Giolito, Ryu rebound to snag May pitcher honors

Major League Baseball selected White Sox righty Lucas Giolito and Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu on Monday as the American League and National League Pitchers of the Month for May.

• All-time Pitcher of the Month winners

Giolito, 24, is authoring one of MLB’s most noteworthy turnarounds after he finished with the worst ERA (6.13) among qualified starters last year. Chicago’s righty went 5-0 with a 1.74 ERA over six starts in May, striking out 46 batters while walking just 10 over 41 1/3 innings. Giolito’s strikeout rate is up to 29.9 percent in 2019 after he punched out just 16.1 percent of opposing hitters a season ago. Giolito’s .271 slugging percentage against and .528 OPS against rank second among pitchers with at least 60 innings this season.

Ryu, 32, put together the best month of a career marked by potential and, far too frequently, marred by injuries. The southpaw allowed just three earned runs over 45 2/3 innings for an MLB-best 0.59 ERA in May, and he struck out 36 hitters while walking just three. Ryu put together a 32-inning scoreless streak, and he has not surrendered a run in his past 27 2/3 frames at Dodger Stadium. Since he returned from the injured list on April 20, Ryu has held hitters to a stifling .201/.215/.287 slash line across 58 1/3 innings.

This is the first AL honor of Giolito’s young career, and it is Ryu’s second NL Award, following his Player of the Week honor for May 12.