For this group, team success is all that matters, but the Phillies have already claimed the individual awards with 11 games remaining before the All-Star break.
MLB announced Wednesday morning that both of the National League’s monthly awards went to the Phillies: Bryce Harper is the Player of the Month, Cristopher Sanchez the Pitcher of the Month.
For Harper, it is the second month in a row that he has won the award, while he has never won the award before.
It’s also the second time in three months that the Phillies have won the pitching award, which went to Ranger Suarez in April. Incredibly, they’re effectively the team’s No. 3 and No. 4 prospects, behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.
“Harp had a great month and it’s not often they win back-to-back,” manager Rob Thomson said. “But Sanchy, it really hits me to see him win Pitcher of the Month because he’s come a long way. He’s a great guy. He’s worked hard. He’s certainly deserved it.”
Thomson gathered the team before the game on Tuesday afternoon to tell them the news. Their reaction to the Sanchez part sounds like something out of a TV show.
“Of course there was a standing ovation for Harp, I started with Harp, and then I went to Sanchy and it all went off,” he said. “They know how far he’s come, the work he’s put in. They appreciate that.”
Sanchez made five starts in June, going 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 0.82 WHIP. He didn’t allow a home run and has only been taken deep once this season in 93⅓ innings. The Phillies signed him to a four-year contract extension for $22.5 million less than two weeks ago, and he responded with seven scoreless innings to beat the Diamondbacks and a three-hit shutout to beat the Marlins.
“Just his humility, really,” Thomson said. “An example is the guy at the guard cabin at CBP, I drive in, I stop and talk to him and he told me one time, he said Cris Sanchez comes in every day and he stops and says hi and talks to me. That definitely tells me a lot about him.”
Sanchez’s biggest competitor for the monthly award was Paul Skenes, the Pirates rookie who had a 1.78 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 30⅓ innings in June.
Harper defeated Shohei Ohtani. Harper hit .374 with a 1.166 OPS, 10 doubles, seven homers and 16 RBI. Ohtani hit .293 with a 1.110 OPS, four doubles, 12 homers and 24 RBI. There would have been no wrong answer.
Harper also knows he will start at first base for the National League in the All-Star Game. He already secured his spot as the top vote-getter in the NL during Phase 1 of fan voting. He will likely be joined in the starting infield by teammates Trea Turner and Alec Bohm. The All-Star starters will be announced Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET.