May felt like a better month for the Astros, however, they ended up 2 games above .500 (15-13), after finishing April 2 games above .500 at (16-14). They did move up to ½ game back of the first place Mariners.
How did they perform in May vs. the other teams in the American League?
Offense – May – Ranking in the AL
.275 BA (1st) / .335 OBP (2nd) / .769 OPS (3rd) / 121 runs (6th) / HRs 34 (T-4th)
Pitching – May – Ranking in the AL
4.27 ERA (12th) / 6 saves (T-8th) / 1.280 WHIP (8th) / 276 Ks (1st) / 98 walks (12th) / 30 HR (9th best)
This is not how May felt to us, when we thought that the pitching was still outperforming the offense. The offense was actually good in May, while the pitching had fallen some. Now, it needs to be stated that a couple stinkers like the two the Astros had in the Rays’ series can skew those numbers severely.
But these awards are individual awards and we need to look at how the individuals did do in May.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of May.
| Name | Gm | W | L | Svs | IP | ERA | WHIP | Ks/9 IP | BAA | OBPA | OPSA | BAbip | IR/ IS |
| Framber Valdez | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 2.36 | 0.952 | 9.0 | .199 | .258 | .646 | .255 | N/A |
| Hunter Brown | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 30.2 | 2.93 | 1.011 | 11.4 | .200 | .261 | .606 | .258 | N/A |
| Ronel Blanco | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 2.70 | 1.000 | 9.9 | .194 | .256 | .604 | .250 | N/A |
| Lance McCullers Jr. | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18.1 | 5.89 | 1.691 | 12.8 | .260 | .374 | .815 | .354 | N/A |
| Hayden Wesneski | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9.00 | 1.750 | 6.8 | .313 | .389 | 1.076 | .333 | N/A |
| Ryan Gusto | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 8.25 | 2.500 | 9.8 | .315 | .441 | .997 | .359 | 0/0 |
| Colton Gordon | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19.2 | 5.95 | 1.373 | 9.2 | .289 | .322 | .852 | .339 | N/A |
| Brandon Walter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.00 | 0.800 | 9.0 | .176 | .222 | .458 | .250 | N/A |
| Josh Hader | 9 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 1.00 | 0.778 | 15.0 | .129 | .229 | .519 | .200 | 0/0 |
| Bryan Abreu | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 1.54 | 1.029 | 10.0 | .150 | .261 | .511 | .192 | 3/1 |
| Tayler Scott | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 6.35 | 2.118 | 7.9 | .263 | .444 | .708 | .333 | 5/2 |
| Bryan King | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9.1 | 5.79 | 1.286 | 9.6 | .270 | .325 | .703 | .346 | 5/0 |
| Steven Okert | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11.1 | 3.97 | 0.882 | 11.9 | .171 | .244 | .512 | .240 | 5/1 |
| Bennett Sousa | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 3.86 | 1.200 | 10.8 | .261 | .286 | .699 | .344 | 4/2 |
| Logan Van Wey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15.00 | 2.667 | 12 | .400 | .471 | 1.071 | .500 | 2/2 |
| Kaleb Ort | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12.1 | 6.57 | 1.378 | 8.8 | .244 | .327 | .727 | .300 | 6/0 |
| Shawn Dubin | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 0.84 | 1.313 | 10.1 | .231 | .318 | .626 | .333 | 4/1 |
| Forrest Whitley | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.1 | 16.88 | 2.813 | 10.1 | .360 | .500 | 1.260 | .412 | 3/3 |
Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.
Starting Pitcher of the Month – Framber Valdez – After a shaky April, Framber was on a solid roll in May (4-1, 2.36 ERA) and helped re-build the image of the two headed monster at the top of the staff.
Runner-up – Hunter Brown – the other head at the top of the staff – Brown’s numbers were skewed by his start in the Tampa wind tunnel bandbox. Take that away and he was very, very good in May (3-1, 1.76 ERA outside that start) and could have taken the top spot.
Last Month – Winner – Hunter Brown / Runner-up – Tie – Ryan Gusto and Hayden Wesneski
Special Recognition – Brandon Walter’s single start in his MLB debut – 5 innings of shutout ball.
