WTHB Pitcher and Player of the Month for August/September

I have tallied the results of all of the WTHB Players and Pitchers of the Day for August and the first few days of September (through the end of the regular season) in order to determine Player and Pitcher of the Month. Almost 100 players received shoutouts during the month (including honorable mentions) with numerous players receiving multiple honors. With that said, here are the August/September winners.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH - ERIK CASTRO
Corpus Christi 1B Erik Castro was a Player of the Day honoree four times during the month. In August, Castro hit .340/.427/.553 with eight doubles and four home runs. In his last 10 regular season games, he hit .405/.477/.703. I looked back at the specific games for which he was Player of the Day. On August 10th, he tied the game in the ninth with a home run. On August 18th, he drove in two runs with a single in the top of the 10th to give the team the win. On August 23rd, Castro provided a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. And on August 24th, all he did was drive in one of two Hooks runs and score the second run in a game in which he only needed a triple to hit for the cycle. Small wonder that he was being referred to as Big Sexy in one batting practice session I observed back at the end of May.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH - EVAN GRILLS
It was actually a good thing that I extended this through the first few days of September because I had a ton of pitchers with two votes, but it wasn't until Tuesday's game that Tri-City's LHP Evan Grills stood up and claimed the third vote to put him in the lead. Coincidentally, Grills also secured his team's playoff berth at the same time. In his seven appearances in August and September, Grills was 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.214 WHIP, but that was skewed by one bad outing. Erase that outing and he was 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA and a 0.987 WHIP. He walked five batters while striking out 31 in those seven appearances. He ended the regular season with a 7-1 record, 3.34 ERA, 1.258 WHIP, 12 walks and 54 strikeouts in 62 innings pitched.

OTHER PLAYERS RECEIVING A MINIMUM OF TWO PITCHER/PLAYER OF THE DAY HONORS DURING AUGUST/SEPTEMBER:
Austin Elkins - 3
Carlos Correa - 3
Delino DeShields - 3
Jose Martinez - 3
Carlos Perdomo - 3
Rio Ruiz - 3
Tyler Heineman
Marc Wik
Kike Hernandez
Max Stassi
Andrew Aplin
Chris Epps
Vincent Velasquez
Jamaine Cotton
Gonzalo Sanudo
Angel Heredia
Harold Arauz
Gerardo Juarez
Geronimo Franzua
Jordan Jankowski
Eric Berger
Mitch Lambson
Luis Cruz
Colton Cain
Nick Tropeano

PREVIOUS WINNERS:
April Player of the Month - Zach Johnson
April Pitchers of the Month - Jake Buchanan, Travis Ballew and Vincent Velasquez
May Player of the Month - Andrew Aplin
May Pitcher of the Month - Jake Buchanan with honorable mention to David Martinez
June Player of the Month - M.P. Cokinos
June Pitchers of the Month - Asher Wojciechowski and Luis Cruz
July Players of the Month - Delino DeShields, Chris Epps and Brandon Meredith
July Pitcher of the Month - Brad Peacock