Houston Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel brought home the American League Pitcher of the Month for April. During the month of April, Keuchel went 5-0 with 1.21 ERA. He had six starts during the month with one complete game. He not only led the majors in wins, with five, but also had the most innings pitched with 44 2/3.
“It’s a good start, but we’ve still got five, six, seven more months.” Keuchel said.
Keuchel is the ace on the Astros pitching staff, and was the primary reason for their success in 2015. Keuchel was the American League Cy Young winner in 2015, but was unable to stay on top of his game due to injuries last season. Keuchel is the only pitcher in Astros history to have won the Pitcher of the Month award four total times, having also won the award three times in April, May, and August of 2015. The Astros’ J.R. Richard won the award a total of three times – once during the 1978, 1979 and 1980 seasons. Keuchel is one of four active pitchers to have won four American League Pitcher of the Month, joining Bartolo Colon, Felix Hernandez, and
Justin Verlander as the other three who have all won the award four times.
The Astros have started this season doing extremely well out of the gates, boasting the best record in the major leagues at 20-10. They are going to need Keuchel to continue dominating their opponents, if they want to go far this season.