Relief Pitcher of the Month – Josh Hader – Hader was basically automatic as the only run he gave up during the month was in a non-save situation (surprise).
Runner-up – Bryan Abreu – He pitched a couple times more than Hader and his 1.54 ERA was a bit higher, but he was also overall excellent for the month.
Last Month – Winner – Steven Okert / Runner-up – Tie – Josh Hader and Bryan King
Special Recognition – Shawn Dubin – He was normally coming in the lower leveraged 5th/6th inning area, but he was excellent in May, only giving up a run in his last appearance of the month.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of May.
| Name | ABs | Runs | Dbls | HRs | RBIs | BBs | Ks | BA | OBP | OPS | BAbip |
| Isaac Paredes | 103 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 17 | .262 | .347 | .850 | .250 |
| Jose Altuve | 103 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 17 | .262 | .306 | .743 | .268 |
| Jeremy Pena | 110 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 18 | 5 | 14 | .327 | .380 | .898 | .337 |
| Christian Walker | 103 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 27 | .223 | .268 | .627 | .267 |
| Cam Smith | 75 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 22 | .307 | .388 | .788 | .434 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Yainer Diaz | 99 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 17 | .283 | .330 | .795 | .299 |
| Jake Meyers | 98 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 16 | .327 | .389 | .879 | .367 |
| Brendan Rodgers | 46 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 22 | .152 | .204 | .443 | .261 |
| Victor Caratini | 71 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 11 | .310 | .367 | .804 | .339 |
| Zach Dezenzo | 58 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 23 | .241 | .343 | .757 | .364 |
| Chas McCormick | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | .222 | .300 | .578 | .285 |
| Mauricio Dubon | 52 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | .314 | .333 | .762 | .323 |
Positional Player of the Month – Jeremy Pena – Pena takes the top spot again – leading the team in RBIs and putting up an excellent slash of .327 BA/ .380 OBP/ .898 OPS.
Runner-up – Jake Meyers – Meyers led the team in runs scored and also put up an excellent slash of .327 BA/ .389 OBP/ .879 OPS.
Last Month – Winner – Jeremy Pena / Runner-up – Isaac Paredes
Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Cam Smith – Even without a home run during the month of May, Smith showed he really belonged between his excellent fielding and base running and his strong slash for the month – .307 BA/ .388 OBP/ .788 OPS
Runner-up – Dubin
Last Month – Winner – Gusto / Runner-up – Okert
Honorable Mention – Zach Dezenzo – in only 58 at bats, his 11 runs scored and 7 RBIs were big contributors to a better offense effort in May.
Biggest Disappointment – Tayler Scott – After being one of the feel good stories of 2024, Scott pitched his way off the roster fairly quicky in May. Here’s hoping he can pitch his way back to the bigs with Arizona.
Runner-up – Ryan Gusto – After pitching very well the month before, he fell on hard times in May with that 8.25 ERA sticking out like a sore thumb.
Last Month – Winner – Yainer Diaz / Runner-up – Tie – Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker
Honorable Mention – Forrest Whitley – Is this the last stand for Forrest? He has to step beyond being a human punching bag for the opponent. And he has to stay healthy.
Some Comments on May
There are some interesting and puzzling things that happened to the Astros in the month of May:
- The starting pitching only picked up 8 of the 15 wins for the month.
- Bryan King and his 5.79 ERA picked up as many wins (3) as Hunter Brown. Of course, if you drop his one terrible, horrible, very bad appearance (5 runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Rays) he had a 1.00 ERA in his other appearance during the month.
- It sure did not feel like Isaac Paredes had the same amount of RBIs (7) for the month as Mauricio Dubon, Dezenzo and Smith.
- Christian Walker had a below average slash, but he did drive in the second most RBIs (16) in May.
- Yainer Diaz had much better numbers for the month than my eyes would have told me.
- Those pitching numbers for the month of May are schizophrenic – for every good set of numbers there is a godawful set of numbers.
- The numbers may emphasize the difficulty of Joe Espada’s job. Who do you trust? Who do you give more at bats to? Who do you sit? Who gets the high leverage innings? Who comes in when you are down 12-2?
