MLB snubs Red Sox starters in ridiculous fashion for AL Pitcher of the Month
Major League Baseball unveiled its American and National League pitchers of the month for March and April, and the honors went to Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies and José Berríos of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Berríos is off to an incredible start to the year, but he was not better than Tanner Houck. A case could also be made for Kutter Crawford being better than Berríos.
Berríos led all of baseball in innings pitched in March and April with 43.2. His seven starts were tied for most in baseball as well.
Houck and Crawford each started one fewer game. Houck trailed Berríos by 4.1 innings pitched, and Crawford by 10.1. Berríos recorded four wins, tied for most in the AL, to Houck’s three and Crawford’s one. His batting average against and BABIP were also lower than the two Sox starters’.
Other than those basic statistics, it’s unclear what the voters were thinking when they chose Berríos.
Red Sox’s Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford unjustifiably overlooked for AL pitching award
The number one case for either Houck or Crawford is their wins above replacement. According to FanGraphs, Houck and Crawford each posted a 1.4 WAR. Those marks are tied with Zack Wheeler for the highest in baseball. Berríos’ fWAR came in at 0.5, which ranked 48th in MLB. Berríos’ WAR ranked lower than his teammate, Yusei Kikuchi.
