Murphy, Strasburg are latest Nationals to win monthly awards

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

August 03, 2016, 10:58am

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PHOENIX - Two more Nationals players added pieces of hardware to their growing shelves today when Daniel Murphy was named National League Player of the Month and Stephen Strasburg was named NL Pitcher of the Month for July.

Murphy, who previously won NL Player of the Month honors in May, hit .372 with 12 doubles, six homers, 26 RBIs and a 1.144 OPS in July, compiling those numbers despite playing in only 24 games (he was out of the lineup for five games due to a lingering hamstring injury sustained during the All-Star Game.

The league's leading hitter with a .356 batting average, .623 slugging percentage and 1.018 OPS this season entering today's game, Murphy won this award over Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who hit .443 with a .570 on-base percentage but couldn't match his counterpart in extra-base hits or RBIs.

Strasburg, meanwhile, took home the monthly pitching honor after going 5-1 with a 1.99 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings. The right-hander beat out the Cubs' Kyle Hendricks (4-1, 0.79), the Mets' Jacob deGrom (4-1, 1.86) and teammate Max Scherzer (2-1, 1.32).

This is the second time Strasburg has won a Pitcher of the Month award in his career; he initially won in April 2012.

The Nationals now have 13 Player or Pitcher of the Month awards in their 12 seasons of play: Murphy (May, July 2016), Strasburg (April 2012, July 2016), Bryce Harper (May 2015, April 2016), Jayson Werth (July 2013, July 2014), Scherzer (May, June 2015), Jordan Zimmermann (July 2012), Gio Gonzalez (May 2012) and Chad Cordero (June 2005).