Left-handed pitcher Cole Ragans of the Kansas City Royals has been voted the American League Pitcher of the Month for August, and right-hander Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month for August.

Ragans, who was acquired by the Royals from the Texas Rangers in June, earned his first career Pitcher of the Month Award and became the first Royals hurler to win the monthly honor since rotation-mate Zack Greinke in April of his AL Cy Young Awardwinning 2009 campaign. Additionally, Ragans is the first left-hander to win for Kansas City since Charlie Leibrandt in September 1985. Peralta earned his first career Pitcher of the Month Award and became the second consecutive Brewers pitcher to pick up the monthly honor, following his rotation-mate Corbin Burnes, who won for July. Prior to Burnes, the Brewers had not had a Pitcher of the Month honor since Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman in May 2009 and had not had a starter win the award since CC Sabathia in August 2008.

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals
• The 25-year-old went 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA across six starts in August. In 36.2 innings, he permitted 30 hits and nine walks with 53 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .222 batting average.
• His 13.0 strikeout per nine innings during the month of August marked the highest rate by a pitcher in any month in Royals history (minimum five starts). His 53 strikeouts overall during the month were the second-most in any month by a pitcher in Royals history, trailing Dennis Leonard (55 in June 1977). Additionally, his 56 strikeouts in 41.2 innings are the most by a pitcher through seven starts in team history, ahead of James Shields’ previous mark of 48 to begin 2013.
• Ragans opened his award-winning month with a scoreless performance in a home start against the New York Mets on August 2nd in just his second start after joining the Royals. He tossed 6.0 scoreless frames and allowed seven hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
• The Florida native set a career-best with 11 strikeouts in a no-decision on August 7th at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox, yielding one earned run over 6.2 innings.
• Ragans matched the benchmark with another 11-strikeout performance on August 23rd at Oakland in another scoreless 6.0-inning performance.
• The 30th overall selection in the 2016 Draft closed out his month by extending his career-high scoreless streak to 15.0 innings with a second consecutive scoreless start, hurling 7.0 innings of three-hit ball with one walk and nine strikeouts on August 29th against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers (@fpd04____)
• The 27-year-old went a perfect 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA over his five starts in August. In 30.0 innings pitched, he allowed 17 hits and 10 walks with 46 strikeouts while holding the opposition to a .162 batting average.
• The Moca, Dominican Republic native tied his career-high with 13 strikeouts in a 12-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies on August 7th, permitting one run on one hit over 7.0 innings. The performance marked his third career start with 13 punchouts and his second such outing in a three-start stretch (also July 26th vs. Cincinnati).
• Peralta followed up his dominant outing with a scoreless start at Chicago, limiting the White Sox to four hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 6.0 scoreless frames.
• The 2021 All-Star registered another double-digit strikeout performance, fanning 11 and allowing one run on four hits with two walks in a victory at Texas on August 19th.
• Following his first start of September on Friday night, the Brewers have now won in each of Peralta’s last seven outings, and in nine of his last 10 starts overall. During the seven-game unbeaten streak, Peralta is 5-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 69 strikeouts across 42.0 innings, lowering his season ERA from 4.72 to 3.85 in the process.
• Peralta enters play today with 187 strikeouts on the season, tied for third in the NL and tied for sixth overall in the Majors. He is now just nine strikeouts shy of surpassing his career-best mark of 195 strikeouts in 2021.

Others receiving votes for AL Pitcher of the Month included starting pitchers Pablo López (4-1, 2.25 ERA, 6 GS, 36.0 IP, 37 H, 7 BB, 36 SO) and Sonny Gray (3-2, 2.04 ERA, 6 GS, 39.2 IP, 27 H, 7 BB, 41 SO) of the Minnesota Twins; starter Kyle Bradish (3-0, 2.12 ERA, 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 20 H, 9 BB, 35 SO) of the Baltimore Orioles; starter Max Scherzer (3-1, 2.64 ERA, 5 GS, 30.2 IP, 18 H, 10 BB, 40 SO) in his first month with the Texas Rangers; starter Luis Castillo (4-0, 3.55 ERA, 5 GS, 33.0 IP, 27 H, 5 BB, 32 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; and Houston Astros starter Framber Valdez (2-2, 3.67 ERA, 6 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 41.2 IP, 29 H, 11 BB, 30 SO), who opened the month with a no-hitter on August 1st vs. Cleveland.

Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included starting pitchers Charlie Morton (4-1, 1.91 ERA, 5 GS, 28.1 IP, 16 H, 15 BB, 37 SO) and Spencer Strider (5-1, 2.97 ERA, 6 GS, 36.1 IP, 21 H, 13 BB, 46 SO) of the Atlanta Braves; starter Justin Steele (4-0, 3.41 ERA, 6 GS, 34.1 IP, 40 H, 7 BB, 41 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; starter Blake Snell (3-1, 3.00 ERA, 5 GS, 30.0 IP, 17 H, 17 BB, 37 SO) of the San Diego Padres; and starter Johan Oviedo (4-2, 2.92 ERA, 6 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 37.0 IP, 24 H, 15 BB, 28 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.