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
31 responses to “Astros’ ChipalattAwards for May”
Forrest Whitley did nothing in Sugar Land this season to earn his call up. There really are not many other options on standby though. He’ll continue to get some innings when a game is out of reach, one way or the other. But not for long. The Astros have committed nine years to the former first round pick. If he becomes a successful ML pitcher, I do not think it will happen with the Astros.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning. I know this is not awards related, but I was discussing Framber with my brother last night via back and forth texts. The Astros have six guys due to collectively make 138 million in 2026; Altuve, Yordan, Hader, Lance, Walker and Javier. Even if they want to, how can they pay Framber? That still leaves 19 more guys to get contracts to. Some of them ready for Arb money. Significant Arb money. Keeping the payroll in Crane range will not give us a whole lot of wiggle room. And as the boss has insisted, the Astros will never be sellers. Does that still apply?
LikeLike
One of the sites publishes a “we tried” leaderboard each offseason. It tracks the offers to players which teams know won’t be accepted. That’s what Houston’s plan is here. Going into last offseason Framber and Max Fried were basically the same pitcher. So far, Fried has been really good and Framber has been only a hair less-good. The real difference is that NYY gets him for only $14.5M this year and next, but then gets to pay him $31.5M for 6 consecutive years. This gives me the opportunity to bring up that NYY has paid Gerrit Cole $180M and is on the hook for $144M more over this season and the next three. I don’t know the timeline for his return, but I would expect it’s no later than mid-summer 2026. We can’t do those contracts or take that risk. Just paying Altuve this year and the remainder of his contract is a problem we’ve already discussed this year. The options really were try to win with Framber this year or try to move him for prospects. Our farm didn’t have enough potential replacements to make that move without seriously damaging the team’s chances to win in 2025. That has to be Brown’s top priority and it’s not going to come via free agency due to the budget constraints mentioned above.
LikeLike
I’ll take a shot at this Daveb – using Spotrac to help me
Note – they will certainly want to buy out a couple of these guys with extensions – but will it happen?
LikeLike
Dan, I think Chas and Frenchie go. Based on what Jake is doing now, he makes the cut. Chas might be gone this year, if healthy.
I wonder about Victor though. He’s been good and has one of those rare lefty bats.
I also think Hunter gets more than 4.5 million. Can you get away with giving a 20 game winner that little?
We decided last night that Framber might take somewhat of a hometown discount. I just don’t see him being comfortable elsewhere. But that still would be at least 5 years at 30 million. Plenty of teams would pay more than that. And the Astros might not pay that much.
So do the Astros use him to the end, hoping for post season magic? Or would Jim Crane follow the Tucker concept of getting what we can for him at the deadline even if we’re competitive in the division? I think Crane would have us getting nothing for Framber before he’d fold on the season.
Dan, I’m sorry. It’s hard for me to get excited about monthly awards, or even consider them.
LikeLike
On another note – I don’t see many comments when I put up the awards – it is fairly labor intensive and if folks don’t care for it – I can go other directions. Just wondering.
LikeLike
I appreciate the effort, but generally don’t have any disagreements with your awards. My suggestion would be to pare back the information a bit and not present as much. I’d maybe give your selection and brief explanation for a couple categories and only offer a comparison if it’s a close race.
LikeLike
I think brilliant posts from you every time. I love reading them. Don’t have much to disagree with, and not enough watching what’s going on experience to get free any contradictions. weirdly, with the local blackouts and so on, I see the Astros less now that I live here in HOU than I do when I’m back home in the UK, with my mlb app / deal. I can see them in the screens in the Yard House, but of course the commentary is not available (it’s a loud bar). but the posts are brilliant
please keep going
LikeLike
I think brilliant posts from you every time. I love reading them. Don’t have much to disagree with, and not enough watching what’s going on experience to get free any contradictions. weirdly, with the local blackouts and so on, I see the Astros less now that I live here in HOU than I do when I’m back home in the UK, with my mlb app / deal. I can see them in the screens in the Yard House, but of course the commentary is not available (it’s a loud bar). but the posts are brilliant
please keep going
LikeLike
But I certainly appreciate your efforts. Always.
