Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs named the National League Rookie of the Month for March/April; Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles named the American League Rookie of the Month for March/April

Starting pitcher Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for March/April, and outfielder Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for March/April. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Imanaga became the first Cubs rookie to win a monthly award since Seiya Suzuki won last April. The Japanese-born star is the eighth Japanese player to win Rookie of the Month since the award’s inception in 2001, joining Yu Darvish; Kazuhisa Ishii; Hideki Matsui; two-time winner Shohei Ohtani; Hideki Okajima; five-time winner Ichrio Suzuki; and Seiya Suzuki. Cowser, who also picked up his first career Player of the Week honor on April 15th, is the first Orioles rookie to take home monthly honors since his teammate Gunnar Henderson in June of last year, en route to unaminously winning 2023 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. Along with Henderson winning AL Player of the Month presented by Chevrolet for March/April, it marks the first time in history that the Orioles claimed AL Player and Rookie of the Month in the same month.

Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs (@shotaimanaga)
• The 30-year-old pitched to a 4-0 record with a 0.98 ERA (3 ER/27.2 IP) across five starts, while allowing just two homers and three walks with 28 strikeouts, a 0.80 WHIP, a .181 opponents’ average and 9.11 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• He led all rookie pitchers in wins; ranked second in ERA and WHIP; fifth in innings pitched; tied for fifth in strikeouts; and tied for sixth in games started.
• The left-hander won his Major League debut on April 1st, allowing just two hits over 6.0 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. His nine punchouts tied Jordan Wicks (9 SO, 8/26/2023) and Dutch Ruether (9 SO, 4/13/1917) for the second-most in Cubs history during a player’s Major League debut. Only Thomas Diamond (10 SO, 8/3/2010) and Mark Prior (10 SO, 5/22/2002) had more.
• The two-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star did not allow a run over his first 11.0 innings of work in MLB and allowed zero earned runs through each of his first three starts. His 18.1 inning stretch without allowing an earned run is the third-longest stretch by a Cubs pitcher to begin their MLB career behind only Bill Lee (19.0 IP) and Larry Cheyney (27.1 IP).
• Imanaga became the first pitcher since 1901 to go 4-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA and at least 28 strikeouts across his first five Major League starts. Additionally, he became the fourth Cubs starting pitcher to record four wins across his first five career starts, joining John Buzhardt (1958-59), Bob Kelly (1951) and Fred Beebe (1906).

Colton Cowser, Baltimore Orioles (@coltoncowser)
• The 24-year-old hit .303 (23-for-76) with six homers, 18 RBI, seven doubles, nine walks, 12 runs scored, three stolen bases, a .632 slugging percentage and a 1.004 OPS across 28 games in March/April.
• The Texas native led all rookies in RBI, slugging percentage, OPS, total bases (48), and extra-base hits (13); and tied for the rookie-lead in homers.
• The fifth overall pick in the 2021 Draft was named the AL Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet on April 15th after batting .435 (10-for-23) with four home runs, 12 RBI, four doubles, three walks, six runs scored, two stolen bases, and a 1.130 slugging percentage across six games.
• The Sam Houston State University product had a monster series at Fenway Park from April 9th-11th, going 6-for-13 (.462) with two homers, 10 RBI, three doubles, and three runs scored. Cowser, who drove home a career-high four runs on April 9th and 11th, became the first player in Orioles’ history to record 10 RBI in a single series at Fenway Park.
• The rookie lifted his first two career homers on April 11th to close out his big series in Boston, going deep in the fifth and 10th innings. According to Elias, he became the seventh player in Baltimore history (since 1954) to hit his first two career home runs in the same game.
• The series in Boston was the start of a career-long six-game hitting streak for the rookie, over which he hit four home runs, had 12 RBI and scored six runs. Overall, he has recorded hits in 17 of his 28 games, reaching safely in 20 of the 28 contests.

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included first baseman Michael Busch (.266, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 4 2B, 10 BB, 15 R, .500 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; shortstop/designated hitter Blaze Alexander (.311, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 5 2B, 9 BB, 12 R, 1 SB, .541 SLG, .400 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; starting pitcher Jared Jones (2-3, 3.18 ERA, 6 GS, 34.0 IP, 5 BB, 42 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; outfielder Jackson Merrill (.280, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 9 BB, 12 R, 4 SB) of the San Diego Padres; shortstop Masyn Winn (.304, 7 RBI, 4 2B, 2 3B, 11 BB, 10 R, 4 SB, .405 SLG) of the St. Louis Cardinals; and starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-1, 3.54 ERA, 6 GS, 28.0 IP, 3 HR, 6 BB, 37 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Others receiving votes for AL Rookie of the Month included relief pitcher Mason Miller (1.35 ERA, 11 G, 13.1 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 28 SO), who was named the AL Reliever of the Month for March/April, and catcher Kyle McCann (.313, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 3 R, .688 SLG) of the Oakland Athletics; outfielder Wilyer Abreu (.316, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 8 2B, 1 3B, 10 BB, 14 R, 4 SB, .526 SLG) of the Boston Red Sox; and outfielder/designated hitter Wyatt Langford (.238, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 11 BB, 13 R, 1 SB) of the Texas Rangers.