat the Angels in the wee hours this morning, when Becky and 1OP can’t seem to stop blogging. I can’t sleep! Astros with a 4.5 game lead in the AL West.
OK, afternoon game tomorrow. I’m going to take a couple of pills.
Go, Astros!
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