Hunter Stratton Named Indians August Player of the Month

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians today named closer Hunter Stratton as their August Player of the Month after he did not allow an earned run and converted a team-high four saves in 11 relief appearances.

Stratton, 26, put together an outstanding month of August, going 1-0 with 18 punchouts in 12.1 innings. His month was highlighted by a career-high 11.1-inning scoreless streak from Aug. 1-27 in which he allowed just one hit over 40 total batters faced. His four saves were tied for the most in the International League and set a new career high for the most saves in a single month of his seven-year minor league career. He earned his first save of the month on Aug. 3 at Gwinnett, striking out a season-high tying five batters over 2.0 hitless frames.

The righty appeared in 47 Triple-A games this season, the most by any Indians pitcher and 10th-most in the IL. With Indianapolis, he went 4-4 with six saves, a 3.99 ERA (25er/56.1ip), 31 walks, 74 strikeouts, 1.33 WHIP and .219 batting average against (44-for-201). He leads all Indians relievers in strikeouts and is tied with Colin Selby for the most saves this season. Following his stellar month of August, Stratton had his contract selected by Pittsburgh on Sept. 4 and made his major league debut the following day vs. Milwaukee (2.0ip, 1h, 1bb, 2k).

Stratton was selected by Pittsburgh in the 16th round (478th overall) of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Walters State (Morristown, Tenn.) Community College.