LikeLike
Lots of great information today guys. Dan, your awards look is great, you should keep doing them. Sometimes people forget that baseball is played in cycles and get stuck on overall numbers. The overall numbers are terrible for this offense, but for the last month they have not been that bad.
My take – what makes Cam important to this lineup right now is that unlike Pena, Diaz, Walker, Dubon, even Altuve, he lays off bad pitches at an acceptable rate. He is no Isaac, but the ability to lay off outside pitches or even be willing to let that less hittable strike go by is the first ingredient to getting to all-star level. Sure, some guys bat to ball is so good they can either hit that bad pitch (like Altuve) or really punish mistakes (Yainer), but most guys need to have more focus on the strike zone and forcing their pitch. I don’t really know how the Astros rank in the overall, but they have seen 162 3-1 counts so far this year, the Yankees have seen 235. And that is no coincidence that the Yankees have a .345 OBP and the Astros a .321. Force your pitches. But, the Astros were much better at laying off pitches in May than they were in April. Some of that maybe less at bats by less desirables like Rodgers, but they did it while missing their best hitter most of the month.
As for all the salary/contract talk, it’s interesting. They have a lot of ways they can go. They are still paying Greinke next year. In the end, Zack is getting roughly 88M from the Astros for giving us a Kikuchi like run in 2019, and being an innings eater in 2020 and 2021. So 52 starts, 88M. And not all was at a superstar level. My point, the Astros should let Framber go. I heard the guys on SportsMap guess that Framber’s starting point – 5/160. We have gotten Framber’s best years. We don’t need to pay insane amounts of money for his lesser years because he “earned” them in his early years. See Zack Greinke for reference. That’s why they should trade him EVEN IF they are contending this year and still looking for pitching themselves. He is an ace, and you can get back an aces return from Boston or Toronto or the Phillies who think they all have legitimate shots this year – and we might get the next Cam that we watch for at least 5-6 years.
Cam has shown enough to me for the Astros to look at what the Red Sox just gave Kristian Campbell as a model. Yes, Kristian is going to make a boat load of money in years 7-10 of that contract, but the overall tax count on that contract comes out to something like 9M a year. They should also look at getting Hunter a bump for the next 3 years in order to buy out the first 2 years of FA, and then if he is that good through those 5, he is in the same boat as Framber. Let someone else pay a stupid salary for his older years.
In the end it’s Jose’s fanbase that got him resigned. His merch alone probably pays a bit of that salary. But on the field he is not likely to earn all of that 25M a year, but I think he can still have streaks like the last 14 days.
LikeLike
Yeah, Framber fills an immediate need for us. But he can also help us continue to fix a roster without being here. Thing is Steven, I don’t think Crane lets him go at the deadline if we are still looking competitive as we head towards the home stretch.
LikeLike
Agree Dave, I don’t think they would trade him if they are contending, I just think they should. But they haven’t called me yet to get an opinion.
LikeLike
Dan P’s thoughts:
LikeLike
Dan, I just LOL’ed. I guess I’m selfish. When I have a thought on my mind, I write about it, because the other option is to forget what I was going to write about.
Time flies. The deadline is already less than two months away. And anything can happen between now and then. I hope we see some creative, significant changes especially as it applies to getting younger and more athletic. I hope the club is continuing to think that way.
I’d like to see Walker wake up and have a solid stretch. Someone else might think they need him. That gives us more options going forward.
LikeLike
If the Astros are out of the race at the trade deadline, I would trade both Hader and Framber. Fans would riot if Altuve or Yordan were traded and I doubt if we would get equal value if we traded LMJ, Walker or Javier.
LikeLike
AstroNut, I agree that other clubs would want Hader too, but I don’t think the Astros have a full rebuild in mind. Il like what he’s turned onto this year. And although it might be a sacrilege, and certainly would and could not happen due in part to a no trade clause that I’m sure is somewhere in the contract, I’m personally not so sentimental, so I would not mind if Jose Altuve played his last years on another team. But to reiterate, it would never happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No! Why pay LMJ when he wasn’t pitching and then trade him when he finally comes back? He looked good tonight and you need three good starters in the playoffs
LikeLike
Heck of a game. Lance matched Skenes for six innings. He held the Pirates to two hits and a single walk. LMJ has made remarkable progress coming off his 900 plus day rehabilitation. I did not expect what he’s provided.
