Gomber Named Cardinals Pitcher of the Month
PEORIA, IL - The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Friday that Peoria Chiefs left-hander Austin Gomber has been named the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August.
For the month of August Gomber went 4-0 with a 0.35 ERA in four starts while striking out 32 batters and walking seven over 25 2/3 innings. Midwest League opponents hit just .156 against Gomber in August as he allowed 14 hits for a WHIP of 0.82. Gomber started the month with 6 2/3 shutout innings against Lake County in which he struck out five and allowed just five hits in an August 5 win. Six days later he won at Dayton with seven innings of work in which he struck out nine and allowed one run on five hits and one walk in a win. Despite going 11 days before getting another start, Gomber picked up where he left off against Wisconsin on August 22 with six shutout innings in which he allowed just two hits and tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts. Gomber capped his impressive month with six innings at Quad Cities on Saturday in which he allowed one unearned run on two hits while striking out eight.
Gomber is the second Chiefs pitcher to be named Cardinals organizational Player of the Month in 2015 as Luis Perdomo won the award in May. For the month he tied teammate Matt Pearce and Palm Beach's Luke Weaver for the most wins in the organization while also leading all Cardinals Minor Leaguers in ERA, WHIP and average against. He had the fourth most strikeouts in August behind Chiefs righty Jack Flaherty (36) and former Chiefs Zach Petrick and Alex Reyes who each had 34. Gomber was second among all starters in MiLB with his 0.35 ERA tied for the second most wins with four.
On the season Gomber leads the Midwest League in wins with 15, strikeouts with 140, opponents average at .196 and a 0.97 WHIP. He also leads all of Minor League Baseball having won 14 straight decisions as a starter since an April 29 loss to Beloit. Gomber is tied for second on the Chiefs single-season wins list (15), 3rd in starter WHIP (0.97), 3rd in starter average against (.196), tied for 12th in strikeouts (140) and 17th in starter ERA (2.67). He also holds the franchise record for consecutive wins and is one of just four pitchers in team history to win at least 15 games and strikeout at least 140 batters in the same season.