TCB's Astros Players Of The Month

No stock watch today, but I did want to briefly touch on three of the top players from the past month.

Hitter of the Month: Hunter Pence - Pence led the Astros in batting average (.322), the highest slugging percentage (.522) and OPS (.900), the highest wOBA (.376), the most doubles, triples and tied for the most home runs. Only Carlos Lee drove in more runs and only Michael Bourn stole more bases. That's a big reason why Pence had a club-leading 25 runs scored in August and a big reason why he's turned his season around dramatically.

Pitcher of the Month: Wandy Rodriguez - As dominant as Hunter Pence was last month, Wandy was equally as dominant. He put up a stretch of six starts that was as good as any on the team this season. He threw 40 1/3 innings, striking out 43 while walking just eight. He allowed 31 hits in 158 total batters and stranded 79.8 of the runners that did reach base. His ground ball rate inched up over 50 percent and all three of his main pitches had positive run values according to FanGraphs. In short, Wandy was exactly what the Astros expected him to be coming into 2010. He was just a few months late getting to this point.

Defender of the Month: Humberto Quintero - Michael Bourn is clearly the best defensive player on the team. Even after Berkman has been traded for a month, Puma is still second on the team behind Bourn in Ultimate Zone Rating. No one else is close to his 9.3 UZR this season, but we all know how good Bourn is. Q deserves some props for how good he's been behind the plate. That series against Philly showed how much of a weapon his pickoff throws have become. He takes pride in keeping the bases clean and it's a big reason why Houston is in the league's top five for caught stealing.