ChippalattAwards for September 2026

In a reversal from the month before, the Astros outscored their opponents in September (104-96) but finished with a losing 11-13 record. They went from 2 up in AL West before the month to a barely there one-game lead at the end of the season.

How do the Astros’ stats look compared to the other teams in the American League in August?

• Offense
  • .246 BA (7^th) / .312 OBP (9^th) / .773 OPS (1^st) / 104 runs (8^th) / 43 HRs (1^st) / 9 SBs (13^th)
• Pitching
  • 3.55 ERA (5^th) / 11 Wins (9^th) /1.20 WHIP (4^th) / 201 Ks (9^th) / 81 walks (3^rd most) / 24 HR (10^th most)

Normally, OPS tracks pretty close to where teams end up in runs scored. But not this month. The Astros had the most HRs in the league, which goosed their slugging and their OPS, but a ton of those must have been solo shots. Their pitching was improved, reflecting a better run from their starters (when they weren’t leaving games early).

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

Here is a quick stat chart for the Astros’ pitchers in September.

Name	Gm	W	L	Svs	IP	ERA	WHIP	Ks/9 IP	BAA	OBPA	OPSA	BAbip	IR/ IS
Hunter Brown	5	2	1	0	26.1	2.73	1.177	13	.202	.282	.524	.317	N/A
Peter Lambert	5	0	3	0	23	4.70	1.304	9	.300	.333	.811	.359	N/A
Tatsuya Imai	5	0	0	0	9	2.00	1.111	14	.100	.270	.404	.188	0/0
Ronel Blanco	3	0	0	0	10.1	4.35	1.161	7.8	.211	.268	.654	.222	2/0
Hayden Wesneski	5	2	1	0	28.1	2.54	1.059	5.7	.212	.274	.592	.238	N/A
Cristian Javier	4	1	1	0	18.1	1.96	1.036	8.3	.159	.264	.534	.182	N/A
Kai-Wei Teng	2	0	1	0	2.1	15.43	2.571	7.7	.300	.500	1.000	.375	0/0
Josh Hader	8	0	1	5	8.1	2.16	1.080	7.6	.172	.273	.480	.227	0/0
Enyel De Los Santos	6	0	0	0	6.2	8.10	1.800	10.8	.321	.375	1.161	.333	4/1
Bryan King	9	1	3	0	7.2	8.22	2.087	8.2	.343	.410	.925	.407	6/0
Steven Okert	—	—	–	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bryan Abreu	11	1	1	1	10	2.70	1.000	10.8	.222	.282	.726	.273	6/3
AJ Blubaugh	12	1	1	0	11.2	7.71	1.800	6.2	.283	.400	1.030	.286	11/6
Bennett Sousa	11	0	0	0	9.1	4.82	1.607	9.6	.278	.357	.802	.320	7/3
Ethan Pecko	5	1	0	0	21.1	2.53	0.891	5.9	.184	.244	,520	.213	1/0
Miguel Ullola	7	2	0	0	10.2	0.84	0.656	5.6	.091	.231	.382	.115	0/0
Logan VanWey	5	0	0	0	6.2	1.35	1.050	5.4	.261	.292	.683	.278	1/0
Josh Hendrickson	2	0	0	0	2.2	3.38	0.750	10.1	.222	.222	.444	.333	4/0

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

• Starting Pitcher of the Month  –  Hayden Wesneski  – It is unclear if the Astros would have made it to the playoffs without Wesneski’s contributions down the stretch. This included a very good ERA, but more importantly, he was very efficient in most of his starts and went deeper than any other starter they had.
• Runner-up – Tied – Ethan Pecko / Hunter Brown – There is a bit of a cheat here as a number of Pecko’s appearances were after an opener pitched the first inning, but he did a good job flexing between starting and almost starting games. Hunter did a good job, the biggest complaint was that he did not go as deep in games as an ace would be expected to go.

