Berrios named American League Pitcher of the Month for April

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander José Berrios has been named the American League Pitcher of the Month for the month of April.

May 3, 2024

Official MLB News Release

Starting pitcher José Berríos of the Toronto Blue Jays has been voted the American League Pitcher of the Month for March/April, and starting pitcher Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month for March/April.

The announcements were made on Friday on MLB Network.

Berríos earned his first career Pitcher of the Month Award and is the first Blue Jay to win the award since Alek Manoah took home the honour for September/October in 2022.

Born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Berríos is just the fourth Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win the award, with this marking the fifth occurrence and first since Javier Vázquez won in September of 2011.

Suárez also received his first career Pitcher of the Month Award and is the first Phillies pitcher to be voted a Pitcher of the Month since his rotation-mate Zack Wheeler won last May. Born in Pie de Cuesta, Venezuela, Suárez becomes the eighth Venezuelan-born pitcher to win the award, with this being the 20th occurrence and first since Martín Pérez in May 2022.

Overall, this is the sixth time in the history of Pitcher of the Month that both winners have been born outside of the United States, joining July 2003 (Liván Hernández and José Lima); September 2004 (Johan Santana and Carlos Zambrano); July 2007 (Erik Bedard and Zambrano); September 2009 (Jair Jurrjens and Félix Hernández); and April 2010 (Ubaldo Jiménez and Francisco Liriano).

José Berríos, Toronto Blue Jays (@jolamakina)
• Across seven starts, the right-hander pitched to a 4-2 record with a 1.44 ERA (7 ER/43 2/3 IP), while allowing 31 hits with 13 walks, 31 strikeouts, a 1.01 WHIP, a .204 opponents’ batting average and 6.39 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The 29-year-old led the Majors in innings pitched; tied for the Major League-lead in games started; ranked third in MLB in ERA; ranked seventh among AL pitchers in WHIP; and ranked eighth in opponents’ average.
• The two-time All-Star tossed at least six innings in six of his seven starts, with the only exception coming on April 25 in Kansas City, when he was credited with a five-inning complete game. He pitched a season-high seven innings on April 14 against Colorado and April 30 against Kansas City.
• The 32nd overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft held his opponents scoreless in a career-high three straight starts on April 8 against Seattle, April 14 against Colorado and April 20 at San Diego. Over the three-game stretch, he posted a career-high 21 2/3 scoreless innings streak and allowed 11 hits with five walks and 19 strikeouts.
• The Blue Jays won each of Berríos’ first five starts this season and are 5-2 this year when he toes the rubber. He has allowed two runs-or-less in all of his starts and has received 22 runs of support during his starts. He received just one run of support in both of his losses this season and received zero runs in his lone no-decision of the year on April 2 against Houston.

Ranger Suárez, Philadelphia Phillies (@rangerjose10)
• Over six starts, the left-hander went unbeaten with a 5-0 record and a 1.32 ERA (6 ER/41.0 IP), while allowing 21 hits with five walks, 40 strikeouts, a 0.63 WHIP, a .153 opponents’ batting average and 8.78 strikeouts per nine innings.
• The 28-year-old led the Majors in ERA and WHIP; tied for the Major League-lead in wins and games started; ranked second among NL pitchers in opponents’ average; third in innings pitched; and tied for sixth in strikeouts.
• The seven-year veteran tossed his second career shutout on April 16 against Colorado, allowing seven hits with eight strikeouts. He joined Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, who each threw four shutouts at home, as the only Philadelphia left-handers to toss multiple shutouts at Citizens Bank Park. Suárez’s first career shutout came on September 25, 2021 against Pittsburgh.
• Suárez did not allow a run in 32 consecutive innings from the fourth inning on April 6 at Washington through the seventh inning on April 27 at San Diego. It is tied for the fourth-longest scoreless innings streak in franchise history with Hall of Famer Robin Roberts (32 IP, 1950) and Ken Heintzelman (32 IP, 1949).
• After taking a no-decision in his first start of the year on March 31, the southpaw won all five of his starts in April, joining Tyler Glasnow of the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only starting pitchers to win five games so far this season. Suárez is the first Phillies starting pitcher to win five of his first six starts since Hall of Famer Roy Halladay in 2010.

Others receiving votes for AL Pitcher of the Month included starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (4-0, 1.72 ERA, 6 GS, 36 2/3 IP, 6 BB, 41 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; starting pitchers Tanner Houck (3-2, 1.60 ERA, 6 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 39 1/3 IP, 1 HR, 5 BB, 41 SO) and Kutter Crawford (1-1, 1.35 ERA, 6 GS, 33 1/3 IP, 34 SO) of the Boston Red Sox; starting pitcher Logan Gilbert (2-0, 2.03 ERA, 6 GS, 40 IP, 9 BB, 44 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; starting pitcher Seth Lugo (4-1, 1.66 ERA, 6 GS, 38 IP, 2 HR, 9 BB, 23 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; and Houston Astros starting pitcher Ronel Blanco (3-0, 1.65 ERA, 5 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 32.2 IP, 30 SO), who tossed the 17th no-hitter in Astros’ history on April 1st.

Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included Suárez’s teammate Zack Wheeler (2-3, 1.93 ERA, 6 GS, 37 1/3 IP, 2 HR, 46 SO); Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (4-0, 0.98 ERA, 5 GS, 27 2/3 IP, 2 HR, 3 BB, 28 SO), who was named the NL Rookie of the Month for March/April; starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow (5-1, 2.72 ERA, 7 GS, 43 IP, 53 SO) of the Dodgers; and starting pitcher Jordan Hicks (2-0, 1.59 ERA, 6 GS, 34 IP, 1 HR, 10 BB, 27 SO) of the San Francisco Giants.