As a surprise to absolutely no one, 26-year-old hard-throwing Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood and 21-year-old Dodgers rookie outfielder / first baseman Cody Bellinger were named as the National League’s Pitcher and Rookie of the Month respectively for May 2017 by Major League Baseball on Friday afternoon.

Alex Wood and Cody Bellinger – the National League Pitcher and Rookie of the Month for May 2017.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Here is the official press release from the Dodgers:

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Alex Wood has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month while Cody Bellinger was named the NL’s rookie of the Month for May. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

In five starts, Wood recorded a 5-0 record with a 1.27 ERA and an impressive 41:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 28.1 innings pitched en route to claiming his first career monthly award. Wood is the first Dodgers pitcher to be awarded NL Pitcher of the Month since teammate Clayton Kershaw last May.

Among qualified NL starters, Wood finished his impressive month first in wins and ERA. He allowed just 22 hits and did not surrender a home run. Earlier this month, Wood, who also claimed NL Player of the Week honors for the period ending May 15th, joined Andy Benes (2000) and Jon Lester (2010) as the only pitchers since 1893 to win consecutive starts while striking out at least 10 batters in each start despite pitching no more than 6.0 innings in either outing. In those two starts, a May 8th tilt against the Pittsburgh Pirates and a May 13th contest against the Colorado Rockies, Wood posted consecutive games with more than 10 strikeouts for the first time in his five-year Major League career. On May 26th against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, Wood fired 5.0 shutout innings, permitting two hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. The outing capped off his award-winning month with his fifth consecutive victory in as many decisions, extending his career-high win streak to six games.

The 26-year-old lefty enters play today in the midst of a four-start scoreless streak, dating back to his May 8th start against the Pirates, which includes 23.1 scoreless innings. Through the first two months of the season, the University of Georgia product is the only NL starter to have posted four consecutive starts without allowing an earned run. Houston’s AL Pitcher of the Month, McCullers, is the only other starter in the Majors to accomplish the feat. Entering play today, Los Angeles pitchers pace the Senior Circuit in ERA (3.19) and WHIP (1.16); are tied for the league-lead in opponents’ batting average (.232); and trail only the Arizona Diamondbacks (518) in strikeouts with 513 punch-outs. Led in large part by their outstanding pitching, the Dodgers own a 33-22 record (.600) and trail the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks by a half-game in the very competitive NL West. Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included Wood’s aforementioned teammate Kershaw (3-1, 2.43 ERA, 40.2 IP, 39 SO); Max Scherzer (3-1, 2.27 ERA, 43.2 IP, 60 SO) and Stephen Strasburg (4-0, 2.78 ERA, 32.1 IP, 43 SO) of the Washington Nationals; Zack Greinke (4-1, 3.28 ERA, 35.2 IP, 44 SO) and Robbie Ray (3-2, 2.56 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SHO) of the D-backs; Carlos Martínez (4-1, 2.03 ERA, 44.1 IP, 41 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; and NL Reliever of the Month Greg Holland (1.17 ERA, 8 SV, 7.2 IP, 15 SO) of the Rockies.

In recognition of his Pitcher of the Month Award, Wood will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishments.

Bellinger hit .245 (26-for-106) with 22 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, nine home runs, 27 RBI, 11 walks and a stolen base to earn his first career monthly award. Bellinger is the first Dodgers player to win NL Rookie of the Month since teammate Corey Seager took home rookie honors last June. Among qualified NL rookie sluggers with at least 20 at-bats, the 21-year-old finished the month first in runs scored, hits, extra-base hits (15), home runs and RBI; tied for first in stolen bases; second in walks; third in slugging percentage (.566); and tied for fourth in doubles. On May 6th against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Bellinger, who is the son of former Major Leaguer Clay Bellinger, went 2-for-4 with a home run, stolen base and career-high five RBI. With his first career grand slam in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 10-2 win over the Padres, Bellinger became the first Dodger in the modern era (since 1900) to hit five round-trippers in his first 11 Major League games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Additionally, the Scottsdale, Arizona native became just the second player to debut since 1920 (when RBI became an official statistic) to record at least five home runs and 14 RBI in his first 11 games since Mark Quinn belted five homers and 16 RBI for the Royals in 1999. Following his multi-homer output the night before, as part of a three-hit game, Bellinger became the first player in club history since 1913 to log two multi-homer games in his first 10 career games (also April 29th vs. Philadelphia). In Monday’s tilt against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Bellinger connected for his 11th home run of the 2017 campaign. With the solo homer, the Dodgers’ fourth round selection in the 2013 MLB Draft became the fastest Dodger in franchise history to reach 11 round-trippers, accomplishing the feat in 32 games. Bellinger is the first Dodger player to record 10-or-more homers in a calendar month since Matt Kemp (12) in April 2012.

Since 1913, only four players have hit more homers through the first 32 games of their career, all doing so with 12 home runs: Mike Jacobs (2005-06, NYM/FLA); Kevin Maas (1990, NYY); Dave Hostetler (1981-82, MON/TEX); and José Abreu (2014, CWS). In addition, the 11 blasts match teammate Joc Pederson (May 2015) and James Loney (September 2007) for the most home runs by a rookie in any month in club history. Moreover, with 27 RBI, the versatile youngster established a new Dodgers rookie record for RBI in the month of May, and tied Dick Cox for the third-most RBI by a rookie in any calendar month, following James Loney (32, September 2007) and Del Bissonette (29, June 1928).

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included Hunter Renfroe (.255, 15 R, 14 XBH, 17 RBI) of the Padres; German Márquez (4-1, 2.64 ERA, 30.2 IP, 25 SO) and April’s Rookie of the Month Antonio Senzatella (4-1, 4.11 ERA, 35.0 IP, 26 SO) of the Colorado Rockies; and Jesús Aguilar (.328, 11 R, 12 XBH, 12 RBI) of the Milwaukee Brewers.

In recognition of their Rookie of the Month Awards, Bellinger will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishments.

As if on cue, it was Bellinger’s 12th-inning, 425-foot solo home run to (very) deep right field off of Brewers right-hander Neftalí Feliz that gave the Dodgers a hard-fought 2-1 win over Milwaukee at Miller Park on Friday night. During that contest, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw struck out 14 – one shy of his career high 15 – to blow past the 2,000 career strikeout mark, and did so in only seven innings of work in which he allowed only two hits (one a solo home run to Brewers right fielder Domingo Santana) while walking one.

“He was unbelievable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “I don’t know what else to say. He had command of everything he got moving toward home plate. Went to the curve early, the arm-side fastball and that was wide open. The slider was good, the 14 punch-outs in seven innings. It was a joy to watch.”

Also of note, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen – who actually got the win, not the save – struck out four of the eight batters he faced in his two innings of work on Friday night. In doing so, he set a new MLB record for starting a season having struck out 39 batters without issuing a walk.

“You can’t say enough about Kenley being willing to go out in a non-save situation and to go a second inning,” Kershaw said of Jansen. “It’s a testament to him and how important he is to our team.”

Asked if he was going to put his 2,000th strikeout ball in his trophy case, Kershaw said exactly what you would expect him to say.

“It’ll be cool someday, I guess, when you retire you look back on that stuff. I don’t take it for granted by also don’t think about it.”

Like I said … exactly what you would expect Kershaw to say.