ChipalattAwards for June 2026

The Astros had their best month of the regular season in June at 16-11. That seems like a solid month, but surprisingly, it was tied with the Rangers for the best record in the AL in June.

How do the Astros’ stats look vs. the other teams in the American League?

• Offense
  • .237 BA (11^th) / .309 OBP (10^th) / .722 OPS (9^th) / 126 runs (7^th) / 37 HRs  (5^th) / 7 SBs (15^th)
• Pitching
  • 4.33 ERA (10^th) / 16 Wins (T-1^st) / 1.30 WHIP (9^th) / 254 Ks (1^st) / 93 walks (T-5^th most) / 39 HR (T-4^th most)

You stare at these numbers and wonder how the heck they had such a good record with basically below-average numbers on offense and pitching.

• They won the close ones. They won 13 of the 16 wins by 1 or 2 runs.
• Though the Astros were mostly in the bottom half in most offensive categories, they rode their very good home run numbers to a top-half number in runs scored.
• They rode very good bullpen numbers to win so many games. Look at those great bullpen ERAs from Josh Hader, Steven Okert, Brian King and AJ Blubaugh and some very nice but limited numbers from youngsters Alimba Santa and Miguel Ullola.

But enough of the team stuff. How did the individuals do in June?

Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of June.

Name	Gm	W	L	Svs	IP	ERA	WHIP	Ks/9 IP	BAA	OBPA	OPSA	BAbip	IR/ IS
Mike Burrows	6	1	2	0	27	6.00	1.630	6.0	.299	.361	.866	.302	0/0
Hunter Brown	3	0	0	0	14.2	2.45	1.295	9.2	.222	.333	.685	.270	N/A
Peter Lambert	5	2	1	0	29	3.10	1.380	7.8	.211	.283	.742	.197	N/A
Tatsuya Imai	4	3	0	0	17.2	5.09	1.245	15.3	.243	.303	.631	.410	N/A
Spencer Arrighetti	5	0	3	0	25	9.00	1.600	11.5	.293	.381	.906	.367	N/A
Kai-Wei Teng	5	1	3	0	22	7.77	1.864	8.2	.323	.407	.963	.365	N/A
Josh Hader	13	2	0	8	13	0.69	0.538	14.5	.049	.152	.274	.053	0/0
Enyel De Los Santos	14	0	1	1	14.1	6.91	1.465	8.2	.304	.350	.921	.333	6/2
Bryan King	13	2	0	0	11.2	0.77	0.943	6.9	.189	.273	.489	.233	8/4
Steven Okert	13	1	0	0	15	0.60	0.800	9.6	.154	.214	.445	.200	11/3
Bryan Abreu	10	0	1	2	8.2	4.15	1.269	11.4	.258	.324	.807	.333	0/0
AJ Blubaugh	10	2	0	0	17	1.59	1.118	11.6	.186	.279	.568	.289	0/0
Jayden Murray	3	0	0	0	5	14.40	2.200	16.2	.375	.423	1.256	.500	0/0
Alimber Santa	5	0	0	0	7.2	1.17	1.304	4.7	.192	.313	.543	.217	1/0
Nate Pearson	8	1	0	0	12.1	4.38	1.459	8.0	.255	.340	.680	.314	3/1
Logan VanWey	2	1	0	0	3	3.00	1.333	0.0	.400	.364	.764	.364	0/0
Miguel Ullola	1	0	0	0	2	0.00	1.000	18	.250	.250	.500	.500	0/0

Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.

• Starting Pitcher of the Month– Peter Lambert – He had both quantity and quality, putting up a team-leading 29 innings and a very good 3.10 ERA.
• Runner-up – Hunter Brown – Brown put up good numbers despite having to work through a number of things in his last couple of starts. There could be an argument for giving him the top spot, but it felt like Lambert took the top spot this time around.

Last Month Starting Pitcher of the Month – Spencer Arrighetti / Runner-up – Kai-Wei Teng  

• Special Acknowledgment – Truth in advertising – in my first draft I was originally acknowledging Tatsuya Imai for his better performance lately….that died on Tuesday night when he once again could not get out of the early part of the game.

