For those not in the know, a mudbug is a colloquial term for a crawfish, which to some people in this great land of ours, is a colloquial term for a crayfish.

Every month here at the Crawfish boxes we award the prestigious Golden Mudbug awards to Astros whose achievements go above and beyond mortal expectations.

Most Huggable Mudbug

Alex Bregman, his 12 May home runs tied for the MLB lead. Leading to too many of these.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Best Claws Award

Jake Marisnick, for putting the pincers around this Andrew Benintendi missile.

Most Supportive Family Members of Young Mudbugs

A tie between T. Pat Stubbs, Jackie Mayfield, and Barbara Gay, grandma of Corbin Martin

Most wounded Mudbug

Tough call. Springer—two hamstring pulls. Diaz—two hamstring pulls. Correa—fractured rib.

The winner, and this is certainly not funny, is Jose Altuve, who followed a hamstring injury with knee “soreness,” a malady just slightly less frightening than cancer in the medical lexicon of the Astros.

Most Homesick Mudbug

George Springer, who wanted to get home THIS bad.

Most Dangerous Starting Mudbugs

Mudbugs use their long arms to pinch you to death. These are the long, biting arms of the Astros staff that pinched MLB batters the most.

Brad Peacock:......3-1, 2.76 ERA, 4.21 xFIP, 3.95 SIERA, 37 K’s, 1.0 fWAR

Justin Verlander: 4-1, 2.29 ERA, 3.69 xFIP, 3.10 SIERA, 42 K’s, 0.8 fWAR

Gerrit Cole:..........4-1, 4.13 ERA, 1.56 xFIP, 2.02 SIERA, 47 K’s, 0.8 fWAR

Wade Miley..........4-1, 3.25 ERA, 3.92 xFIP, 4.03 SIERA, 33 K’s, 0.4 fWAR

Note: Verlander and Cole pitched 5 games, Miley and Peacock 6.

Tough call. Verlander wins the ERA award, Cole is again worst of the four in actual run preventing results but tops in peripherals, (xFIP and SIERA) as well as strikeouts. Peacock is second in ERA but tops in fWAR and Miley just keeps chuggin efficiently along. Not a bad foursome to say the least but I’m making the easy choice, Justin Verlander. When will Cole’s results equal his underlying performance?

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Most Dangerous Relief Mudbugs

It’s a two-way competition, Will Harris and Ryan Pressly.

Will Harris:... 0.00 ERA, 3.10 xFIP, 3.29 SIERA, 9.2 IP, 0.2 fWAR

Ryan Pressly: 0.64 ERA, 1.97 xFIP, 2.87 SIERA, 14.0 IP, 0.4 fWAR

Horrors of horrors! Pressly actually gave up a run last month. Despite that he gets the edge for Relief Mudbug of May. Honorable mention to Josh James who improved markedly, posting a 2.93 ERA and 14.67 K’s per nine innings.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Most Valuable Mudbug

You decide below. Here are your choices. These are the five highest producers in May by fWAR.

George Springer: 368/.432/.779, 8 HR, 213 wRC+. 1.4 fWAR

Alex Bregman:......260/.363/.635, 12 HR, 162 wRC+. 1.4 fWAR

Michael Brantley: .327/.389/.571, 5 HR, 160 wRC+, 1.1 FWAR

Jake Marisnick:.... .266/.328/.563, 4 HR. 141 wRC+. 1.0 fWAR

Carlos Correa...... .291/.357/.535, 5 HR, 138 wRC+, 0.8 fWAR

Results will be published in an upcoming Game thread.