Starting pitcher Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies has been voted the National League Pitcher of the Month for June, and starting pitcher Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros has been named the American League Pitcher of the Month for June. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Wheeler earned his second career award after previously winning in May 2022, and he is the first Phillies pitcher to win since his rotationmate Cristopher Sánchez won last June. Wheeler is one of 11 right-handers to win the award with Philadelphia and just the second Phillies pitcher overall to win multiple awards, joining Cliff Lee (June & August 2011). Brown earned his first career honor and is the first Astros pitcher to earn honors since Gerrit Cole won three times in 2019 (June, July & September). Along with Josh Hader’s recognition as AL Reliever of the Month, it is the first time a club has won both awards in a single month since the Milwaukee Brewers in July 2023 with Corbin Burnes as pitcher and Devin Williams as reliever. It is the first time it has occurred in the AL since June 2021 when the Athletics garnered honors with Sean Manaea as pitcher and Loui Trivino as reliever.
Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies (@wheelerpro45)
Across five starts, the 35-year-old went 2-1 with a 0.58 ERA (2 ER/31.0 IP) while allowing 20 hits with seven walks, 42 strikeouts, a 0.87 WHIP, a .180 opponents’ batting average and 12.19 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Smyrna, Georgia native led the Majors in ERA; tied for third in strikeouts; ranked eighth in WHIP; and tied for ninth in batting average.
The two-time All-Star struck out at least seven batters in each of his starts, finishing the month with 10 punchouts on June 20th against San Diego, marking his third start of the year with at least 10 strikeouts and 28th career start with 10-or-more punchouts. He has recorded at least six strikeouts in each of his 13 starts since April 18th, marking the second-longest streak of his career behind an 18-game stretch from July 3, 2024-April 8th of this year, with 15 of those games coming last season. His current stretch marks just the fourth time since 1900 that a Phillies starter struck out at least six batters in as many games, with Wheeler joined by Curt Schilling (35 G: 5/27/1997-5/23/1998) and Steve Carlton (13 G: 4/25-6/16/1972).
The sixth overall selection in the 2009 Draft by San Francisco did not allow an earned run in each of his final three starts to close the month, marking the second time he has done so in his career, with the other streak coming earlier this season from May 11th-23rd. He is the first Phillie to make at least two starts in a calendar month while maintaining an ERA under 0.60 since teammate Ranger Suárez (0.00 ERA, 3 GS) in July 2022 and the first Phillie with at least five starts in a month to accomplish the feat since Cliff Lee (0.45 ERA, 5 GS) in August 2011.
The 2023 Rawlings Gold Glover fired 8.0 scoreless frames on June 30th against San Diego, marking his ninth career start of at least 8.0 scoreless innings. He has dealt at least 5.0 innings in each start this season and in 34 consecutive starts since June 22nd of last year, marking the longest streak by a Phillies starter since Aaron Nola threw at least 5.0 innings in 35 consecutive starts from June 6, 2017-June 12, 2018.
Wheeler has allowed no more than one run in 10 starts this season, including five scoreless starts, and has allowed two-orfewer runs in 14 of his 17 starts this year. His 14 such starts are tied with Max Fried of the Yankees and Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox for third-most in the Majors, trailing only Paul Skenes of the Pirates and Jacob deGrom of the Rangers, who each have 15 such starts.
Hunter Brown, Houston Astros (@hunterbrown3)
Over six starts, the 26-year-old went 1-0 with a 1.19 ERA (4 ER/30.1 IP), permitting 13 hits with 12 walks, 39 strikeouts, a 0.82 WHIP, a .130 opponents’ batting average and 11.57 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Detroit, Michigan native led the Majors in opponents’ batting average; trailed only Wheeler in ERA; ranked fifth in WHIP; and tied for sixth in strikeouts.
The 2022 World Series Champion made three starts of at least 6.0 innings in which he allowed fewer than three hits, permitting a hit in 6.0 innings of work on June 1st against Tampa Bay; three hits in 7.0 innings of work on June 14th against Minnesota; and three hits in 7.0 innings on June 26th against Philadelphia. It was just the fourth time an Astros starter made at least five starts in a calendar month and permitted 13-or-fewer hits, joining Framber Valdez in August 2024 (5 GS, 13 H); Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in September 1986 (5 GS, 13 H); and J.R. Richard in April 1980 (5 GS, 13 H).
The fifth-round selection in the 2019 Draft struck out a career-high 12 batters on June 14th against Minnesota, passing his previous career high of 10 punchouts on May 26, 2023 at Oakland. He became the seventh Astros starter (10th occurrence) with a sub-1.20 ERA and at least 39 strikeouts in a calendar month, marking the first time a Houston starter reached those marks since Gerrit Cole in September 2019 (1.07 ERA, 74 SO).
The Wayne State University product holds a 1.82 ERA through his first 17 starts of the season, marking the third-lowest ERA by an Astro through his first 17 starts of a season, trailing Roger Clemens (1.41 ERA in 2005) and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (1.63 ERA in 1981). Brown’s ERA is the lowest through a starter’s first 17 games of a season since 2022 when Shane McClanahan
posted a 1.73 ERA for Tampa Bay.
Brown allowed two-or-fewer runs in each of his June starts and along with his 6.0 frames of two-run ball last night at Colorado, he has allowed two-or-fewer runs in seven consecutive starts, tying his career-long which he also did from September 5-October 4, 2022.
Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included Wheeler’s rotationmate Ranger Suárez (3-2, 1.30 ERA, 6 GS, 41.2 IP, 29 H, 4 HR, 7 BB, 36 SO); NL Rookie of the Month Jacob Misiorowski (3-0, 1.13 ERA, 3 GS, 16.0 IP, 3 H, 1 HR, 7 BB, 19 SO) and Quinn Priester (4-0, 1.98 ERA, 5 G, 4 GS, 27.1 IP, 23 H, 2 HR, 5 BB, 29 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; Logan Webb (2-1, 2.23 ERA, 6 GS, 40.1 IP, 34 H, 3 HR, 7 BB, 43 SO) of the San Francisco Giants; Andrew Abbott (2-1, 2.20 ERA, 5 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 32.2 IP, 29 H, 5 HR, 4 BB, 23 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (2-0, 4.71 ERA, 5 GS, 28.2 IP, 25 H, 5 HR, 6 BB, 30 SO) of the San Diego Padres; and Clayton Kershaw (4-0, 2.28 ERA, 5 GS, 27.2 IP, 22 H, 4 HR, 7 BB, 23 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who struck out three batters last night against the White Sox, to become the 20th pitcher in Major League history with 3,000 strikeouts and just the fourth southpaw to accomplish the feat.
Others receiving votes for AL Pitcher of the Month included Tarik Skubal (5-0, 1.89 ERA, 5 GS, 33.1 IP, 24 H, 2 HR, 7 BB, 39 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; Jacob deGrom (4-0, 1.41 ERA, 5 GS, 32.0 IP, 17 H, 0 HR, 6 BB, 32 SO) of the Texas Rangers; and Garrett Crochet (4-0, 2.68 ERA, 6 GS, 40.1 IP, 31 H, 4 HR, 8 BB, 55 SO) and Garrett Whitlock (1-1, 3.09 ERA, 10 G, 11.2 IP, 5 H,
0 HR, 6 BB, 14 SO) of the Boston Red Sox.