HOUSTON, TX - Major League Baseball announced today that Astros RHP Gerrit Cole has been named American League Pitcher of the Month, Astros 1B Yuli Gurriel has been named AL Player of the Month and Astros OF Yordan Alvarez has been named AL Rookie of the Month. All were recognized for the month of July.

This marks back-to-back monthly awards for both Cole and Alvarez as each player won their respective award for June as well. For Gurriel, who was named the AL Player of the Week in early July, this marks his first-ever Player of the Month Award. This is also the first time that the Astros have had three players earn monthly awards in the same month. The last club to earn three winners in one month was the Minnesota Twins in June of 2006 (Joe Mauer-Player, Johan Santana-Pitcher, Francisco Liriano-Rookie).

In July, Cole, who is a solid Cy Young candidate, was 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA. For the month, he led AL starters in WHIP (0.88), opponents batting average (.174) and strikeouts (51), was tied for first in wins and second in ERA (1.85). For the season, Cole is 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA and a ML-best 216 strikeouts. Among AL starters, Cole ranks second in opponents average (.202) and WHIP (1.00), tied for third in wins (13) and tied for fourth in ERA (2.87). With today’s announcement, Cole becomes the first Astros hurler to earn back-to-back Pitcher of the Month awards since LHP Dallas Keuchel in 2015 (April-May). Cole has now won the Pitcher of the Month Award three times in his career. His first was when he won NL Pitcher of the Month honors for April of 2015 while with the Pirates. 

Gurriel, who is the first Astro to win the Player of the Month award since Alex Bregman (June, 2018), hit .398 (39x98) in July with 12 HR and 31 RBI. For July, he led the AL in total bases (82) and hits (39) and was second in batting avg. (.398), HR (12), RBI (31), OPS (1.264) and slugging pct. (.837). His 12 HR are a new franchise record for July while his OPS and slugging pct. are the second-best ever for an Astros player in July. While this marks Gurriel’s first Player of the Month Award, he did earn Rookie of the Month honors in July of 2017.

Alvarez, who is just 22, hit .333 (25x75) in July with five HR and 15 RBI while posting a .627 slugging pct. and a 1.045 OPS. For the month, he ranked first among AL rookies in total bases (47), tied for first in HR, second in RBI and OPS and third in batting avg. and slugging pct. With today’s announcement, Alvarez becomes the first Astros player to earn Rookie of the Month honors in back-to-back months. Despite joining the Astros big club on June 9, Alvarez has emerged as a strong Rookie of the Year candidate. For the season, Alvarez is hitting .336 (48x143) with 13 doubles, 13 HR and 39 RBI while posting a .699 slugging pct. and a 1.120 OPS. Since his ML debut on June 9, Alvarez’ 1.120 OPS leads all Major League players. Since his debut, he also ranks second in the AL in on-base pct. (.421), fourth in slugging pct., sixth in RBI and seventh in batting avg.