Last Month Starting Pitcher of the Month – Hayden Wesneski / Runner-up – Hunter Brown  

• Special Acknowledgement –

• Relief Pitcher of the Month – Miguel Ullola – the young man was thrown into high-leverage, multi-inning situations and he shined.
• Runner-up  –  Josh Hader – He finally gave up a few runs and blew a save, but he was still one of the best closers in the majors.
• Last Month Relief Pitcher of the Month –Josh Hader Runner-up – A.J. Blubaugh
• Special Acknowledgement – Cristian Javier pitched very well, but pulled up lame. Logan VanWey gave the team some very good innings in 5 appearances down the stretch.

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

Name	ABs	Runs	Dbls	HRs	RBIs	BBs	Ks	BA	OBP	OPS	BAbip
Isaac Paredes	86	15	4	8	21	12	15	.291	.382	.999	.262
Jose Altuve	96	9	6	2	9	3	18	.260	.284	.670	.295
Jeremy Pena	98	15	3	5	10	2	32	.255	.282	.741	.323
Christian Walker	81	9	1	5	11	7	20	.210	.270	.677	.211
Cam Smith	76	10	1	4	6	8	28	.184	.271	.652	.227
Yordan Alvarez	78	14	6	5	12	15	17	.308	.432	1.009	.339
Yainer Diaz	84	8	5	4	12	2	14	.357	.379	.963	.394
Jake Meyers	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Christian Vazquez	17	0	0	0	0	0	4	.118	.118	.235	.154
Taylor Trammell	52	3	4	1	2	9	23	.154	.279	.567	.250
Nick Allen	14	4	2	1	1	1	2	.357	.400	1.114	.364
Lucas Spence	18	5	1	4	9	4	7	.333	.455	1.621	.286
LaMonte Wade Jr.	27	4	1	1	2	1	7	.185	.214	.548	.211
Brice Matthews	6	0	0	0	0	1	3	.333	.429	.762	.667
Daulton Varsho	58	5	1	2	4	2	13	.172	.200	.528	.186
Nelson Velazquez	13	1	0	1	3	2	5	.154	.267	.651	.143
Jorge Barrosa	11	2	1	0	0	3	4	.091	.286	.468	.143

• Positional Player of the Month – Tie – Isaac Paredes / Yordan Alvarez – Both men had excellent numbers for the month. Paredes was a bit more impactful since they were pitching around Yordan and Yordan had less people on base with Pena’s so-so month.
• Runner-up – Yainer Diaz – Yainer continued an uptick over the last half of the season with his best month of the season.
• Special Acknowledgement – Lucas Spence – Has anyone had a more impactful 18 ABs than Spence with his 5 extra base hits and 9 RBIs?
• Last Positional Player of the Month – Yordan Alvarez / Runner-up – Jeremy Pena
• Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Lucas Spence – We were so used to the Astros calling up or picking up outfielders and watching them stink, that Spences bat guano crazy weekend in Sacramento stood out.
• Runner-up  – Nick Allen again….why was he only given 14 ABs in September?
• Last Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Hayden Wesneski / Runner-up – (Tie) Lamonte Wade Jr. & Nick Allen
• Biggest Disappointment –  Taylor Trammell – He was given a ton of chances and just was terrible.
• Runner-up –  A.J. Blubaugh – This is truly unfair. He was so over-used and abused that it was amazing his arm did not fall off. But it was a big downturn from how good he had been before September.
• Last Biggest Disappointment – Jeremy Pena / Runner-up – Bennett Sousa

Some Comments on September

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

• There was an interesting anomaly (not sure if it was a trend) in September. Some of the best pitching for the month – Wesneski, Pecko, Ullola and VanWey came with a normally tiny K rate below 6 Ks per 9 innings. For Wesneski this tied into a pitching formula that saved him pitches by getting the hitters to put the ball in play earlier in the count.
• Jeremy Pena – c’mon man – 2 walks vs. 32 Ks is ridiculous for a player of your talents.
• Practically every stat in Bryan King’s line is beyond terrible, except one. Somehow, he inherited six runners and none of them scored. For somebody allowing a .343 BA / .410 OBP / .925 OPS slash line – that is almost miraculous.
• On the hitting side, you have to stare at a lot of those names and think you will not see them again next year – Daulton Varsho, Lamonte Wade Jr., Nelson Velasquez, Jorge Barraso, Jake Meyers, etc.

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