Like we did in April we will be presenting the hitting and pitching MVPs and LVPs each month. Here's the recap for May, which was easily one of the best months the Braves have ever had. The Braves finished the month with a record of 20-8 which propelled them to a lead in the NL East.
Hitting MVP: Lots of choices here. One could certainly make a case for April's MVP, Martin Prado. Marteeen has been hitting well this season and he's been unreal since moving up the leadoff spot. He always seems to spark the team and he's showing everyone that the Braves chose the right 2nd baseman this offseason. You could make make a case for Troy Glaus. Glausy was on fire towards the end of the month and is showing everybody what he can do when he's healthy. But as good as Martin and Troy were in May, there was one man who outperformed all of them: Jason Heyward. Despite Glaus winning MLB's player of the month, Heyward really did have better numbers. He continues to come up with the clutch hits and boasted an incredible line of .337/.453/.628 in just his 2nd month of his career. Keep it up J-Hey.
Hitting LVP: This one is basically a tie. Both Yunel Escobar and Nate McLouth were awful in the month of May. Neither one hit with RISP and both featured an OPS in the mid .500's. It seemed like McLouth had a few at bats where it played a big role in the Braves winning, but it still seemed like he failed miserably at least once a night. Yunel had games where it looked like he was turning it around, but would then follow it up with a 0-for-4 game where he'd only see 5 pitches. It's a close call, but we'll give Esco just the slightest edge over McLouth. McLouth struck out in nearly 28% of his ABs and had a line of .181/.294/.277. Wow.
Pitching MVP: This is an easy one. Tim Hudson was unquestionably our best pitcher in the month of May. Huddy went 4-0 with an impressive 1.59 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. Hudson came into the season 18 months removed from Tommy John Surgery and was a pretty big question mark in the rotation. I think it's safe to say it was a smart move to re-sign him to a 3 year deal. Besides Huddy, you could make a case for 3 of our bullpen pitchers, Wagner, Saito and Jonny Venters. You could also make a strong case for Kris Medlen. Meds has been fantastic while filling in for Jurrjens and is making a case to stay in the rotation once JJ returns. All 4 of these guys were great in the month of May, but their production just doesn't match Huddy's.
Pitching LVP: You know what's awesome? When there really isn't a true candidate for being an LVP. The worst ERA one of the Braves' starters had was Tommy Hanson (5.03). Hanson did struggle a bit against the DBacks and got blasted by the Reds, but was still his normal filthy self during May. If you exclude our LVP for the month of May, the worst ERA by a bullpen pitcher was Eric O'Flaherty and his 3.75 ERA. That's incredible. I did say that if you exclude the LVP, and that's Jesse Chavez. Chavez was pretty bad all month long and had an ugly ERA of 10.13 and a 1.78 WHIP. Fortunately for the Braves, he's not a big part of our 'pen going forward, and is likely a candidate to be sent down if we need space for Resop, Kimbrel, Dunn or if they need space to install the new bullpen bidet.
