San Francisco Giants: Handing out team awards for May

San Francisco Giants—May Cy Young

The one shining light in the Giants rotation has been Madison Bumgarner, who has performed with consistency and improved as the month has gone on.

Only four pitchers—Zack Greinke, Mike Soroka, Max Scherzer and Kyle Hendricks—tallied more than quality starts in May than the four recorded by Bumgarner.

In his 36.1 innings in May, he fanned 39 whilst only allowing nine walks en route to a 3.72 ERA. Widely expected to be moved ahead of the July trade deadline, he is doing his trade value no harm with his solid performance.

From the relief corps, Sam Dyson has excelled this month. In 11 innings of work in May, he racked up 13 strikeouts whilst allowing just two earned runs.

However, the real standout performer has been closer Will Smith.

The subject of increasing trade speculation, Smith has been lights out closing out games all season, and he looked particularly solid in May.

Smith has struck out 18 of the 37 batters he faced this month while walking none. He also converted all six of his save opportunities.

Like Bumgarner, Smith’s ongoing impressive performance is increasing the likely return the Giants can expect when trading them away later in the season.