Sean Doolittle & Aroldis Chapman Named Relievers of the Month

Washington Nationals relief pitcher Sean Doolittle has been voted the National League Reliever of the Month presented by The Hartford for September, and New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has been voted the American League Reliever of the Month presented by The Hartford for September. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Doolittle pitched in 11 games during September for the Nationals, converting eight-of-nine save opportunities and striking out 14 opposing batters. The crafty left-hander permitted three walks, surrendered just one home run and allowed two earned runs on six hits over 11.0 innings of work to claim his first career monthly award. Until his final appearance of the 2017 regular season on Thursday, Doolittle did not surrender an earned run in 11 consecutive appearances, dating back to August 29th.

Over the course of his impressive stretch, the 41st overall selection in the 2007 MLB Draft notched 13 strikeouts with just three walks and six hits allowed. Sean, who made his first appearance with the Nationals on July 18th, worked in 20 contests for Washington, going 1-0 with 21 saves across 30.0 innings of work. The 31-year-old veteran posted a 2.40 ERA with his new club, tallying more than one strikeout-per-inning with 31 punchouts. The Nationals, who finished the season with the second-best record in the NL with a 97-65 mark, host the defending champion Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park in Game One of the NLDS on Friday night.

Others receiving votes for NL Reliever of the Month included Hector Neris (2.57 ERA, 9 SV, 14.0 IP, 21 SO) and Edubray Ramos (1-0, 1.35 ERA, 13.1 IP, 20 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; All-Star Pat Neshek (1.80 ERA, 12 G, 10.0 IP, 12 SO) of the Colorado Rockies; Brad Hand (1-0, 2.38 ERA, 7 SV, 14 SO) of the San Diego Padres; Jared Hughes (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 G, 10.1 IP) and Anthony Swarzak (0-1, 1.72 ERA, 15.2 IP, 18 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; All-Star Wade Davis (1-1, 2.77 ERA, 5 SV, 21 SO), Carl Edwards (2-1, 1.50 ERA, 12.0 IP, 16 SO) and Pedro Strop (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.2 IP, 11 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; All- Star Kenley Jansen (1.80 ERA, 6 SAV, 10.0 IP, 16 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and Zach Duke (1-0, 2.08 ERA, 11 G, 8 SO) and Juan Nicasio (3-0, 1.46 ERA, 4 SV, 12 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals.
     
Chapman made 11 appearances for the Yankees and converted each of his six save opportunities en route to claiming his third career Reliever of the Month Award, last winning in consecutive months for July-August, 2012. Aroldis, a four-time All-Star, did not surrender an earned run with 17 strikeouts, just two walks and three hits allowed. The hard-throwing left-hander did not permit a home run during his excellent month, retiring 36 of 41 batters faced. With his converted 1.1-inning save on September 13th, the 29-year-old logged the 200th save of his career, becoming the 49th pitcher in MLB history to reach the milestone, since the save became an official statistic in 1969. On September 19th against the Minnesota Twins, the Holguin, Cuba native recorded his 20th save of the season. Chapman joined Craig Kimbrel of the Boston Red Sox and Kenley Jansen of the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only pitchers in the Majors to reach the 20-save plateau in each season since 2012. Led by their formidable bullpen, the Yankees host the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium in the AL Wild Card Game tomorrow night.

Others receiving votes for AL Reliever of the Month included Chapman's teammates Chad Green (3-0, 0.75 ERA, 12.0 IP, 17 SO) and David Robertson (3-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 G, 23 SO); Boston's Kimbrel (0.75 ERA, 4 SV, 12.0 IP, 21 SO); Brad Brach (0-1, 0.73 ERA, 1 SV, 12.1 IP) of the Baltimore Orioles; Dillon Gee (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP, 8 SO) of the Minnesota Twins; Mike Minor (1-0, 0.66 ERA, 6 SV, 14 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; and Ken Giles (0-1, 1.64 ERA, 7 SV, 15 SO) of the Houston Astros.

The National League Reliever of the Month presented by The Hartford, Sean Doolittle, and the American League Reliever of the Month presented by the Hartford, Aroldis Chapman, will each receive a specially designed plaque, suitably engraved, for their accomplishments. This is the inaugural season of the Reliever of the Month Awards presented by The Hartford. The Hartford, the Official Business Insurance & Employee Benefits Sponsor of MLB, has presented baseball's annual Relievers of the Year Awards since 2015. The 2017 Relievers of the Year presented by The Hartford will again be presented during the World Series.