Gonzalez and Harper win honors

Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez won major league honors for the month of May.

Gio Gonzalez was named National League Pitcher of the Month. Easy to see why. Gonzalez won all five starts in May and threw a total of 27 innings and allowed just 8 earned runs. During those 5 starts, Gio recorded 45 strikeouts. On the season, Gio is 7-1 with a 2.02 ERA. The Nats gave up a haul of prospects to acquire Gonzalez, but through this season so far, the trade looks like an absolute steal for the Nats.

Harper was named the Rookie of the Month by Major League Baseball. Harper hit .271 in the month,raking up 29 hits, with 5 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 home runs. He also posted a nice .505 slugging percentage. We all expected big things for Harper, but most of us did not expect this big of an impact this early. Heck, I did not even expect Harper to be in Washington until this month. He has had a tremendous impact and provided pop to the Nationals offense that was missing Mike Morse and Jayson Werth, two of the main power hitters. Harper inspires Nats and baseball fans in general with his dedication and intensity to the game itself, a refreshing picture ofnthe way the game used to be played.