Raisel Iglesias of the Atlanta Braves named the National League Reliever of the Month for August; Aroldis Chapman of the Boston Red Sox named the American League Reliever of the Month for August

Closer Raisel Iglesias of the Atlanta Braves has been named the National League Reliever of the Month for August, and All-Star stopper Aroldis Chapman of the Boston Red Sox has been voted the American League Reliever of the Month for August. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Iglesias claimed his fourth career Reliever of the Month Award and his third with the Braves after winning in August in 2023 and 2024. Prior to his three awards with Atlanta, he won the award in July 2021 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. His three awards now match Craig Kimbrel (August 2011, September 2012 & August 2013) for the most in franchise history, with Kimbrel being the only other Braves reliever to earn the Award. Chapman earned his sixth career honor and first with the Red Sox after previously winning twice as a member of the Cincinnati Reds in July and August 2012, and three times as a member of the New York Yankees, including September 2017, May 2019 and August 2019. He is the fifth Boston reliever to be honored since the award’s inception in 2005, joining Jonathan Papelbon (April 2006); Kimbrel (May 2017); Brandon Workman (September 2019); and most recently Matt Barnes (April 2021).

Chapman’s six career awards are fourth-most all-time, trailing Edwin Díaz (10); Josh Hader (8); and Emmanuel Clase (7). The pair of relievers are the only Cuban-born relievers to win the award, marking the first time a Cuban-born player has won in each league in a month.

Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves
The 35-year-old pitched to a 0.69 ERA (1 ER/13.0 IP) while converting each of his 10 save opportunities across 13 appearances in which he allowed eight hits with no walks, 13 strikeouts, a 0.62 WHIP, a .170 opponents’ average and 9.00 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.

The Cuba native led the Majors in saves; was one of seven qualified relievers to not allow a walk; and ranked 10th in WHIP among qualified relievers. He has converted 12 consecutive save opportunities dating back to July 28th, leading all relievers with a 0.8 fWAR during the stretch.

The 11-year veteran became the first Braves reliever to record 10 saves in a calendar month since Kimbrel in June 2014 (10-for-12 SV) and is the first Braves reliever with at least 10 saves and no blown saves in a month since Kimbrel went a perfect 12-for-12 in August 2013. Overall, he is just the sixth Braves pitcher (15th occurrence) to record 10 saves in a month since saves became an official stat in 1969. Iglesias surrendered his only run of the month on August 24th, which snapped his streak of 43 consecutive scoreless appearances in the month of August dating back to August 10, 2022. He carries a 2.09 ERA in his career during the month of August, his lowest of any month, while his 159.1 innings of work are the most during any single month in his career.

The right-hander recorded saves on back-to-back days twice during the month, including August 14th-15th and August 19th-20th. With his save on August 19th, he reached the 20-save mark for the seventh time in his career. His seven such seasons since 2017 are tied with Edwin Díaz for the second-most in the Majors behind only Kenley Jansen (eight 20-save seasons since 2017).

Aroldis Chapman, Boston Red Sox (@_thecubanmissile54)
The 37-year-old went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA (0 ER/11.0 IP) while converting each of his eight save opportunities across 12 appearances in which he allowed no hits with a walk, 14 strikeouts, a 0.09 WHIP, a .000 opponents’ batting average, and 11.45 strikeouts per 9.0 innings, striking out 14 of the 34 batters he faced.

The Cuba native led all qualified relievers in WHIP and opponents’ average; was one of seven qualified relievers to not issue a walk; was one of eight qualified relievers to not allow a run; and tied for second in saves.

The eight-time All-Star has not allowed a hit since a giving up a home run on July 23rd at Philadelphia, facing a career-high 46 consecutive batters without conceding a hit. His 16 consecutive hitless outings (13.2 IP) established a new franchise record for the Red Sox and is the third-longest streak since 1901, trailing a 20-game stretch by Randy Choate (20 G/8.2 IP) for the Florida Marlins in 2011, and an 18-game streak by Tim Byrdak (18 G/7.0 IP) for the New York Mets in 2012.

The eight-time All-Star posted the second-lowest WHIP since 1901 among pitchers with at least 10.0 innings thrown in a single month, trailing only Yennier Cano, who had a 0.00 WHIP in 11.0 innings of work for the Baltimore Orioles in April 2023. Chapman is just the third pitcher in Major League history to throw at least 10.0 innings without allowing a hit in a single month, joining Cano and Edwar Ramirez (0 H/11.1 IP in July 2008) of the New York Yankees.

The 2019 Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year, who agreed to a contract extension with Boston through the 2026 season on Sunday, finished the month with a save in each of his last five appearances and logged a save in his first appearance in September, marking his longest such streak this year, with eight strikeouts over the 6.0 innings thrown. Dating back to August 19th, Chapman has retired each of the last 20 batters he has faced, with 10 coming by strikeout.

Others receiving votes for AL Reliever of the Month included Kyle Finnegan (3-0, 0.00 ERA, 12 G, 4-for-4 SV, 14.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 3 BB, 19 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; All-Star Andrés Muñoz (0-1, 2.92 ERA, 13 G, 8-for-9 SV, 12.1 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 6 BB, 14 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; and All-Star Carlos Estévez (0-2, 2.84 ERA, 8-for-8 SV, 12.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 13 SO) of the Kansas City Royals.

Others receiving votes for NL Reliever of the Month included Abner Uribe (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 G, 2-for-2 SV, 14.0 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 18 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; Jhoan Duran (0-2, 1.86 ERA, 12 G, 8-for-9 SV, 9.2 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 13 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; Brad Keller (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 G, 1-for-1 SV, 13.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 16 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; Matt Svanson (2-0, 0.51 ERA, 11 G, 17.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 HR, 7 BB, 24 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Ben Casparius (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 G, 2-for-2 SV, 14.0 IP, 8 H, 0 HR, 4 BB, 18 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Victor Vodnik (1-0, 1.74 ERA, 10 G, 4-for-4 SV, 10.1 IP, 5 H, 1 HR, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO) of the Colorado Rockies; and Ronny Henriquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 11 G, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 13 SO) of the Miami Marlins.