Closer Josh Hader of the Houston Astros has been voted the American League Reliever of the Month for August, and closer Raisel Iglesias of the Atlanta Braves has been named the National League Reliever of the Month for August. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Hader collected his seventh career award after previously winning in April 2023, April 2022, June 2021, May and June 2019 and April 2018. He is the third Astros reliever to win a monthly award following José Valverde in August 2008 and Brad Lidge in July 2005, both as Delivery Man of the Month, prior to the Reliever of the Month Awards in its current form (since 2015). Hader is the first Astros pitcher to win under the current format and his seven career Reliever of the Month Awards are second-most all-time behind only Edwin Díaz’s eight awards. Iglesias claimed his third career honor after previously winning last year in August and July 2021. Similarly, he is the first Braves reliever to win the award in its current form and joins Craig Kimbrel as the only Braves relievers to take home a monthly honor, following Kimbrel’s three honors as Delivery Man of the Month in August 2013, September 2012 and August 2011.

Josh Hader, Houston Astros (@josh.hader)
• The 30-year-old went 3-1 with a 0.68 ERA (1 ER/13.1 IP), converting eight of his nine save opportunities across 13 appearances in which he allowed three hits with five walks, 17 strikeouts, a 0.60 WHIP, a .071 opponents’ batting average and 11.48 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The Maryland native’s eight saves were tied for second-most in the Majors and the Astros were 11-2 when he toed the rubber, only losing in 10 innings to Texas on August 5th and 10 innings at Philadelphia on August 26th. He retired 19 consecutive batters in between a double from Rafael Devers on August 10th and a leadoff walk by Gunnar Henderson on August 25th.
• The three-time Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year tallied eight straight saves to begin the month, adding on to his franchise record 29 consecutive saves, to break the previous record of 24 straight saves by Brad Lidge in 2005. The streak came to an end with a blown save on August 30th against Kansas City, but Hader went on to collect the win as Jose Altuve hit a walk-off double.
• The five-time All-Star did not allow a run in his first 10 appearances of the month and posted scoreless relief in 11 of his 13 appearances. Overall, he has not allowed a run in 43 of his 60 games this season, with the Astros going 35-8 in games when he provides scoreless relief.
• In his first season with Houston, Hader’s 90 strikeouts are tied with San Francisco’s Ryan Walker for the second-most as a reliever this season, trailing only Houston bullpen-mate Bryan Abreu, who has 91 strikeouts on the year.

Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves
• The 34-year-old went 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA (0 ER/13.1 IP), converting six of his seven save opportunities across 11 appearances in which he allowed just two hits with no walks, 14 strikeouts, a 0.15 WHIP, a .049 opponents’ average and 9.45 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The Cuba native was one of five qualified relievers to not allow a walk last month and threw the most innings of the group, which included Kenley Jansen (10.0 IP); Chris Martin (10.0 IP); Jakob Junis (11.0 IP); and Griffin Jax (12.1 IP).
• The right-hander became the 16th Braves reliever (18th occurrence) to appear in at least 10 games within a single month and not issue a walk. He is the first Braves reliever to accomplish the feat since Joe Jiménez in September/October last season and is one of 10 relievers in the Majors to accomplish the feat this year, joined by Jansen and Jax in August.
• After allowing a single to Brandon Nimmo on July 27th, Iglesias retired 38 consecutive batters before plunking Jacob Young with his first pitch of the 10th inning on August 23rd. Including the final two batters from his July 27th outing, it is the longest streak by any Braves pitcher during the Expansion Era (since 1961), according to Elias. It was the longest streak by any pitcher in the Majors since Yusmeiro Petit retired 46 straight batters across eight outings for the Giants from July 22-August 28, 2014.
• Now in his 10th Major League season, Iglesias became just the third pitcher in AL/NL history to make at least 10 straight flawless appearances of at least one inning each and the first to do so since Koji Uehara completed 11 consecutive perfect appearances for the World Series Champion Red Sox in 2013. Bobby Jenks of the 2007 White Sox was the only other pitcher to accomplish the feat, throwing 13 consecutive perfect appearances.

Others receiving votes for NL Reliever of the Month included Ryan Walker (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 12 G, 5/5 SV, 13.2 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 26 SO) of the San Francisco Giants; Ryan Helsley (2-1, 3.09 ERA, 12 G, 9/10 SV, 11.2 IP, 12 H, 4 BB, 10 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Jason Adam (3-0, 0.75 ERA, 12 G, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 21 SO) of the San Diego Padres; Justin Martinez (1-3, 1.88 ERA, 14 G, 7/7 SV, 14.1 IP, 12 H, 7 BB, 24 SO) and A.J. Puk (0.77 ERA, 14 G, 1/3 SV, 11.2 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 17 SO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Evan Phillips (1-0, 0.73 ERA, 14 G, 3/4 SV, 12.1 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 20 SO) and Michael Kopech (2-0, 0.68 ERA, 13 G, 3/3 SV, 13.1 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 17 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Jorge López (1-0, 0.87 ERA, 10 G, 2/2 SV, 10.1 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 17 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; and rookie Eduardo Salazar (0-1, 0.00 ERA, 13 G, 15.0 IP, 10 H, 6 BB, 13 SO) of the Washington Nationals.

Others receiving votes for AL Reliever of the Month included Griffin Jax (0.00 ERA, 13 G, 1/1 SV, 12.1 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 17 SO) of the Minnesota Twins; Emmanuel Clase (0-1, 0.69 ERA, 12 G, 7/7 SV, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 12 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians; Edwin Uceta (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 10 G, 1/1 SV, 12.2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 18 SO) of the Tampa Bay Rays; Jason Foley (1-1, 0.00 ERA, 12 G, 4/4 SV, 11.0 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 9 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; and Justin Anderson (1-1, 2.03 ERA, 13 G, 13.1 IP, 8 H, 7 BB, 12 SO) of the Chicago White Sox.