Major League Baseball

Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman headline Ben Verlander's team of the month for May

Updated Jun. 5, 2023 3:35 p.m. ET

May has come and gone, which means it's time for me to share my latest team of the month!

There were several outstanding performances around the league in May, but we could only pick one player at each position. Some players continued their stretches from March and April into May. A few stars broke out of their early-season slumps to earn their spot on my team of the month.

Here are the 11 players who earned this month's honor.

Yankees' Aaron Judge & Dodgers' Freddie Freeman headline Ben's Team of the Month

Ben Verlander goes through each position on the field and constructs his team of the best MLB players based off of their performances from the month of May, and it's headlined by Yankees’ Aaron Judge & Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman.

Catcher: Sean Murphy, Atlanta Braves — .313 batting average, five home runs, 22 RBIs

Another great month for Sean Murphy. He made my team of the month for March/April, when he hit .256 with six home runs and 16 RBIs. He's having a great season in his first year with the Braves.

First base: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers — .400 batting average, six home runs, 26 RBIs, 1.184 OPS

I feel like at some point in every season, Freddie Freeman just turns it on and never looks back. So, in the month of May, what did he do? Well, he turned it on. Hitting .400 for any long enough stretch is impressive and his near-1.200 OPS in May would be the best in baseball this season.

Second base: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers - .322 batting average, three home runs, 21 RBIs

This has been a great year for Marcus Semien so far. He's in the midst of a 23-game hitting streak. Will he get to 56? I don't know; we're still a long way away — but you can't get to 56 without getting to 23. Regardless, Semien is an early AL MVP contender.

Third base: Josh Jung, Texas Rangers - .318 batting average, six home runs, 16 RBIs

Jung was my No. 1 rookie of the month and he's my No. 1 third baseman of the month of May. He's not only making his case for AL Rookie of the Year, he's also making a case to be named an All-Star next month. That's how good he is right now. He's hitting clutch homers and massive bombs. He's played good defense, too.

Jung's doing all of this while playing for a Rangers team that is starting to become one of the talks of baseball because of how good their offense is. It's not just because of Semien and Corey Seager. Jung has been a massive part of this very good Rangers lineup.

Shortstop: Bo Bichette, Toronto Blue Jays - .350 batting average, five home runs, 20 RBIs

Fun fact: Bo Bichette led the American League in hits in 2021. He led the American League in hits in 2022. And he's currently leading the league in hits in 2023.

Very impressive.

Outfield: Juan Soto, San Diego Padres - .333 batting average, five home runs, 15 RBIs, 1.114 OPS

Juan Soto has been on a tear after struggling to start the season. Since April 27, he's first in all of baseball in wRC+ and he's first in all of baseball in OPS at 1.146.

This has been the Juan Soto that I predicted to be NL MVP. I don't know if he's going to surpass Ronald Acuña Jr. at this point. But this is the Juan Soto that at one time might've been the best hitter in all of baseball. He got out of the gates really, really slow. But he's picked it up.

Outfield: Luis Robert Jr., Chicago White Sox - .310 batting average, eight home runs, 17 RBIs, 1.013 OPS

There was that stretch of around a week where it felt he hit a home run every single day. Winding up with eight home runs in one month is incredibly impressive, and Robert is also one of baseball's best defenders.

Outfield: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees - .342 batting average, 12 home runs, 25 RBIs, 1.356 OPS

When I was putting the team together, you've got to knock guys for missing time during the month. Judge was on the injured list at one point in May, which is a little bit of a knock against him.

But you look at the numbers and you say, "Well, who was more productive?" Judge hit .342 and had 12 homers! And his strong month marked the turnaround of the Yankees. What he's meant to that team is hard to overstate.

Designated Hitter: Anthony Santander, Baltimore Orioles - .337 batting average, seven home runs, 22 RBIs

Santander is another player who had a slow start but turned it around in May. The switch-hitter had a great year last year and now he's back and playing well for an Orioles team that's also great.

Starting pitcher: Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers - 4-0, 0.96 ERA, 31 strikeouts, 37 ⅔ innings pitched

Holy moly! Those stats are obviously just for the month of May. He pitched on Sunday (which was June 4, if you were wondering) and was dominant again, giving up just one hit in six innings pitched.

With Jacob deGrom out, Eovaldi has stepped up and been huge for a Rangers team that has three members on my team of the month.

Closing pitcher: Alexis Díaz, Cincinnati Reds - nine saves, one earned run, five hits, 22 strikeouts, 12 ⅓ innings pitched

Edwin Díaz's brother! The dominant Mets closer got hurt in the WBC, but up comes Alexis. Alexis Díaz showed last year that he might be a dominant reliever. That is the case right now.

I really like this team. We had a really great month of May. That's why I put them together!

Player of the month: Aaron Judge

Judge was a huge part of the turnaround the Yankees badly needed. Not that they weren't good, but being good in the AL East isn't going to be good enough. You've got to be great in the AL East. When Judge came back from the injured list, he made the Yankees great again.

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