That’s quite a defensive outfield of Melton, Meyers and Smith. What if they all hit?
Christian Walker has had some timely homers.
Sure would be nice to see Gusto throw a good game tonight.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thoughts
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like to remind people that Roger Clemens was near-unhittable in 2005. 13-8 with a 1.87 ERA across 211 IP. The team lost six games in which he surrendered 0 runs. He had two losses where he surrendered more than 3 runs. Skenes is going to look really similar at the end of the year…but with more Ks.
LikeLike
Dan, you sound convinced he’s not going to hold up.
LikeLike
He’s only had one season (2021 – 166.1 IP between majors and minors) where I say – that is a whole season of pitching – since he was a rookie in 2015 and pitched 157.2 between majors and minors. So – I am just a leeeeeeettle bit wary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Skenes
LikeLike
An interesting read…..
Dusty Baker says he defied wishes of Astros’ brass to win World Series
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wish I could read that, no Chronicle for me!
LikeLike
Basically, he said that he would play who he wanted to play instead of whom Click/Brown wanted him to play. He also solicited Crane to nix the Wilson Contreras trade.
LikeLike
Thanks Sarge, it sounds pretty consistent with what we all assumed at the time!
LikeLike
I hope Shay Whitcomb gets a start tomorrow. Otherwise, he should not have been brought up.
LikeLike
Last night’s game just frustrated me as I watched them make Burrows look like DeGrom. So it got me thinking. This game happens in the margins. Hitting into double plays when you have opportunities. Striking out with runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs. Over the years we have watched this get worse and worse and worse as we have always replaced players with slightly lesser players every time they leave. We haven’t had a LF since Brantley got injured. We haven’t had a CFer since Springer left. Cam is a bright spot to watch grow but he is no Kyle. 1B has been a mess since Gurriel got old. Pena is much improved but he is no prime Correa (not today Correa who somehow still plays baseball looking like he can’t stand up). I love Isaac, but MVP caliber Bregman was a beast. Only at catcher do we seem “better” but man Yainer can frustrate you at times.
The Astros have scored 3 runs or less in 34 of 61 games. They are amazingly 12-22 in those games, which is actually pretty good. Consider that Seattle has scored 3 runs or less in 26 games and are 6-20. Most contenders look like Seattle. We are being carried by pitching. Even though Gusto looked once again very hittable, and not throwing strikes, the Astros still ended up giving up just 3 runs and went against a guy making his 3rd major league start – their version of Gusto or Gordon, not a heralded prospect but kid thrown into the fire because of availability, and we got nothing. How good is our pitching been? We and Kansas City are the only teams in baseball with a winning that has scored 3 runs or less in more than half their games. Thats how good.
I think my point here is every time they run up against someone that is pitching well they have no ability to scratch out runs. You have to tip your cap to Burrows, he is a not that young of a prospect that spent years in the minors to get here, making his 4th appearance against a playoff caliber team, and shut them down. But why are we giving Walker 20M to flub up a 1st and 3rd situation with just one out? Mike freaking Burrows man, you are Christian Walker. Come through. I get it when Paul Skeenes does this to you. I don’t get it when you let Mike Burrows do it to you.
If you can’t scratch out against Mike Burrows, what is going to happen when its a playoff series against Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt? The thing is, because of Hunter, Framber, and that bullpen, we are probably getting there, but will probably let Detroit or New York or Seattle send us home early unless this offense somehow morphs into a team that can lay off marginal pitches.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Steven – you made point after good point here. The Astros offense is worse because the players overall are worse. I will point out that Walker was the main reason you beat Skenes, but the point is well taken – they just are not producing when the easy runs are ripe for the picking.
Getting a “real” Yordan back will help, but will not patch all the holes out there – that’s for sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person