Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski makes MLB history in push for NL Pitcher of the Month

The month of May produced one of the most heated Pitcher of the Month contests of all time. Though it's an accolade that certainly doesn't garner the same attention or acclaim as something like an All-Star appearance or a Cy Young award for that matter, Player of the Month awards have a history dating back to 1958 and are by no means something to overlook.

In the National League, two starting pitchers are more than deserving of the Pitcher of the Month award for the month of May, and in seemingly any other month would have run away with the honor. Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies each put together eye-popping performances in May, and both certainly have a case for the NL Pitcher of the Month award.

Stats in the month of May:

Jacob Misiorowski: 6 GS, 5-0, 0.23 ERA, 38.1 IP, 14 H, 6 BB, 57 K

Cristopher Sánchez: 5 GS, 4-0. 0.00 ERA, 39 IP, 25 H, 3 BB, 45 K

It truly could go either way. Sánchez obviously has the upper hand when it comes to ERA, and not giving the award to a pitcher who didn't surrender a single run through five starts in a month would be difficult to justify. However, in almost every other regard, including games started, Misiorowski has the advantage. Since pitcher success is measured by how many runs are allowed, it's easy to say Sánchez was the more successful pitcher during the month, but the argument could certainly be made that Misiorowski was the more dominant of the two.

Not only do Miz's strikeouts tell a story of dominance, but several more nuanced statistics also help build his case in trying to defeat Sánchez in the NL Pitcher of the Month race.

Though Cristopher Sánchez has the lower ERA, Jacob Misiorowski was the more dominant pitcher in the month of May

Again, both Sánchez and Misiorowski were stellar in the month of May; it's simply impossible to argue that either of them weren't dominant during the calendar month, but in the world of awards, someone has to come out on top. Sánchez's 0.00 ERA is rather difficult to ignore, but Miz should not be discredited because he allowed one earned run while pitching one more game than the Phillies' southpaw.

When it comes to most stats other than ERA and total walks issued, Miz takes the crown. The Brewers' flame-thrower has the edge in regard to WHIP (0.52 vs. 0.72), batting average against (.109 vs. .181), fielding independent pitching (FIP) (0.65 vs. 1.08), expected ERA (1.51 vs. 2.35), and fWAR (2.4 vs. 2.1). Pair that with the fact that Miz just allowed the lowest slugging percentage by any pitcher in a calendar month in MLB history, as reported by Codify Baseball on the social media platform X, and things start to get even more interesting.

MLB can't go wrong with Misiorowski or Sánchez; both have more than earned the award, and either decision could be easily justified. Both broke a number of records with their dominant performances in the month of May and will go down in history regardless of whether or not there is a Pitcher of the Month award attached to their performances.

It should be noted that MLB could end up naming Miz and Sánchez Co-Pitchers of the Month. While MLB has handed out Co-Player of the Month awards as recently as 2022, the league hasn't named two pitchers Co-Pitchers of the Month since 1997. In July of '97, Brad Radke of the Minnesota Twins and Chuck Finley of the Anaheim Angels were named the AL Co-Pitchers of the Month. If ever there was a time for MLB to once again hand the award to two league opponents, it's now -- both Miz and Sánchez are deserving of the honor.

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