After the conclusion of each month of the season, Major League Baseball awards a player of the month, pitcher of the month and rookie of the month for each the American League and National League. The awards generally don't get much national fanfare, but it's always cool when a player of one's favorite team wins.
We're discussing it now because something rare just happened and it's right in line with what we just saw in May. The Astros sport baseball's best record at 38-16 and dominated the rest of baseball with a 22-7 record in May. And they just won the player and pitcher of the month.
The player: Carlos Correa
The 22-year-old shortstop (yes, he's seriously still only 22) hit .386/.457/.673 with eight doubles, seven homers, 26 RBI and 24 runs in the month of May. That's in 26 games and 116 plate appearances, so he's more than deserving.
The pitcher: Lance McCullers
The elder statesman of this duo, McCullers is 23 years old. In six May starts, McCullers was 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings. The Astros won five of his six starts.
Dallas Keuchel won AL pitcher of the month in April, so the Astros are sweeping the category so far this season.
It's probably not surprising that members of the same team winning this award doesn't happen too often. The last time an AL team took both of these awards in the same month came back in 2010, when David Ortiz and Jon Lester did so for the Red Sox in May.
Through two months in 2017, everything is coming up Astros. This is just the next in a long line of examples.
