Houston Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti has been named the American League’s August Rookie of the Month and LHP Josh Hader has been named the AL’s August Reliever of the Month by Major League Baseball, it was announced by the organization Tuesday.
It marked the first time since Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez were both honored in August 2019 that two Astros received honors in the same month. The duo are the first Astros to receive a monthly honor since Alvarez last August.
Arrighetti, the former Louisiana Ragin Cajuns star, becomes the first Astro to win Rookie of the Month since August 2019 and the first Astros pitcher to receive the award since September 2014. The 24-year-old was 3-2 on the month with a 1.95 ERA and 47 strikeouts while allowing a .168 batting average. He became the second rookie pitcher in the modern era to record at least 47 strikeouts while allowing less than 19 hits in a month, joining Cubs RHP Kerry Wood, who did so in May 1998. Arrighetti opened Auguts with a dominant 12-strikeout outing against the Rays and followed that with a career-high 13 strikeouts six days later at Boston, which was the second-most in a game from an Astros rookie.
He also became the first rookie in AL history to record a dozen or more strikeouts in back-to-back outings. On August 28 at Philadelphia, he carried a no hitter into the eighth, finishing his outing with 7.2 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts.
Hader earned Reliever of the Month for the sixth time, last doing so in April 2023 with the San Diego Padres. Hader was 3-1 with eight saves, a .068 ERA, and 17 strikeouts while giving up just a .071 batting average. The Astros went 11-2 through his 13 appearances in August.
Hader’s standout month included a stretch of his 29 straight converted saves. It became the longest single-season saves streak in Astros history and is the longest saves streak in the AL this season. Hader ranks second in both strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings while being tied for second in saves.
Arrighetti and Hader were a key part of what became a historic month for the Houston pitching staff. Astros pitchers combined to hold opponents to a .185 batting average, which ranks as the second-lowest opponent batting average allowed in any single month by any team in MLB history. The Astros also set their franchise record for the month of August with 291 strikeouts as a staff.