A week from today, on June 9, NPB will announce its two leagues’ players and pitchers of the month. John Gibson and I have been debating about these recently. I’ve argued that whoever makes the selections has been doing a better job of late and that the selections have really improved to the point where they’re often pretty lousy. Gibson says they haven’t progressed that far.

The “player of the month” selection is still crap because the selectors still don’t pay any attention to runs, walks or defense, so it remains the “Triple-Crown Stats leader of the month award.”

The batters

Rather than make arguments for this player or that, I’ll simply present NPB’s best for May, sorted by OPS to save space. You can make up your own minds. I’m sorry but I’m only able to load screen shots in English and Japanese.

The starting pitchers

For the most part, the award goes to the pitcher with the best record among starting pitchers with three or more wins and one or fewer losses. With no suitable candidates among the starters, selectors have then looked for relievers with lots of saves and holds who allowed no more than a run or two.

Monthly saves leaders

Hold Point leaders

This table is sorted by “hold points,” which are the sum of holds and relief wins.