• Relief Pitcher of the Month –  Josh Hader – He not only was near perfect (look at his stat line for the month), but his return seemed to allow the rest of the leveraged part of the bullpen to find another gear in June.
• Runner-up (Tie) –  Steven Okert and Bryan King – Speaking of which – these two men had 0.60 and 0.77 ERA respectively in June – just excellent.
• Last Month Relief Pitcher of the Month – Bryan King / Runner-up – Enyel De Los Santos and Steven Okert
• Special Acknowledgment – AJ Blubaugh – After some shakier stats early in the year, possibly linked to overwork, Blubaugh was excellent in June with a 1.59 ERA over 10 appearances and a very good slash line.

Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of June.

Name	ABs	Runs	Dbls	HRs	RBIs	BBs	Ks	BA	OBP	OPS	BAbip
Isaac Paredes	94	14	6	5	21	13	18	.277	.377	.877	.270
Jose Altuve	88	10	2	4	10	6	24	.207	.261	.639	.241
Jeremy Pena	102	19	5	3	13	11	19	.319	.392	.865	.377
Christian Walker	103	9	6	3	13	9	31	.214	.277	.655	.275
Cam Smith	91	9	4	5	11	6	22	.231	.276	.737	.246
Yordan Alvarez	93	20	4	6	21	19	17	.344	.455	1.036	.371
Yainer Diaz	37	5	2	1	3	2	7	.270	.325	.730	.310
Jake Meyers	60	6	3	1	4	5	15	.167	.231	.497	.205
Joey Loperfido	41	6	2	1	4	8	10	.122	.265	.558	.133
Brice Matthews	50	5	1	2	4	2	18	.160	.192	.492	.200
Christian Vazquez	48	7	2	0	2	3	9	.146	.196	.384	.179
Taylor Trammell	44	6	2	3	5	4	16	.227	.292	.769	.280
Nick Allen	19	2	1	0	0	1	8	.211	.250	.513	.364
Ray Delgado	38	3	1	1	4	2	4	.286	.333	.762	.304
LaMonte Wade Jr.	12	2	2	1	4	1	3	.333	.385	1.135	.375
Collin Price	12	1	1	0	0	1	6	.167	.231	.481	.333

• Positional Player of the Month –  Yordan Alvarez – He led the team in runs scored, home runs, BA, OBP and OPS (for everyone who had more than a few ABs) and tied for first in RBIs for the month.
• Runner-up –  Jeremy Pena – Excellent slash (.319 BA/.392 OBP/ .865 OPS) out of that leadoff spot. They badly need him back off the IL soon.
• Special Acknowledgment – Isaac Paredes – he could easily be the runner-up this month. On top of that he had quite a few clutch moments as he warmed up during the month.
• Special Acknowledgment II – It was only 12 ABs, but Lamonte Wade Jr. gave the team a little spark before he was injured.
• Last Positional Player of the Month – Christian Walker / Runner-up – Yordan Alvarez
• Biggest Surprise (Positive) –   Ray Delgado – Bought from the Tampa Bay Rays – he has showed a solid left handed bat in his major league debut with the Astros. (But may be headed to the IL).
• Runner-up  – AJ Blubaugh – Settling in – he has been giving the Astros increasingly good coverage of the bridge innings between the starters and the back end of the bullpen.
• Last Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Braden Shewmake / Runner-up – Nick Allen
• Biggest Disappointment –  Jake Meyers – he has never gotten close to the kind of offense he showed in 2025 and is frankly working himself out of a job.
• Runner-up –  Jose Altuve – In no universe should Altuve be hitting .207 over 88 ABs. Is it just my imagination or is he standing too far away from the plate?
• Last Biggest Disappointment – Offense as a whole / Runner-up – Lance McCullers

Some Comments on June

There are some interesting and puzzling things that happened to the Astros in June 2026:

• In April – Altuve walked 17 times and struck out 24 times and had decent hitting numbers. In June he walked 6 times and struck out 24 times and has been bad.
• The starters were 7-9 won-loss in June, while the bullpen was an excellent 9-2. Part of that was the Astros starting to get a late inning rally mentality.
• Cam Smith and Taylor Trammell were the only OFs with even close to decent numbers for the team in June.
• After an excellent April, Christian Walker has had two months where his numbers have been falling each month. He is still playing sterling defense and he has been good in the RBI department, but they need a little bit more April Walker as they wander along.

As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?